Page 59

“Okay, fine. I’ll consider it.”
She smiles. “Good. Good talk. I know all the websites and stuff we need to make it happen and—”
“I’ll consider it, sweetie, but we’re moving.”
She looks at me. She studies me.Hard. Then she huffs loudly, drops her fork, and looks out the window. Her lips purse. She sits back in the booth and crosses her arms.
“It’s because ofherisn’t it?” She looks disgusted. “Oh my god, you’re moving us to that Podunk little town. That’s what this is all about. The‘it’s too hot in Florida’andthe‘don’t you miss Aunt Marti?’Is that what you were doing up there all week? Did you lie to me about going up on business?”
I reach across the table and grab her hand, but she pulls away.
“Bug, I need you to listen. There’s more.”
Suddenly, her face turns from disgust to sadness. Her eyes become glassy. “Please please don’t tell me you’re getting married.”
“I’m not getting married. Not yet anyway. The more is that…” I’m looking into my daughter’s teary eyes, praying what I’m about to say will excite her and not destroy her. “You’re going to be a big sister.”
Her jaw drops. The tears balancing on her lashes fall. She pushes herself out of the booth and runs to the bathroom.
Fuck. I definitely should have waited.
I sit here for a while, waiting for her to return. She needs a minute to let it all sink in. But then ten minutes become fifteen and I begin to worry. I settle the bill and walk past the bar to where the bathrooms are. When a woman and child come out of the ladies’ bathroom, I peek inside and don’t see anyone around. She must be in a stall. I knock loudly. “Bug?”
No response.
“Bug, let’s go home and talk about this.”
The woman who just left turns around. “Are you looking for the girl with the blue hair?”
“Yes. She’s my daughter.”
“She left a few minutes ago. I saw her using the Uber app on her phone.”
“Oh, Christ.”
I run out the front door, cursing myself for setting up the app on her phone. I’m a single father. I did it for emergency purposes. I never wanted her to be in a situation where she felt trapped if I couldn’t get to her. Yet here I am being the one to trap her. I just tossed her whole world upside down. I’m the worst damn excuse for a father.
I look all over, but can’t find her. I call her. I text her. She doesn’t answer or reply. When I track her phone, I see she’s moving. She’s already in a car. A stranger’s fucking car.
I race to my car and start driving. When her location doesn’t go in the direction of our house, it dawns on me that she’s probably going back to Mel’s.
I drive way too fast and nearly catch up, arriving at Mel’s house just as she’s exiting the Uber.
Storming out of my car, I snap, “Get in the car, Bug.”
Her hands fly to her hips. “No.”
I step forward. “Darla, get in the car. Now.”
Her hands ball into fists and she stomps a foot as she reluctantly obeys. But not before she says, “Don’t talk to me.”
The ride home is unbearable. There is so much I need to say. It breaks my heart to see her this upset. But it saddens me that she hates Allie so much that she’s not even the least bit excited about becoming a big sister.
Before the car is even in park, she’s out the door, running into the house, and probably locking herself in her room.
I get our things out of the trunk, counting to ten in the process. In the house, I go to my bar, unlock the cabinet, and take a shot of whiskey to settle my nerves. I give her thirty whole minutes to calm down and come out of her room. But all I hear is loud music blaring.
My phone vibrates with a text.