Page 5

5

EMMETT

I wake up to the soft pitter-patter of a seven-year-old trying to sneak down the hallway undetected. Unfortunately for me , it’s a familiar sound.

Unfortunately for her , I have the ears of a bat.

Rolling over onto my back, I wipe my hand down my face with a groan. Listening closer, I hear the fridge open and close with a quiet thump, and when I finally hear what I was worried about: the quiet whoosh of the back door being opened and closed, I throw my comforter off me, ready to figure out what evil plans my daughter has this morning.

Grabbing a t-shirt from the top of the basket sitting on top of the chair in the corner, I quietly exit my room, walking down the hallway and hoping I don’t find the kitchen absolutely covered in dirt or something equally terrible that I just don’t have time for.

But instead I’m met with a meticulously kept kitchen—mainly because I hardly use it, instead opting for takeout the last few nights—and silence.

This is, annoyingly, suspicious.

Peeking out the back door, I don’t see her anywhere in the backyard, and I can fee my skin start to get sticky and cold, panic starting to set in.

I immediately whip open the door. “Juniper!” I yell, walking out to the edge of the porch.

It takes a second, but I finally hear the crunch of feet coming around the house.

Juniper is nearly completely ready for school, her brown hair up in a high ponytail, her jeans and hoodie on with no shoes.

“What are you up to?” I ask, unsure if I want to know the actual answer.

“I was just putting out feeders,” she tells me with a little shrug of her shoulders.

“What feeders?” I look toward where she appeared.

She walks past me, shooting me a look I can’t quite place. “The bird feeders we put up, Dad.”

I make a mental note to check around the side of the house later, because I’m not quite sure I remember putting up bird feeders. But Juniper is heading inside, and I want to make sure she’s ready for school.

“You got your homework done?”

She rolls her eyes. “Yes, Dad.”

I nod. “Anything you need from me?”

She shakes her head. “Nope,” she replies simply.

I watch as she grabs her cereal from the bottom cabinet before opening the fridge, stretching to grab the milk on her tip toes.

And it really sets in that my daughter is growing up.

Sure, I’ve had these moments before. What father hasn’t? But they come more and more often.

The thing that hits me the most is how grown up she is at such a young age still and knowing it’s because it’s just us, and I’m not around as much as I want to be.

“You know I love you, right, Kiddo?”

Juni looks over her shoulder with another dramatic eyeroll. “You’ve said that just about a million times, Dad.”

“And I’ll tell you a million more.”

Practice was a bitch today, the humidity making me almost feel physically ill.

I’m sweaty, I feel like I’m sticking to literally everything I touch, and I’m starting to go insane. If I don’t get these clothes off of me soon and my sore body into a goddamn shower I think I’m going to lose it.

“Bye loser,” I wave as Leo drives past me, the windows of his frankly insanely expensive car rolled down and the most random 2000s boy band pop song blasting. He flips me off as he turns out of the parking lot.

Climbing into my car, I guzzle what feels like a whole gallon of water in an attempt to keep myself from cramping too hard the second I stop moving.

“Alright, let’s get home,” I mutter to myself as I blast the AC and crank up the latest country song.

Pulling out of the lot I find myself narrowly missing being hit by one of our rookies, and when I’m finally safe and on the road, I let myself actually relax.

This season is looking fairly promising. We didn’t get far last year after Leo’s injury, but this year we have a solid defense, a great offense, and we just acquired one of the best wide receivers in the league. Meanwhile other teams in our division seem to be struggling to put a great team together.

We’ll have a couple of hard games, and I hate to be so positive, but I have a good feeling, which is something I don’t generally lean into.

Sometimes you just have to find the little things to hold onto.

The rain pitters on my windshield as I head down the highway, already envisioning myself under the steady stream of my shower.

And I’m almost there. Almost. But I’m a mile from home when I see her.

The god damn redhead.

Pulled over to the side of the road, a popped tire on her old beat up car.

Heidi stands in front of the car, her hands on her hips as she chews on her cheek.

I won’t lie, I’m thinking of driving right on past before deciding against it in a split second.

It’s not that I don’t want to help her. It’s that I want to. So badly. She’s not someone I can get to know too much without things ending painfully, and it’s just better to leave it.

But I’m also not a total monster, and someone I know is currently stranded on the side of the road in the rain.

Pulling over in front of her, I hop out of my car, my already extremely damp clothes feeling painfully cold as the warm rain hits me.

Heidi turns, her eyes widening as she realizes who I am.

“Not going to run from me today?” she scoffs, turning back around with an eyeroll.

Deciding not to answer her, I take a look at her tire. It’s totally shredded, the smell of burning rubber instantly hitting me like a brick wall.

“What the hell did you do to this thing?”

