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“Yeah. I’m about as coordinated as two thumbs on a rhinoceros, so I haven’t been helping him too much, but I’m willing.”
“Oh. You’re his partner.”
“Yeah. There are other kids in Sweet Water, and they have pickup games sometimes, but I am usually the one who gets drafted to pitch the ball back and forth after he gets home from school.”
“I see.” He nodded, and maybe he was thinking, as she had often done, that it was usually the dad out playing sports with the kids. She would have been perfectly fine with it. She hadn’t played any sports when she was younger. Her favorite place to be had been the library, and if she had to go somewhere else, she might have hung out in the science lab, hoping to get in on a dissection.
Not really normal.
“Does your daughter enjoy any sports?” she asked, even though they kind of had an unspoken rule that they didn’t discuss his daughter.
But Kendrick was coming this weekend. Peyton thought it might be a good idea to know a little bit about her, if she was going to be spending time with her, which she assumed she would be since they were staying overnight Saturday night and having Easter dinner with them on Sunday.
“I’m not sure,” Bryce said. She got the feeling that was the kind of question that would have made him get surly and quiet just a few weeks ago. But now, he leaned back on his chair, his sandwich gone. “Charlene asked me earlier today what her favorite foods were so she could cook them for her. I couldn’t answer that question, either. It made me think about what you had talked about the last time we spoke, and I felt guilty.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty. I just know you’d be a really great dad, and I know she would love to have you in that position.”
“I know. I know you didn’t mean it in a bad way. I just... I know I could have done better, and I haven’t. So yeah. I don’t know whether she likes sports, but I intend to find out. I’m hoping that the next two weeks will be the start of a new relationship for Kendrick and me.”
“You’re gonna bring her to North Dakota?” Maybe Peyton shouldn’t be pressing, but she almost thought that was what he was saying.
“Maybe. I... I guess I feel like...maybe she’s not going to like me.”
“I think there’s something programmed in every kid, a love for their parents that they just can’t turn off. I know, they go through their teenage years, and sometimes they rebel.” Peyton figured they didn’t have to. She knew families whose children hadn’t had a rebellious teenage time. Where they’d actually grown closer to their kids during the teenage years. She wasn’t sure exactly how that happened, but she hoped it happened for Owen and her. Regardless, since Kendrick was only ten, it wasn’t something that Bryce needed to worry about anytime soon.
“I hope. I hope she doesn’t resent all the time I wasn’t there.”
“She might. But I think sometimes kids need to see parents make mistakes, be sorry, apologize, and then watch them try to do better.”
“But if I apologize, she’ll know I messed up, and she’ll hold it over my head for the rest of my life.”
“Only if you allow her to.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you just said it. You try to do better. She can’t make you feel guilty for what you’ve apologized for, for what you’ve put behind you. Sure, maybe you could have done better, but from this point on, you’re going to do the best you can, and while no one is perfect, she has to give you credit for effort. After all, there are going to be times where she’s going to mess up, and you’re not going to say, ‘you’re a terrible person because you made a mistake, and that’s how I’m going to view you for the rest of your life, as a terrible person who made a mistake.’”
She didn’t know whether she was explaining it very well or not, but Bryce nodded his head thoughtfully.
“I see. That’s a good point. Seems like every time I’m with you, I learn something new. Something I can put into practice in my life.”
She tried not to allow his praise to go to her head. She definitely didn’t want to say that every time they were together, she could see spending the rest of her life with Bryce.
She didn’t want to, and she was definitely going to be fighting that.
