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"You're not alone and you will heal from this, Macy. You're strong as hell," he said quietly. I nodded and patted his hand. Dad wasn't the sappy type, so I knew he didn't want to turn this into a whole thing.
Their words settled something in me. Like them acknowledging I hadn't done anything wrong had melted away any guilt I'd allowed to sneak past my defenses.
With my head held a little higher I dove back into helping my mom until Dad came to get me for work. It was just easier to carpool on practice days. He always got there early, so I had plenty of time to manage what I needed to before the team started getting in.
When we got there he handed over my list but it looked like he was biting something back.
"Look, usually we have someone else handle it and you can say no," he hedged. "But can you clean up the locker room a bit? We've got laundry on pickup, so don't worry about that, but spraying it down with disinfectant and dusting and all that? Just for this week until our regular lady is back?"
"Sure," I said easily. "I'll knock it out first so it's ready when the guys get here."
"Having you back is great," he told me honestly. "I can't rely on others the way I can with you. You never let me down."
"Dammit Dad, don't make me cry," I warned him. It felt like I could burst into tears at any moment lately.
"On that note, have fun, kid," he said, rushing toward his office and leaving me cracking up behind him. I dropped my own things in the break room before hitting the supply closet. I'd brought over a few of my own products last week so I mixed up a cleaning bucket of soapy, green-apple-scented cleaner.
All they had before was lavender... hell no.
Putting my favorite playlist on was the only way I was knocking this out. I did do a thorough check first to make sure I was alone before I started rocking out and disinfecting the room.
Okay, maybe I didn't inherit Mom’s baking skills, but we were clearly cut from the same cloth.
As I scrubbed the tinted window my eyes caught on the sidewalk. A man was walking a pug puppy down the street. My chest ached and a familiar sadness settled in. I missed my baby so much and I couldn't help but picture his poor little self cowering in the corner of a shelter, wondering what he did wrong.
Nothing, baby, that was all on Luke.
"Hey, you okay?" I hadn't even realized my music had stopped or that someone had approached. The man standing there was one of Dad's first line guys.
"Tate, right?"
He nodded, eyes scanning my face before his formed into a grimace.
"Are you going to cry?" He sounded so uncomfortable with the idea that I started laughing hysterically. It effectively chased away the sadness for the moment.
His hazel eyes were full of confusion and a hint of amusement as he watched me double over, full belly laughs echoing in the empty room.
"Now I'm even more concerned."
"I'm fine, Tate, thanks for that," I snorted, sobering a bit. "Just missing my dog." I gestured to the man walking so he didn't try to commit me or something.
That had his frown deepening. Come to think of it, I didn't think I had ever seen the man smile.
"I better get back to work if you guys are filing in," I said, dunking the rag and getting to work again. I didn't know who Dad had hired for this, but they were awful. Months of grime was coming up with each swipe and my bucket was dark gray with muck.
He walked away without another word and I couldn't help but turn around and watch. The low-slung athletic shorts and tank top gave me a peek of hard muscles. His black hair and light dusting of freckles was adorable, in an ‘angry teddy bear’ sort of way.
I really wanted to earn a smile from him.
The rest of my cleaning was a rush order, but I did the basics and hurried out before I saw something I didn't want to. In truth, I really wanted to, but that would be inappropriate.
Dad was raving at someone on the phone when I got back to his office. His face was red and he looked two seconds from shattering the entire thing on his desk.
When he saw me, he ended the call and sat heavily.
"What have I done wrong around here, Macy?"
The question startled me. Men like my father were built on confidence.
