Page 122 of Dear John

Claire raised her eyes to meet mine. I saw the uncertainty swirling in them, the need to hold on to what little protections she could for her daughter. But she knew if she held on too tight, she’d lose her completely.

“He’s making more progress with her than we are,” she choked out. “As much as I want to yell at her for thinking that man is good for her, Hudson seems to be reaching her on some level.”

“You can’t be serious.”

She turned to him with a seething glare. “I am serious. I don’t like it any more than you, but he’s right.”

“And what are you going to do when she breaks down? I can’t be here?—”

“Exactly,” she huffed. “You won’t be here. You’re off avenging your son. But your daughter is still alive and she needs what’s best for her. Maybe…” She gritted her teeth, not wanting to admit that I might be right. “Maybe what she needs isn’t us.”

“Claire—”

“She barely speaks to me,” she whispered. “Everything I do is to break her from what he ground into her. It’s not working. If I’m willing to let him try, then you should too.”

I knew my old man well enough to know he didn’t like being pushed aside. Then again, nobody did. But he was used to being the one man everyone turned to for help. Maybe that was true for his job, but when it came to his family, he had no fucking clue how to handle them.

And now he knew it.

“Fine.”

He turned on his heel and walked out, leaving me alone with Claire.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“So do I,” I murmured as she walked away.

44

FOX

Test tubes,glass flasks, bags of Funyuns, and way too much vodka littered the OPS kitchen counters. Dressed in my snazzy lab coat and protective glasses, I picked up my notebook that I was using to calculate the formulas for my Funyuns martini. I couldn’t believe no one had thought of this yet. It was brilliant and would be a huge hit when it was done.

“Fox, what are you doing?” Eva asked, walking into the kitchen.

Grinning at her, I strode around the counter and grabbed her hands, pulling her over to see my brilliance. “I’m creating a drink. I call it a Foxyuns martini. Get the play on words? Because I’m Fox and they’re made with Funyuns? Do you see what I did?”

She quirked an eyebrow at me. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Brilliant, right?”

“Yeah, sure. Fox, listen to me. I need you to work your magic.”

“Already on it!” I beamed, pointing at the counter.

“No, I mean with Cash.”

I chuckled at that. “Yeah, I’m not sure anything I could do would help.”

“Can’t you take him to a musical or something?”

I glanced up at her with a grin. “As much as I would love to do that, I’m not sure a musical would help in this situation.”

“Why not?”

“Because the things he’s fighting are something a musical can’t fix.”

She scoffed at me, walking over to the counter where she lifted a beaker filled with green liquid. “I never thought I would see the day you would say musicals can’t fix a situation. It’s kind of disappointing.”

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