Page 49 of Kept in the Dark

Trey came into the living room carrying two plates of pizza. “Here, Princess.”

She sat the plate down on the coffee table and eyed him, still annoyed by the pet name. “Don’t-”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t call you that.” He waved her off as he sat down next to her, placing his plate on the table. “I didn’t mean to overstep.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t mean to step on your toes. I just meant that since she’s my daughter, this is her home too. Nothing more than that.”

Hailey nodded silently and stared at her hands that she placed in her lap.

“Hailey, look at me.”

She did and he took one of her hands. “I’m not going to take her from you. As angry as I am that you kept her from me, I wouldn’t do that to you or her. She deserves to have two happy parents, however that looks. If it means I fly out to visit every weekend, then I’ll do it. If it means I move there, I’ll find a house close to you. Or,” he shrugged, “if we can work things out, maybe…” He roughly ran his other hand through his hair. “I don’t know, but I don’t want you to be scared that I’m going to take her from you.”

Hailey gently clutched his hand. “I don’t know what this looks like either, but I don’t want us to be bitter. You’re right, Trinity deserves to have happy parents.”

“Once things settle after your mother’s case and this other case I’m working on, we can sit down and figure out what we think will be best. And if it doesn’t work, we can always change it. I just don’t want you to be worried. I know I just met her a few hours ago, but I love her more than anything in this world and she will always come first.”

Hailey closed her eyes and let out a breath. “Good. No matter what, she needs to be our priority.”

“Deal,” Trey said.

There was an awkward pause before Hailey said, “So it seems like you’ve reinvented yourself. Do you like being Chief?”

“It has its ups and downs like any other job, but yeah, I like it for the most part. It’s pretty quiet around here, so I usually go out and help the guys who are on call, or I make rounds to the schools and check on the kids.”

“Trying to keep them from following in your footsteps?” she teased.

“Make jokes all you want, Princess, but if I remember correctly, you were quite fond of my bad-boy reputation. It wasn’t too long ago that we found ourselves in some trouble and you were having the time of your life.”

She looked down at her hands and smiled. “We did have fun, didn’t we? My parents were furious the night we played Ding-Dong-Ditch around town.”

He laughed. “I didn’t mean to get you into trouble, but it’s one of my favorite memories of you.”

She playfully swiped at his arm. “I was grounded for a week after that. I wasn’t even allowed to leave the house, no thanks to you.”

Trey smiled and pointed at her. “You didn’t exactly do as you were told, anyway. The next day we were in my bed making plans to elope after a steamy love making session.”

Hailey giggled and looked away. God, they had been naive. They truly believed they would run away and get married and live happily ever after. A part of her wished she still held on to that innocence.

“Are y'all done talking?” Trinity asked, poking her head around the corner.

Hailey jumped a little. “Were you eavesdropping?”

She prayed Trinity hadn’t heard Trey’s comment about their sex life.

Trinity sat in Trey’s recliner. “No, but I wanted to.”

“I see you’re nosey like your mother.” Trey winked at Trinity.

“I’m better at it than she is.”

Hailey chuckled and Trey eyed her, looking at her the way he used to. There was a part of Hailey that hoped they could fix their relationship after all these years, maybe have a second chance.

They spent the next three hours trying to condense the last thirteen years into a single dinner conversation. Trinity shared about her hobbies and the latest school drama, which Trey seemed to find quite juicy.

He shared stories of arrests and criminals, and Trinity was on the edge of her seat with each one. Hailey tried to keep quiet, not wanting to interrupt their bonding, something that should have happened long ago.

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