Page 49 of Play Book

That’s not the way things went down, but it doesn’t seem like this is a good time to bring that up.

“I was only seventeen when your mom took off,” I point out. “I had nothing to do with it.”

“Liar.” She shakes her head. “I know what you did to my dad, how you made him leave us, and then you went to go play hockey like nothing happened. You’re the biggest asshole of all.”

“Ally. Language.” Megan gives her a stern look that makes Ally shrink into herself a little, but then she seems to reconsider, folding her arms across her chest defiantly.

There is so much to sort out with this, I don’t know where to start.

How do I tell an eleven-year-old what an abusive prick her father was? Or how her mother had been so blinded by love she didn’t protect her toddler from the monster she was involved with at the time.

This whole situation is a mess, and I’m torn between wanting to leave her where she is and bringing her home so I can make her life better. The black eye isn’t going to work for me, though. I know that didn’t happen in school. She’s either getting bullied or fighting, or both.

She needs a family.

As much as I hate to admit it, she needs me.

I had a strained conversation with my dad last night, but he said he and my stepmother have no interest in taking care of a pre-teen. He pointed out that I wasn’t exactly father material at this stage of my life either.

Thanks, Dad.

“Look,” I say quietly. “I don’t know you and you don’t know me. But you’re my niece and I’m the only choice you have. If you want to go back to the bullying and fighting going on at the group home, it’s fine with me. Or you can come back to L.A. with me, and we try to make this work.”

She doesn’t reply.

“Ally.” Megan catches her eye. “Do you want to try living with your uncle?”

She shrugs. “I guess. At least for a little while.”

I open my mouth to say something, but Megan gives a slight shake of her head, so I refrain.

“All right. We have paperwork, and there are going to be some hoops to jump through going forward. Are you okay with that, Canyon?”

“I guess.” This time, I’m the one who sounds like a surly pre-teen.

I don’t want this.

Not even a little.

But she’s just a kid and literally has no one else.

I still have memories of her as a baby, big hazel eyes sparkling with amusement every time she saw me. I’d only been fifteen when she was born, so she’d been like a pretty little doll. We’d bonded immediately, which pissed off my sister, but my mom had been alive then and she’d kept everyone on an even keel.

Then things had all gone to hell.

Now it’s catching up to us.

The issue is that the rest of us are adults, and Ally is a sad, angry little girl.

“If you don’t want me to live with you, you should say so,” Ally snaps, wrinkling her pert little nose at me.

“I didn’t say that,” I sigh. “But I travel eight months of the year, so it’s going to be hard on both of us. I have to find a nanny and?—"

“A nanny?” She gapes at me. “I’m eleven, not five! I don’t need a babysitter.”

“I’m gone for a week at a time,” I say as patiently as I can. “Sometimes more. You can’t be alone for seven to fourteen days. And anyway, it’s illegal.” I’m not positive about that last part, but neither Megan nor Ally correct me.

She rolls her eyes. “Whatever.”

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