AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Shit." I groan.
"Fuck." I can hear Aziel say from behind me. We both run up to Lilah and to my surprise, he picks her up and rushes into the mechanic shop. Pascal is inside the shop smoking a cigarette when he sees us.
"What's going on?" He asks, tossing his cigarette.
"Nothing. We're good." He kicks open a rinky-dink bathroom and sets Lilah on the sink. It's stained with grease and paint and looks like it's seen its better days, just like the rest of this bathroom. It's small and rusted, but thankfully clean.
"Ow." Lilah cries. Glancing down, I see a small scrape with gravel embedded in the wound. It's not deep, and only slightly bleeding, but any kind of a scrape-burn hurts like hell.
"I'm so sorry, Lilah. Mommy didn't realize you were going to fly off the swing like that." I bend down and wipe the tears from her cheek.
She looks up at me, eyes full of tears and cheeks red from pain. "I got an owie." She points to her knee.
"I know you did, baby. We'll get you all fixed up. I'm so sorry." I brush her curls that are sticking to her wet cheeks out of her face.
Aziel pulls a handful of supplies from the inside of a pale white cabinet above the toilet seat. "Okay, kid. You pretty much sprouted wings and flew across the yard. Did you do it on purpose?"
Lilah looks at him a moment. "No." She wipes her nose, falling into the trap that I seem to be victim to more and more these days.
"Really? Are you sure? I think I'm going to try that swing set out and see if I can fly. What do you think? Think I could go further than you?" He rips open an alcohol wipe and looks up at her expectantly.
"You can't do that." She laughs through her tears.
"Why not? I can't go on your swing set?" He looks appalled.
"You're too big!"
He rears back. "I'm too big? Are you calling me fat?" He winces. "Hey, this is going to hurt for just a second." He presses the wipe to her knee and her tears start up again. "My bad. Hey, Lilah, do you think I can build swing set for my size and then fly further than you?"
"No." She cries.
"Why not?"
"Because swing sets are for kids!"
"I'm a kid!" He pokes her side, and she finally cracks a smile. He lifts the wipe and squeezes a little ointment on her wound, then opening it a band aid and with the upmost care, places it right over her scrape.
"You're not a kid."
"Well maybe, but want to know something?"
"What?" She asks.
"I'm all finished, and I think you did really good. If it were me that scraped my leg, I think I wouldstillbe crying."
"Really?" She sits up a little straighter. Like she believes she the strongest person in the room.
"I do." He crumbles up the trash and tosses it into an overflowing bin.Is that a condom?
"Want to know something else?" He smiles at Lilah.
"What?" Her tears are long gone. Now she's smiling, eager for any kind of information she can get out of Aziel. She looks up to him, I realize, and she likes him more than I thought. Knowing that makes me a little nervous. Getting too close to people can only end in heartbreak. When it comes to my daughter's, having her heart broken is the very last thing I want of her.
His face turns serious. "I might not be your real dad, but I'm always here if you need anything. Don't ever feel pressured that you need to have a father, because you don't. But if you ever need someone to talk to or if you need anything at all, I'm your guy. All right?"
"Okay." She looks down at her band aid a second before looking back up at him. "But, if Mommy wants you to be my daddy, will you?"
He licks his lips. "Lilah, at this point, I don't think I can deny your mother much of anything."
