Page 98 of Broken Grump

“That’s it then?” I inquire.

“Well? I did see some similarities between the two of you last night.”

Ugh. Somehow, her saying that is so much worse than me admitting it in my head.

“I’m sorry.” She shakes her head. “But it’s true.”

Fine.“Well, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll do better in the future.”

“Don’t apologize. Just do better.”

I didn’t know she ever heard him say that.Or did she?

Nonetheless, I look down and fiddle with my fingers. “Right. You’re absolutely right. Absolutely right. That’s what I’ll do. I will do better, Addie. I’m not going to squander away my opportunity to have a relationship with her—and with you.”

In order to prove this, I flag down the kids and bring them over to a novelty T-shirt stand.

“Come on, girls. Whatever you want. It’s on me.”

Luna points to one with Ariel, as inThe Little Mermaid,with a Jack Daniel’s T-shirt on and tattoos up and down her arms.

After paying for that and another innocuous one with “Los Angeles” printed on the front several times for Paige, they put them on over their clothes.

“Very nice,” I compliment as Luna spins.

With a grin still on my face, I peer over at Addie, expecting her to have a look of approval. Sure, the shirt Luna is sporting is a bitquestionable, but it’s still funny.

“You can’t buy her love, you know,” she mutters through a closed mouth. “By her, I mean, your daughter.”

That sends icicles down my spine.

“Although, you’ve never fully acknowledged her as such, have you?”

Chapter twenty-seven

Addie

The night ended poorly.But I’m not sure what I expected. He didn’t, and I wouldn’t have liked it if he had rushed over to our daughter and made some kind of declaratory statement about being her dad.

With similar thoughts in my mind, I tuck Luna into bed and then go into the kitchen to pour myself a glass of wine in my quiet, giant home.

The question is still ringing loud in my head:“Although, you’ve never fully acknowledged her as such, have you?”

Understandably, he was speechless, and he didn’t say much for the rest of our time together.

Seriously, Addie. What did you want the man to do? It’s your fault he hasn’t had a relationship with her until now.

My anger and guilt are a swirling mess inside my head. If I’m not concentrating on one emotion, the other creeps up and takes over. It’s completely exhausting.

Then, there’s also the outrage I felt at myself for allowing him back into her life. After all, one of the first nights he had the chance to be an ass to her, he was. She says it didn’t hurt her, but I know it did. No kid likes being hollered at like that. Especially not by a man she reveres like him.

I head outside onto the balcony, take a sip, and then bend over and rest on the wooden railing.

But before I can start dwelling some more, the phone in my robe’s fluffy pocket goes off.

Please be him,I pray. Oddly enough, I’m dying to talk to him. However, it isn’t his name on my screen. Instead, it reads “Mother Dearest.”

So, I throw my head back and roll my eyes. She’s one of the last people I have the energy for right now. But I know she’ll just keep calling until I pick up.

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