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EMMETT

I ’m five minutes from finally fixing the wiring issue on my 1970 Plymouth Barracuda when my phone rings from across the garage. My oily fingers pause as I rest my head against the open hood, a groan ripping through me before I can stop it.

I’m pretty sure I know what this call is about, and I’m not going to like it.

Wiping my fingers off on the cloth hanging from the workstation to my right, I count the rings to keep my anxiety from skyrocketing.

When I finally reach for my phone, I watch as the call goes to voicemail. I know the number, and I know that in just a few seconds they’ll call again.

And like clockwork, they do.

I take a deep breath before answering.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mr. Gardner? It’s Trisha from Juniper’s school, how are you this morning?”

I grind my teeth, crossing my arm over my chest as I prop the phone against my ear with the other. “I’d be better if I didn’t know this wasn’t going to be a pleasant call,” I tell her a little too gruffly.

I can hear the older woman I’ve become all too familiar with smack her lips before she continues. “Unfortunately not, Mr. Gardner. Juniper was caught with a chipmunk in the school, which marks the third time she’s brought wild animals into the building. Unfortunately, we need you to come pick her up for today as we explore other disciplinary actions.”

“Let me guess,” I blow out a breath, “there was another kid involved in this plan too.”

Trisha’s silence is answer enough. After a couple beats, she continues. “We were hoping that it would end after they were caught trying to lure a deer into the back entrance of the school after recess a couple of months ago, but it has continued. We’re pretty sure that they were behind the birds in the gym two weeks ago but we cannot prove it. It would be lovely if you could use the time with her today to maybe go over why this is dangerous for the whole school.”

“The one chipmunk?”

“You’d be surprised how much damage a chipmunk can do, Sir.”

I roll my eyes, letting my arm drop as I prop myself against my workbench. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Great. She’s in the office for you when you get here,” she pauses, “the two are separated.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

I end the call and plop my phone down on the table, rubbing my temples. My hands smell like oil, I look like absolute shit, I had a large checklist of things I had to do today, and now I have to go retrieve my daughter from her school because she decided that her sole mission in life is to save all the animals by bringing them inside.

Fucking wonderful.

With a groan I head back into the house to retrieve a shirt before grabbing my Timberlands, propping myself against the wall as I tie them up as I remind myself no less than five times that I wanted a daughter and she is my greatest gift.

Because she is. She’s the only thing that keeps me sane. Even now, as I’m climbing into my pickup truck to go grab her, she’s still holding me together.

A five-minute drive brings me in front of Juniper’s large school, the red brick reminding me of times in my life I wish I didn’t see every time I close my eyes, the memories feeling like a thousand pounds perched on my shoulders.

I’m putting the truck in park when I see the blonde hurrying across the parking lot, a frown on her face.

“Hey!” I call as I climb out, letting the door slam behind me hard enough to shake the vehicle.

She pauses, her wide brown eyes turning to meet mine. A wide grin spreads across her lips but doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Hey Emmett,” she say sheepishly.

I throw my hands up. “Why the hell is your daughter corrupting mine?” Briar bites her lip as she looks at her feet. I place my hands on my hips. “You know I’m joking, right?” I ask.

Her eyes scan mine for a beat too long, as if trying to decide if I’m telling the truth.

“Emmett I’m not sure I’ve ever heard you talk this much.” Finally, she cracks a real smile, her shoulders relaxing.

“You’ve been around enough game nights to have heard me talk more than that,” I tell her with a chuckle.

She shakes her head. “No, but happy looks good on you. What’s going on?”

I immediately feel myself starting to shut down. There’s no reason I should be happy right now. The vacation was just, I don’t know. Weird.

It was a great vacation, don’t get me wrong. But the summer was one of the best I’ve had in awhile.

“Nothing. Just wondering why my daughter hasn’t been in trouble a day in her life until Elara’s first day.”

The problem is I’m not even kidding. Elara and Juniper became fast friends the second they met, and once Briar and Leo finally made things official—well, privately at least, considering for all the public knew, they were always this way—Briar had Elara transferred to Juniper’s school.

I’d like to think that over the years I’ve been a good dad. A great dad, even. I have a fantastic job that makes good money that I meticulously squirrel away for Juni’s future, I make her eat her veggies but let her eat cake every Sunday morning, she does her homework without being asked and heads outside most days to find something to do in our gated community.

Juniper has been a model kid. She’s made it easy on me… until now.

Halfway through Elara’s first day at Juni’s school I got a call to let me know that Juniper and Elara were trying to shake down the boys in their class for money.

When I questioned Juniper about this, she simply shrugged and told me that it takes a lot of money to save the rainforest. “I’ll just have to be sneakier next time,” she had told me with a sly smile.

I was almost too fascinated to be angry at her, which I’m assuming was her entire intention. But she was still grounded for a day, which meant she was stuck in her room on a Sunday with no cake, her nose stuck in a book for hours before she tried sneaking her way out by letting me know that her ant colony was about to die if they didn’t see sunlight for at least an hour.

She was shocked when I let her know that ant colonies don’t need a chaperone and I could just stick them outside, and after an eyeroll and a slam of the door, she spent the rest of the day doing who knows what.

I hoped that would be the end of it, but of course it wasn’t.

Elara was a great kid, but god dammit was she an enabler. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have been absolutely certain she was actually Leo’s real kid.

Briar and I start heading into the school, her stride wide as she tries to keep up with me.

