AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I force myself to stop checking him out, remembering the simple wooden picture frame on the mantle.
When he realizes what I’d been looking at, his gaze softens, and he steps closer, staring at the image. “These are my daughters.”
My brain short circuits for a split second, and I blink slowly. “Y-your daughters?”
“Yeah. Hazel and Miley.”
I knew I recognized her!
The image has to be at least five years old, and the familiar face is most definitely sporting a pair of braces and shorter hair, but it’s her.
I pick the frame up and point to the girl on the right. “Hazel’s your daughter?”
He pulls back, surprised. “You know Haze?”
I nod, shake my head, and nod again, still reeling. “Uh, yeah. I work with her. We’re kind of…friends.”
Jaw slack, he looks at the picture again, his expression twisting with…pain? Regret? I’m not sure. But clearly, I’m not the only one knocked off-kilter by this turn of events.
He swallows thickly and takes the frame from my hands. His fingers brush against mine, his rough, calloused fingertips acting like a taser on my already fragile system, though he’s too immersed in the photograph to notice. My breath hitches, but I don’t say anything as he sets it back on the mantle, lost in his thoughts.
“Small world, huh?” I murmur.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“I didn’t know,” I add.
He forces a smile and looks down at me, snapping himself out of whatever funk he’d been lost in. “It’s all good. Neither did I.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” He smiles again, and this time, it’s more genuine. More…real. “How’s she doing, anyway?”
My heart pinches at the reminder of how little he knows his daughter. How much time he’s missed. But I know what it’s like to be pitied, and I know the man in front of me would hate it as much as I do.
“She’s good. Addicted to her phone like the rest of us but friendly. Thoughtful,” I add. “The other day, my ex came into Butter and Grace, and she knew about my history with him, so she sat him as far away from my section as possible. See? Thoughtful.”
“Sounds like it,” he muses.
“Yeah.” I pause, chewing on my thumbnail before I ask, “Do you think it’s weird? That I know her? Like…do you want us to go our separate ways and call it a night? I know we’re just friends and everything, but I totally get it if it’s weird for you.”
He shakes his head. “No. I don’t think it’s weird. But I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?”
“If I’m making you feel uncomfortable or anything. I was surprised. I haven’t seen Haze since the divorce. Miley lets me follow her on Instagram and stuff. But Haze?” His gaze shifts to the photograph again. “She’s been more adamant about me keeping my distance. Guess I was taken aback that someone’s seen her out in the wild, ya know?”
I grab his hand and squeeze, desperate to take away the notch of discomfort between his brows. “I can imagine.”
He glances at the photograph one more time, then turns toward the kitchen. “I’m gonna make some dinner. Are you hungry?”
“I’m okay. Thanks, though.”
“You sure?”
“Yup. I’ll…get back to studying.”
“Okay.”
