Page 21 of Beyond Oblivion

“Yay!” I said, clapping.

“It didn’t hurt at all!” she said once her feet were back on the ground.

“I’m so proud of you!” Trenton praised, raising his hand for a high-five.

Cassidy slapped her palm against his.

“She was so brave!” Hazel said.

“Not really,” Cassidy said, wiping her eyes.

Trenton leaned down, putting his hands on his knees. “Hey, courage doesn’t mean you’re not scared. Courage is being afraid and doing it, anyway. You can’t be brave without fear.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Hazel said. She pointed at Trenton with one of her extra-long nails while glancing at the rest of us with wide eyes. “That was real good.”

“Do you love them?” Becca asked.

Cassidy nodded.

The door swung open and Lachlan rushed in, a black cap low over his brow, the shoulders of his black IronE Gym T-shirt damp from the rain. “Is she okay?”

“Daddy, look it!” she said, holding her hair back.

“She was so determined this time, Lach, you should’ve seen her,” Becca said, beaming.

Lachlan adjusted his cap, lifting it up a bit and then pulling it back down, clearly emotional. “Did it hurt?”

Cassidy shook her head. “Barely felt it.”

Lachlan handed Becca his wallet and then picked up Cassidy in a bear hug. “I’m so proud of you, nugget!” He carried her out, her legs dangling.

“Did he run here from the gas station?” Hazel asked, still staring at the door.

Becca laughed. “I’m sure he parked the SUV right outside. He’s not going to walk down the road in a storm with his little princess. He was probably pacing in the rain. That man loses all rationale when it comes to her. I thought he looked so intimidating when I first met him, but a month later when I met him at the gym to sign some papers, he held Cassidy the first time, and I watched him melt into a puddle of mush. I have no doubt that Lach would topple an entire nation for that girl.”

“For both of you. And, hey, I get it,” Trenton said. “The first time Olive fell off her bike I wanted to murder the sidewalk.”

I touched Trenton’s cheek and then jutted out my bottom lip. “Aw, honey.”

Becca paid with Lachlan’s card, thanked us all, and then pushed out the door, waiting a few moments while Lachlan opened the passenger side of his Range Rover.

Hazel sighed. “God, they’re perfect. Becca deserves that after everything that chicken bitch did to her and that precious baby.”

Trenton frowned. “For what he almost did to Travis, too. Brandon was never going to be a good husband or father. Him going to jail and making space for Lach to love them the way he does is the best thing that could’ve happened to those girls.”

“Agreed,” Hazel and I said in unison.

“And get your own insults, Hazel. That’s my name for Cal,” Trenton added.

“I heard that!” Calvin said from somewhere in the back.

Hazel flipped off Trenton just before she disappeared in the hallway. “Love you, going home, bye!”

“Hey,” Trenton said, grabbing my hand. “I’ll close up if you want to stop by the store?”

“Yeah, I can do that. I was thinking about stopping by Travis and Abby’s, too.”

“Oh, yeah?” he said, a twinkle of excitement in his eye. “Did she invite you over?”

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