Page 161 of Never Let You Go

Skye leans over the table and tugs at my cheeks.

“What are you doing?” I chuckle, pushing her hands gently off my face.

“Smile, Daddy!” She comes over to my side of the booth and tries tickling me.

“Okay, okay.” I grin.

She sits back next to me and crosses her arms. “What’s the matter with grown-ups?”

“Why?”

“Grown-ups are either sad or worried. Sometimes, angry.”

“Who’s worried and angry?”

“Miss Hen-der-son was angry this morning with No. Reason. At. All.” She pauses to waive to a friend skipping on the sidewalk. “And Alek-zandra was worried.”

“Hm. What was Alexandra worried about?”

She shrugs. “Some people in New York.”

What else is new. Why won’t she let me help her? Why won’t she just stay here?

“And you look sad,” she adds, poking at my chest and frowning.

“I’m sorry. I’m not sad; I really am not. I am the happiest daddy on earth.” I kiss her tenderly, and she snuggles in my embrace. “How could I be sad with you as my daughter? Sometimes, grown-ups are complicated.”

I tried to protect Skye by not having a real relationship with Alexandra, but she’s getting hurt, anyway. What am I supposed to do?

“Caroline is getting baptized,” Skye says out of the blue.

“Is that right?” Did Emma mention something about that? Come to think about it, she might have.

She nods. “She gets to choose her godmother and godfather, because she is old enough.”

I don’t know much about how these things work, so I settle for a grunt. “That’s good. Is she excited?”

Justin comes over with her grilled cheese and fries and two pints of beer. He sits silently across from us.

“If I asked Alek-zandra to be my godmother, would she have to stay here forever?”

Justin cocks an eyebrow, suppressing a smile.

“What do you mean?” I ask, genuinely puzzled as to how my daughter’s brain works but still seeing where this is going. Fast.

“Daddy,” she huffs. She might as well have said, Get with the program. “A godmother replaces your mother in case yours dies. So, if Alek-zandra was my godmother, she’d have to stay here, right?”

Oh. Shit. How am I supposed to answer that? There are so many ways her little heart could break again with my answer. “I don’t think that’s how it works,” I say carefully. “Also, being baptized is—I’m pretty sure it’s not just about having a godmother and godfather. I think you have to go to mass and stuff. And Sunday school.” That’s a cop-out, but what else can I say?

Skye’s eyes dart outside toward where the church is, at the end of The Green. “Oh,” she says quietly. She frowns and tilts her head, then starts picking at her fries.

I might be out of the woods, but my kid is hurting, and I fucking hate that.

“Well, that was interesting,” Justin says once Skye finishes her food and goes to pet Moose. “I wonder how long it’s going to take that little brain to realize all it’ll take to keep Alex in Emerald Creek is for her father to take her to church.”

“Not all women want a ring on their finger.” But the thought of her wearing my ring, using my name, does all sorts of things to me.

“You’re not really going to let her go, are you?”

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