Page 15 of Sweet Talking Man


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"Hey, babe." The man looked uncertain but determined.

"What are you doing here?" She moved away from Leif, stumbling over the chair Birdie had abandoned. The man with the broad face and silver-flecked dark hair offered a smile. "Well, no good reason to keep it from you-I'm moving back to Magnolia Bend. To stay."

"What?" Abigail clapped a hand to her chest before dropping it to her side.

"Yay!" Birdie shouted, sliding out of her father's embrace. "You're going to live here again?"

"You're ..wait, what about Morgan? And LA? You haven't been back since-"

"Don't worry, we'll work it out. I'm home now and ready to be the man I need to be. For Birdie." He chucked the child under the chin. “And for you, too."

Abigail blinked, looked at the scuffed tile floor, and then at Leif, her eyes jumbled with emotion.”But why are you here?"

"I told you-"

''No. Here." She jabbed a finger toward the floor. "Why would you come here? We're in a class. Couldn't you have waited?"

Cal's smile reminded Leif of an alligator. "Well, honey, when you wake up from a trance and see who you've been for the past few years isn't who you really are, you want to get back to where you belong as fast as you can."

Abigail shook her head. "You're crazy."

Cal's smile flickered. ''No, Iwascrazy. Now I'm sane. I'm ready to make things up to you and Birdie. When I crossed that city limit sign, I felt like my life started again. Mama told me where y'all were, so I came. I couldn't stop myself if I tried."

"Well, you should have. This is just like you. You don't think. You should have called me. You should have-"

"Mom," Birdie cried, shaking her head. "Don't turn this into something bad."

In Birdie's eyes was a soft plea, a child's yearning for her father. Leif could feel Abigail soften. So could Cal. "We'll talk about this later. This is obviously not the time or place." She shot Cal an other look.

The man ignored it, directing his attention to Leif instead. "Sorry for interrupting your class. The older lady said y'all were finished and my girls were still inside. Didn't mean to impose."

Leif nodded because he had no other choice. This was Abigail's business. Not his. And even though an emotion he barely recognized as jealousy welled inside him, he knew this was the universe's way of reminding him that Abigail Orgeron was not his …no matter how much he wanted to rip her from her world of schedules, logic, and reason to a place where only sensation reigned. "It's fine."

"Good," Cal said, wrapping an arm around Birdie. "Don't be mad, Abigail. I couldn't wait to see Birdie."

Abigail snatched the two art pads and pencil cases sitting on the table, muttering "surreal" and "bastard" if Leif heard correctly. "Thank you, Mr. Lively, for the interesting class. I'm sorry about this last interruption. Sometimes life hands you-"

“Lord, Mom, he didn’t interrupt the class. Don’t have kittens.” The girl looked from her mother to her father, her face lighting at the latter.

Her father tweaked her nose, and Leif almost vomited in his mouth. He couldn't picture Abigail with this slimeball with the saccharine smile and slick ways. He wondered what had happened between them. Wondered if Cal had left her and now regretted his choice. Leif understood regret. But he didn't understand a man abandoning his wife and child. He knew what it was like walking life's path without a father. Not easy.

But there was no reason to jump to conclusions.

Abigail rolled her eyes before passing him a sheet of paper. "Here's Birdie's assignment."

"Thanks." He took the sheet and placed it over Abigail's drawing of an apple …or a blob. Either descriptor worked.

Abigail walked toward her ex-husband and daughter.

"Can I ride with Dad?" Birdie asked.

"Sure," Abigail said, following them out the door. Just as her nice derriere disappeared, she stuck her head inside, the dark curtain of her hair swishing. "Hey, at least I don't have to shower.”

"What?"

"My blast from the past didn't bring cake."

Leif laughed. ''There's that.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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