Page 16 of Anchor Point

I dropped the foot of my own chair. “Here’s the deal.”

They all leaned forward, and I wanted to thump each one of them right in the fucking forehead. “She is the woman in the photo. She stated that we’d met before and asked if I remembered her.”

There was a collective gasp like they’d just received the juiciest bit of news they’d ever heard. I loathed being the subject.

“But as to the thing Kylie found, she didn’t mention it. We didn’t discuss anything beyond acknowledging identities. So I’m not making assumptions, and you nosy little bitches are gonna keep your mouths shut and let me handle it.”

Except, I didn’t know how.

Maybe that was the underlying frustration that had ridden me all day. I didn’t know what the picture meant. I didn’t know why Olivia was here. I didn’t know who the kid was. Had she come here, knowing she’d find me, to make my life hell? What did she want?

Was this kid mine? And if she was, would that suck? I’d never wanted kids before, but what if I had a grown child? Was I such a bastard that I wasn’t worthy of being a dad? Did they want money from me? Why? And why now? Why not years ago?

I looked at the men around me and leveled my meanest, don’t-fuck-with-me glare on them one by one.

Normally, it would have them all tucking tail and running to hide, because I could be an intimidating SOB when I wanted to. But these assholes? Nothing I said or did fazed them. They shared a grin between them. One that spread and grew like they were all in on some kind of secret and their whole night had been made.

“Okay, Capt,” Thoren cheesed at me. “Whatever you say.”

Chapter Five

Olivia

“Here’s how you lock in the rack to the hitch.” The young man currently mansplaining how to attach the bike rack to my SUV missed the delicious eye roll I sent to Rosie. But her responding giggle said she got it.

He paused and glanced at us. “What’s that?”

“I didn’t say anything,” my daughter responded. “But, just to let you know, you’ve threaded that backward.”

I loved it when she stood up for herself. The years of taking her camping and hitching the pop-up camper were paying off in her general knowledge.

He glanced back down to the hitch, scratching the back of his neck. “Huh, you’re right. I should probably let you do it, then.” Teenage attitude laced his tone as he stood and handed her the pin.

Rosie puffed her chest and stepped forward. “Watch and learn.”

Pride swelled in my chest as Rosie anchored the rack and then watched intently while he loaded and secured the bikes. My daughter was growing into a capable young woman. Doing things for herself, proving herself. She ran through the cable lock sequence with him and then looked to me with sparkling eyes.

We took our shiny new mountain bikes for a spin, then stopped for a post-ride ice cream.

It had been a long week, after an equally long summer, so it was time for my girl to enjoy all her favorite things. We flopped onto the couch in our bare townhouse, waiting for the pizza delivery guy, worn-out after a fun day.

“Mom, I need to tell you something.”

A thread of discomfort shivered down my spine at her tone. “What’s wrong, honey?”

Next to me, my baby girl fidgeted. Like me, she tended to twirl her rings when she was nervous. Whatever was on her mind had her worried. “You know that day I was asking you about the people at the fire department? And I had those pictures from my friend Shae?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you think I look a lot like one of them?” She voiced it as a question, but I knew my girl.

My eyes slid closed even as my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

I didn’t know how she did it. But Rosie had figured out that her biological father was here in this very town.

“Rosie, honey,” I started, already dreading the conversation I knew she deserved.

“Mom, just wait. There’s something I need to show you.”

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