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Amber reached over and squeezed my hand. “I know. I feel that sometimes too. Maybe not because of stupid boys because there hasn’t been anyone worth withering away to, but in other ways. We’ll just have to keep each other from becoming a pile of mush.”
“Deal,” I said. “Now, what kind of ice cream do you have up in this fancy new house of yours because bitch, I need it all.”
“Pfft, please. I am stocked for daysss. I have like every flavor of Ben and Jerry’s, Haggan Daz, and even some specialty ice creams my father had shipped over. I stole them from the freezer when I moved out.”
“Your dad saved the day,” I replied.
I wanted so badly for my conversation tone to match how I felt on the inside. But I was starting to realize, it may never match again. Daniel had changed me. Harper had changed me. I just had to figure out who I was changed into and if I still liked the girl inside.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Daniel
Ryder and I watched from the bar as Chase schmoozed a girl at the pool tables. Ryder rolled his eyes and turned back to the front, taking a sip of his beer. “How was your first day back at the office?”
I shrugged. “It was fine. I mean I didn’t have you sitting across from me giving me the stink eye, but I dealt with the loss. It was good for me to work from your place last week and then come back. Gave me time to catch up, get my head in the game and be able to multi focus my attention. Work definitely helps me stay out of my own head.”
Ryder held his glass to me. “Good. I knew it would. I just needed you to see that. You can stay at my place as long as you want but you might want to at least check in on your place.”
“I’m planning on heading back there to stay tomorrow after work. I kind of miss having my house, and I know I’m cramping your style.”
He chuckled. “Bro, I don’t really have a style right now, but I appreciate the thought. So, who was the girl?”
I glanced over at him. “What are you talking about?”
Ryder lifted a brow.
I turned back, looking at my beer, knowing it was time to tell him, but trying to muster the verbal words to get it out. “It was two girls actually.”
Ryder smirked. “Nice. Double trouble. Though I thought we taught you better than to handle two women at one time. Nothing good ever comes out of that…unless theres a threesome.”
I wrinkled my nose and put up my hand. “Okay, I’m gonna stop you right there. I’m talking about Sicily and her daughter, Harper.”
Ryder choked on his beer. “Wait, what? You got involved with Sicily again? Haven’t you been like dreaming about that since that one night like four years ago? How did that happen?”
I just launched into it, finding that once I got talking, telling the story from the beginning, it felt good to get it out. I hadn’t actually looked at the events in succession like that before.
“And after that night, after the guy tried to get to Harper, it was like everything changed for us.”
Ryder put up one finger. “Side question, you reported that right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, of course. Nothing has come of it. Dudes probably long gone by now. Anyway, it doesn’t end there.”
Telling him about the thumb drive, answering more side questions about reporting that as well, and how the cops hadn’t found any evidence, not a single fingerprint or trace on the drive, was a bit harder to get out. It was still fresh in my mind.
“So how did this guy manipulate her voice like that?”
I paused and looked over at him. “He didn’t.”
“Oh…OH! Wait. Are you telling me…” Ryder put his beer down and turned his stool toward me. “Are you telling me you’re the little girl’s dad? From that night after graduation?”
I nodded. “Yeah. And when I found out, I freaked. I asked her if the whole thing was a ploy to get to my money. It turned into this huge fight and I stormed out. I couldn’t even look at her and shit, I’m still wrapping my head around being a father. A week later I get a letter at the office from her. She resigned and moved back to Ohio.”
“So, when I found you practicing to be the next floating corpse, you were upset that she had moved?”
I puffed out my cheeks. “I mean, I was, am upset about a lot of things. She lied to me. She kept Harper a secret for all those years. She wasn’t the girl I thought she was. I felt foolish for missing her anyway. The whole nine. The one thing I should be completely fucked about was finding out I am a father. But that seems the easiest of it all. I love that little girl. I loved her before I found out. I’m not scared at all to be her daddy.”
“So, what are you scared of then?”
