Page 124 of That One Touch

“But maybe that’s not what she needed,” Marley said softly. “Maybe she needed you to fight for her.”

His mouth felt dry. “No,” he said. “That’s not what she needed. I tried that once. A woman ended up dead.”

“Your wife died,” Marley corrected him. “And not because of you. Because of an idiot who’d been drinking too much and made the stupid decision to get into his truck. It wasn’t your fault. You know that.” Then he shook his head. “Whatever. Believe what you want. I was right all along, you’re a fucking idiot.”

“Thanks,” Pres said. “It’s good to know you’re on my side.”

“Lola’s sad,” Delilah whispered to him that night as he sat on her bed. She clutched her giraffe tightly to her chest.

“She is?” Pres asked. “Why?”

“Because Cassie wasn’t at dance today.”

He swallowed hard. “Yeah, I can see why that would make her sad.”

“She wants to talk to Cassie,” Delilah told him. “Like she promised.”

He blew out a mouthful of air. “Cassie’s going to call on Saturday. You can both talk to her then.”

Delilah clutched Lola tighter. “She can’t wait that long.”

He gave her the tightest of smiles. “It’ll be here before you know it,” he said softly.

“But what if she’s busy on Saturday? Can we call her now?” Delilah looked at him hopefully.

He frowned, trying to think of the right thing to do here. He didn’t want Delilah to start demanding to talk to Cassie whenever she wanted. He knew that Cassie was busy. She sounded tired whenever he spoke to her.

And most evenings this week she had things scheduled.

“I’ll see if we can call her tomorrow night,” he promised.

“But Daddy…”

“Tomorrow.” He caught her eye, trying to send her a subliminal message. Please don’t create a scene. He wasn’t sure he could cope with it. Not with Marley’s accusations from earlier still swirling through his head.

“Okay.” Delilah nodded. “Tomorrow.”

He leaned forward to kiss her. “Scoot down, I’ll tuck you in.” And for once, she did as she was told. He kissed her once more and then stood, walking over to turn out her light.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, sweetheart.”

“If you left me too, who would look after me?”

His hand froze against the light switch. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Delilah said nothing for a minute. “Granny would look after us,” she whispered to Lola. “If Daddy is sent away too.”

Ah fuck it. He walked back to her bed. “I need you to listen to me. I’m not going anywhere.” His voice was firm. “I’m right here. With you. And this is where I’ll always be.”

“Even when I’m grown up?”

He nodded. “Yeah. My mom and dad are still here for me, aren’t they? Granny and Gramps I mean.”

“Yes.” Her voice was small.

He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight. “Baby, I’m not going anywhere,” he promised.

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