“I think it may be Juni corrupting Elara,” she said with a chuckle. “The girl’s first pet was Champ. I didn’t even think she cared about anything other than absolutely obliterating Leo at their new video game.”

I’ve tried playing video games with Elara before. It’s not pretty.

“Well she’s a big animal lover now, clearly.” I hold the door open for her.

We’re quiet the rest of the walk to the principal’s office, and it occurs to me that my kid has been to the principal’s more in such a short amount of time than I had, well, ever.

A short, stocky woman looks up from her desk as we enter, the smile on her face faltering as her eyes flicker into the next room.

“Mr. Gardner, Miss Crosby, thank you two for coming in. The principal would love to speak with you two before you take your girls home,” she says as she stands, motioning us into the open door on the left.

I nod at her in thanks before entering, taking a seat on the far chair in front of a man who looks at least eighty.

Although the two of them have been in trouble frequently, I actually haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the principal.

The man clears his throat, placing his hands on the desk as he looks between Briar and I. From the corner of my eye I watch as Briar crosses her arms over her chest, leaning into the chair. “I assume you two know why you’ve been called in here,” he says matter-of-factly.

“I can assure you that the girls are going to go home and learn some lessons,” Briar tells him cooly, her chin raised.

“I’m not sure what has gotten into Ms. Juniper, Mr. Gardner, but I can only assume it has to do with,” his eyes flicker to Briar with distaste, “the company she keeps. You may want to talk to her about her choices of friends.”

Briar scoffs next to me, and I furrow my brows, watching as she examines her fingers. When her eyes meet mine, she mouths, “I’ve been here before.”

“Sir, with all due respect, they were just trying to rescue animals, weren’t they? Isn’t that a sign of,” I pause, trying to think of what the hell it’s a sign of. “I mean we’re not raising serial killers and that has to count for something, right?”

The principal looks unamused as his fingers drum on the desk before he lets out an exasperated sigh. “Please take them home and talk to them,” he all but pleads, turning his chair.

Briar and I shoot each other one last look before getting up and making our way into the main room. The girls are there, standing next to each other with the most angelic, sweet smiles as Trisha scowls at them from her desk.

“If you can just sign here,” Trisha grumbles, pushing two forms at us.

When the girls are all signed out, we quietly leave. It’s not until we hit the parking lot that the girls start talking. “I can’t believe they wouldn’t let us help it,” Briar pouts, looking back toward the school.

“We may still be able to find it,” Juniper responds, hand on her hip.

“What are you two talking about?” I ask. Briar comes to a stop next to me, looking like she’d rather be just about anywhere else other than here at this school still.

“We found an injured chipmunk,” Juniper explains, pushing a rock with her shoe. “We were trying to bring him home so we could help him.”

Briar lets out a sigh before squatting down in front of the two of them, pulling Elara into her. “You girls have the biggest hearts, and I never want you to lose that, okay? But you also need to be careful that you don’t get kicked out of school. You do that and you won’t be able to play football with Leo one day.”

Leo, my best friend and Briar’s fiancé, has been over the moon excited that Briar’s daughter has now decided that she wants to play professional football one day. She thinks she can play in the League, and who are we to tell her that’s probably not going to happen.

Instead, Elara frequently rushes Leo, who immediately falls to the ground with a girlish scream every time.

“What does that matter if there’s animals out there hurt?” Juniper asks, tears in her eyes.

While most people would have to think about what to say, Briar immediately knows how to comfort her. “In order to save everyone, you need to take care of yourself first. Next time you see an animal that’s hurt, try to call your dad or me before doing anything. Or tell a teacher, okay, Bug?” Juniper nods, wiping her tears before both she and Elara wrap Briar in a big hug. “Now go get in the car,” she tells them as she stands up.

The girls do their handshake before heading off to our respective cars, and Briar bites her cheek.

“Spit it out,” I tell her.

“You need help.”

“I don’t need help.”

“Yes you do.”

“I’m going back to when we didn’t speak.”

“You know I have a secret weapon, Gardner. And trust me you do not want me to use it.”

Leo.

I scoff. “Why do you think I need help?”

“Football season is starting. You have no help right now, and honestly? I can’t manage the two of them alone right now. They’re insane.”

“So what you’re saying is you need help.”

Briar’s face grows red with each of my words, and I can see her biting her tongue. “Emmett. You can’t keep doing this. You hole yourself up in your garage most nights and Juniper comes to me for advice,” she says, and my heart drops.

“She does?”

“She asked me what a pad was the other week. Where did she even learn about them?”

I can’t think of anyplace. Maybe TV?

“And that’s something that she honestly should start learning about,” Briar continues. “What’s going to happen when it’s something else? I’m not teaching other people’s kids about,” Briar looks around, “sex, Emmett. Years from now if she asks me, I’m out.”

“I don’t know what you want from me,” I toss my hands up.

“Get. Help.” She pauses after each word, driving them home for the one-hundredth time, hoping that this is the time they’ll stick. “You need a nanny. A long-term nanny. I don’t know. Just someone to be around her and just give her someone else.”

Briar was a single parent for a long time, as have I. I respect her opinion, and although it’s certainly something I’ve thought about, inviting someone into my home wasn’t really my idea of a good time.

“Please,” she tells me, her eyes hard. “Hey! You even know one!”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I’m telling her to call you.”

“Briar.”

“Emmett.”

We fall silent and my eyes narrow.

“Get help or I’m telling Leo you want to come to therapy with him,” she whispers finally before spinning on her heel, her middle finger lifted in the air as a goodbye.

If I’m honest, there’s probably no better punishment.