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Maybe he shouldn’t have asked Peyton and Owen to stay, but not only did he want to spend as much time as he could with Peyton, he hadn’t been sure how things would go with Kendrick, and he figured that having them here would help break the ice for them.
Paisley followed them downstairs.
At the bottom, he said to Kendrick and her, “Do you and Paisley want to go outside? I have someone else I’d like you to meet. I think she’ll come outside with us.”
“Someone else? You have another daughter?” Kendrick asked with childish innocence.
“No. You’re my only child.” He ruffled her hair, smiling a little. His heart squeezed at the little girl look in her eyes. He could see himself on her face. Unbelievable that there was a little human running around that was half him. “She’s a grown woman, and she’s working in the library.”
Kendrick nodded, not seeming interested in the library. Maybe that would be something Peyton would help with. He smiled to himself as Kendrick waved and skipped off, holding tight to Paisley’s hand.
Bryce walked to the library, eager. He supposed he could have taken Kendrick with him and introduced her to Peyton, but he wanted to give Peyton a little warning.
It... It meant more to him than he wanted to admit that Peyton was going to meet his daughter.
“Hey,” he said as he walked in, his eyes landing on her right away. She was almost exactly where she was the last time he was in here. It was slow work.
“Hey! You’re home! Did you get her okay?” she asked, looking at the book in her hand and then setting it down carefully on the little table she had beside her and stepping down off the stepladder she was on.
“Yeah. I didn’t want to bring her in here without warning you first.” He almost said that he wanted them to hit it off and to have the best first meeting possible, but he didn’t. “So I thought I’d tell you, and if you want me to, I can bring her in, or I thought we could play catch together in the yard.”
He wasn’t sure how she would feel about that, so he went slow. “I was thinking of Owen and working a little with him. I... I thought I might be able to help him. Only if he’s interested. I have a tendency to be pretty intense about baseball, and...I didn’t want to drive him away by being too much, especially if he was discouraged with it anyway.”
By the smile on her face, he thought he maybe said the right thing.
“I think he’d really appreciate that. And you’re right, he was pretty dejected yesterday and yesterday evening. Then last night, we were sitting on the porch swing together. It was late, and I don’t usually let him stay up that late. But I knew he was feeling pretty bad. He was sitting with me, which I figured he just wanted to be around someone he knew loved him and accepted him.”
Bryce nodded.
“Then he started talking about the things I told him earlier, because you’re right, he said he wanted to quit. He hated it and didn’t want to play anymore. I told him he was welcome to quit as soon as the season was over.” She pursed her lips and ran a hand over the bookshelf. “So yeah, after he had some time to think about it, he decided he wants to dig in. He wants to practice and be the best he can, but he’s not sure how to start. The lady that was behind us really did have her son ask if he wanted to practice with him, and I think Owen is going to take him up on it, but...” She grunted. “Of course he’d rather do it with you.”
“Of course?”
“Yeah. He really likes you.”
Bryce hadn’t known. Maybe Owen just liked him because Peyton said nice things about him, but it didn’t matter. It made him feel good to think he still had one fan anyway.
“You coming?” he asked. And maybe he was crazy, but he held out a hand.
Her smile did not fade as she nodded, walking forward and slipping her hand into his.
It felt just as good to him today as it had the day before at the ball game.
When he was younger, hand-holding wasn’t exactly something that he strived for. He always wanted more.
Now he was older, maybe just old enough to appreciate the little things, or maybe he’d just been through enough to appreciate the trust that her hand in his showed.
They didn’t say anything as they walked to the children and Paisley.
The kids looked up as they approached.
Bryce noticed Owen looking at his mom, then looking at the clasped hands between them.
Bryce hadn’t considered what the kids might say, and now it was too late to let go. He didn’t want her to think he was ashamed of her or that he didn’t want to be associated with her, even if it was just their children. If he pulled back and put distance between them, it might say to her that he didn’t want her.
Unless he had time to explain, which he didn’t.
So he held tight and figured that if this was the direction he wanted to go, they were going to have to face it eventually.
