Page 24 of Stand Fast

His jaw ached from the pressure of his teeth grinding together.Bullshit you are.Like she hadn’t known about it weeks ago? This was par for the course with her. Had been since the day he’d left the marriage.

With a glance at the digital clock on the screen he mentally calculated the eight-and-a-half hour time difference back to D.C. The call he’d fought to set up in advance so he could at least spend some time with his daughter on Christmas Day would now be only a few minutes long—if he was lucky.

Anger and frustration swelled inside him, pushing his mood from bad to worse. He took a deep breath, deleted the email and opened Skype to place the call.

There was dick all he could do about his ex and the way she kept interfering with his attempts to maintain a relationship with their daughter. None of that was Autumn’s fault, however. If all he got was a couple of minutes, he’d have to make the most of them.

His heart beat faster as he waited for someone to answer. Had Sarah assumed he hadn’t gotten the email and decided to leave early? It would be just like her, using it as an excuse to punish him.

An image popped up on screen. Autumn’s excited face appeared, looking far older than nine years old. “Dad! Hey.”

And just like that, all his anger vanished. One look at his baby girl, and all was right in his world. “Hey, sweetheart. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to you too.” She leaned closer to the screen, a frown pulling her dark brown eyebrows together. “What time is it there?”

“Just before five in the afternoon.”

“Are you going to get a turkey dinner there?”

“I think so. We’ve been looking forward to it all day.”

Her happy expression faded as she gazed back at him through the computer screen. “You look tired.”

“I’m fine, sweetie. Did you get my present?”

“Yes, I’ve got it right here—I wanted you to see me open it.” She leaned out of view to grab it. “Did you get mine?”

Now it was his turn to smile. “You sent me something?”

She sat up, giving him an offended look. “Of course I did.” Then she lowered her voice, as if she didn’t want her mother to overhear. “Max helped me mail it last week. It should have gotten there by now.”

Hell of a thing, when the man who replaced him cared more about his relationship with Autumn than Sarah did. “That was nice of him. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll get here in the next day or two.”

But Autumn looked genuinely distressed. “It was supposed to be there for today. We paid extra to make sure you got it.” Her voice thickened.

“Baby, it’s okay. Doesn’t matter to me if it’s late, it just means the world to me that you’d send me something.”

She swallowed and wiped at her eyes before nodding. “I hate that you’re all alone over there at Christmas.”

His heart squeezed at her concern. “I’m not alone, I’ve got the guys with me.”

A small smile curved the corners of her lips. “Yeah, but they don’t get you presents.”

“We make do. And we’ve even got a Christmas tree set up out in the squad room. Wanna see?”

“Yeah.”

He lifted the laptop and shoved open the storeroom door so he could pan the camera around to show her the tree. A sturdy broom handle formed the trunk, and it was studded with toilet brushes that had been duct-taped to it—Reid hoped they were unused—with khaki-green shirts and socks rolled up over the “branches” to make it look green. Someone had pilfered a strand of white lights to wind around it, and they’d even hung grenades from the branches as ornaments.

“Pretty awesome, huh?”

Autumn laughed. “That’s the ugliest Christmas tree I’ve ever seen.”

“What? We think it looks festive. Kai and Logan put it up the other day.”

“Are those…grenades? Real ones?”

Using them broke about a dozen base rules, but what the hell. “Yep. I think they add a nice touch.” He couldn’t help but grin at her horrified/fascinated expression, proud that she could identify them in the first place. His baby girl took an active interest in him and what he did for a living. And he’d already put the fear of God into her about drugs and boys. “The team’s real busy over here, lots to keep us busy, so don’t worry about me.”

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