Heidi wraps her arms around her, her lips instantly drooping into a frown. “I was just trying to make it to the gas station up the road,” she says quietly.

“Do you have a spare tire?”

Her green eyes meet mine, her hair matted to her head as the clouds open up on us, the rain pouring down harder. “Does it look like I have a spare tire?” she asks, gesturing to the car.

I look it over. It does not, in fact, look like it would be carrying a spare tire. In fact, I’m pretty sure that now that I’m getting a closer look, it’s missing a driver’s side door handle.

I close my eyes, throwing my head back.

“Come home with me,” I tell her, turning to head back to my car.

Heidi scoffs. “Are you fucking kidding me? You pull up here like you’re some type of fucking Prince Charming to save me? Emmett you were literally running from me the other night.”

My shoulders stiffen. “Are we really going to do this?” I ask her, annoyance growing within me.

Heidi looks from her car to me, and just when I’m about to turn around and head back to my truck, leaving her in the rain, she turns, her head hung low, and walks to my passenger-side door.

“Do we need to call someone to get your car?” I call out over the heavy thrum of rain hitting the pavement, my clothes now soaked completely.

“They’re already here,” she says so quietly I could barely hear.

Looking behind me, I watch as the tow truck pulls up to her car, a large, burly man stepping out into the rain as he pulls his trucker hat tight to his head.

“This your car?” he yells.

“Yep,” I respond, and when I realize that Heidi is rounding my truck once more, I wave her off. Her eyebrows shoot up as she looks between us, but she listens.

The man watches her get into my vehicle. “I assume the lady was driving this? I swear women have a way of fucking up them cars.”

“Excuse me?” I ask, my body feeling suddenly hot.

“If it weren’t for women I would probably be out of a job,” he rolls his eyes, inspecting the damage.

“If it weren’t for women, you wouldn’t exist,” I snap at him. “If you knew what was best for you I’d load this car up and be on your way.”

The man looks astonished, as if he’s never had anyone speak up to him before, which wouldn’t shock me. The shit I’ve heard men feel comfortable enough saying around me makes me feel sick, and it only takes one flip of the wrist to fix the behavior. We see it in our rookies all the time.

You correct it once and most of the time they learn.

“How much?” I grit through my teeth, not wanting a dime of Heidi’s money going to this idiot.

The man sputters, at a loss for words. “Three hundred,” he finally manages to say.

After getting him situated with a check, I climb into my truck, ready to just be home.

Heidi and I sit in awkward silence for several moments before she turns, propping herself against the door. “Thank you,” she says quietly.

“Yeah. Where do you need to go?” I ask simply. It’s nothing.

“Today’s just been a really, really shitty day.”

“It hasn’t been my favorite either. What happened?” I shift into gear and pull onto the road. I’m not sure where I’m supposed to go, so I start toward home for now. We can drive for awhile longer if need be.

“I just, I don’t know. I got to my shoot today and my camera broke. I don’t even know if I like photography at this point. But if I don’t like photography, then what else am I supposed to like?” Heidi sighs, tossing her head back against the head rest.

“Have you thought about getting a different job?” I ask her. I know she’s been a photographer for a long time from Briar. She was talking about having Heidi help her find a photographer for their wedding at one point.

But I can tell in an instant when her steely eyes meet mine, mascara running down her face, that I said the wrong fucking thing.

The woman next to me instantly shuts down. She doesn’t respond to me, instead sinking into herself, her arms wrapped around her body as far as they can go.

I open my mouth to apologize, but nothing comes out. What do you say in this situation? I’m trying to help, but clearly I’m lousy at it. I bite my lip. “I’m sorry.”

Heidi shakes her head. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine if you’re upset.”

“You’ve been just fine with upsetting me in the past.”

Pulling into my driveway, I put my truck in park.

“Hey,” I say as I turn to her. “From everything I’ve heard, you’re amazing at what you do. Sometimes people just have shitty days?—”

“Try years,” she mumbles.

“Shitty days, years, or decades,” I correct myself. “But you have something with that. You have talent. I think you’re going to do fine.”

She shakes her head. “It’s over. My camera is fucked, I’m at my whit’s end, and I’m just done with it. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but it’s not going to be that.”

The car is silent for what feels like hours until Briar’s words hit me.

I close my eyes, hoping and praying I’m not about to regret this.

“Juniper needs a nanny. Briar suggested you, and Juni already adores you,” I take a deep breath. “Do you want the job?”

Heidi’s head whips in my direction. “What does it entail?”

“Pickup and drop-offs for school, making sure she’s doing her homework and stays fed, maybe the occasional playdate. I’m not really sure, to be honest. She’s never really had a woman in the house and she’s been acting up. I just think that having someone here would help her a lot.”

She considers this for a second. “I would consider it, but I don’t have a car.”

“I can take care of that.”