Page 52 of One Good Puck (Denver Bashers #5)

Abby

“ L evi.” It feels so weird to say his name.

His eyes are wide as he gazes at me. Like he can’t quite believe it’s me.

He takes a few steps forward and opens his mouth to say something, but then looks at Emma. He stops dead in his tracks. His brow hits his hairline. For a long moment, he stares at her.

He clears his throat. “Emma.”

She smiles at him, then looks at me. “Mom, is this your friend?”

I open my mouth to speak, but I can’t. I’m still processing the shock of seeing Levi after all these years.

And the shock of how…happy he looks to see her. He’s never, ever looked at her like that before.

I shake my head, feeling dizzy and disoriented, wishing I knew the right thing to say. I don’t want to lie to Emma. But I don’t want to get into the painful history of her dad in the middle of a Christmas tree farm.

Just then, I feel Gavin’s hand on my arm. Concern radiates in his ocean blue eyes as he gazes at me .

He digs a few dollars out of his pocket and hands them to Emma. “Why don’t you run up to the gift shop and grab a Christmas cookie. See if they have any gingerbread ones. Your favorite, right?”

“Right,” Emma says brightly before running off to the small gift shop just ahead, just a few feet away. She waves at Levi as she trots past him.

Levi’s gaze follows her as she runs off and disappears behind the gift shop door.

A protective feeling courses through me. Every muscle in my body is tense, on high alert. I watch Emma through the giant window of the gift shop as she looks at the cookies before turning back to Levi.

“What are you doing here, Levi? I thought you moved away.”

He turns to look at me and shoves his hands in his coat pockets. “I, uh, came back for my job.”

The look in his brown eyes is sheepish. Like he’s embarrassed. And ashamed.

Good. He should be. He abandoned his daughter when she was an infant without a second thought.

The three of us stand around, the tension in the air growing thicker with each passing second of silence.

Levi lets out a heavy sigh, his shoulders sinking with the movement. “Look, I know how hard this must be for you, seeing me like this. It’s not like I planned to run into you and Emma.”

He looks at Gavin, who’s glaring at Levi.

“Do you know how hard this is?” I say sharply.

“Come on, Abby,” he says in a tired voice. “You know I’m sorry for how I left things.”

I let out a laugh that’s pure disbelief, riddled with anger.

“You are unbelievable. A real piece of work.” I tug a hand through my hair, pissed off and frustrated and feeling like I’m going to explode.

“You abandoned us, Levi. Emma was barely six months old when you decided you didn’t feel like being a dad anymore and ran out on us.

You didn’t try to reach out. Seven years and we never heard a word from you.

So no, I don’t know that you’re sorry. But as far as I’m concerned, you never acted very sorry for leaving us. ”

His face twists in pain. “I deserved that.”

“You deserve worse,” I say, wiping the hot tears that have fallen down my face.

“Let me make this right, Abby. Can I…can I tell Emma that I’m her dad? Maybe I can start visiting her too…”

That protective feeling from earlier sharpens. My adrenaline spikes up, and I glare at him.

“No.”

Levi frowns. “Why not? Abby, I’m her father.”

“You sure didn’t act like it,” I bite.

“I was young, Abby.”

“So was I.” My voice is a hair under a shout. We’re in public and I should keep my voice down. But I can’t help it. I can’t believe he’s making such pitiful excuses for abandoning our daughter.

“You don’t think I was scared too?” I swallow back the lump in my throat at the memory of Levi leaving. At how heartbroken I was. How lonely and isolated I felt taking care of our baby all on my own.

Hot tears burn in my eyes. “I was fucking terrified, Levi. But I didn’t leave. Because she’s my daughter—my baby. I wouldn’t ever leave her, no matter what. Unlike you.”

He closes his eyes and exhales, like he’s tired of dealing with me. “Abby, I made a mistake. I’m not the guy I used to be.”

I don’t say anything. I just look at him, my heart thrashing in my chest, that on-edge feeling coursing through my entire body.

“Can I just say hi to Emma?” Levi asks.

He starts to walk toward me, but Gavin steps in front of me, blocking Levi from me.

“She said no. Back off.” Gavin’s tone is hard, lethal.

Levi steps away. “Jesus dude, okay.”

Gavin grabs my hand and leads me away from Levi, pulling the tree behind him.

I’m trembling and my heart is still racing. I glance behind me, but I don’t see Levi. He must have walked off. We stop just in front of the gift shop.

I wipe my face with my gloves and sniffle. “I…I don’t want Emma to see me like this. She’ll get upset, and I don’t want to worry her.”

Gavin cups my face in my hands and holds me close. “It’s okay. Why don’t you go to the car and take a few minutes for yourself while I get Emma and get the tree packed up?”

Gavin’s touch and calming, steady voice are the comfort I need.

“Okay,” I say in a shaky voice. “I’m sorry, Gavin. I didn’t mean to fall apart like this. I-I just wasn’t ready to see him after all these years…and what he said about Emma…”

Gavin shakes his head, holding my gaze. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for, okay? It’s gonna be alright. I promise.”

He kisses me, then hands me the keys to his truck. I walk over to the parking lot and sit in the front seat. I take a minute just to breathe and calm down, then I grab a few tissues and clean myself up.

Ten minutes later, I see Gavin and Emma walking over. When I see her smiling and laughing with him, I feel instant relief.

He loads the wrapped-up tree in the back of the truck and helps Emma into the backseat.

“Mom, I got a gingerbread cookie for you.” She hands it to me.

“Thank you, honey.”

Gavin hops in the driver’s seat. He gives me a soft smile and gently squeezes my leg.

He turns on the engine and pulls out of the lot. He glances at Emma through the rearview mirror. “Now that we’ve decided that gingerbread cookies are the best Christmas cookies, I think we need to decide what the best Christmas song is.”

Emma giggles. “‘Frosty the Snowman’.”

“I was going to go with ‘Jingle Bells,’” he says.

“‘Frosty the Snowman’ is way more fun to sing.”

Gavin flashes a mock-offended face at Emma. “No way. ‘Jingle Bells’ is the ultimate sing-along song.”

He starts singing the first verse horribly off-key, and Emma giggles. I can’t help but chuckle.

He stops singing when he starts to laugh too. I gaze at him, emotion whirring through me, in complete awe at the way he soothed me and protected me when I was distraught. The way he cares for Emma. How he’s going out of his way to make her happy to protect her from the stressful run-in with Levi.

My heart beats faster in my chest, but this time, it’s not because I’m stressed. It’s because it’s crystal clear just how much I love Gavin.