Page 26 of Daddy's Double Surprise

“No, I want to go home. I want my mom.” She stood with me, picking up the basket, and we headed for the barn.

I was a little disappointed that she would rather go to Melanie for comfort than me, but I understood. A woman always needs her mother even late into life. So we paid for the fruit and walked to the car. I drove quietly, holding her hand as she cried and used all the napkins from my glove box, and when we got to Rick and Melanie’s house, I insisted on walking her to the door. In her emotional state, she didn’t stop to protest.

As we approached the front door, Rick swung it open. His eyes were drawn in sadness, lips pursed, and he stared at me in confusion. “Carter, what are you doing here?”

“I’ll call you, okay?” Sunny said, glancing at me, then Rick. She passed by him and vanished into the house while I stood on the stoop watching her, my heart aching.

“What’s wrong with her?” Rick demanded, and I sighed.

“She’s just heard about her friend’s death, the cause of it…” The only thing on my mind was how desperately Sunny must’ve been hurting and how guilty I was that my company had made such a horrific mistake. I could never go back and fix it; death was as permanent as things come.

Rick loomed in the doorway, staring at me, until his face of concern contorted into a scowl. “Was Sunny at work? What were you doing with her?”

I had no excuse. The clinic was closed today. No one was working. And after that conversation with her last night, about the two of us dating and telling Rick, I couldn’t continue the charade. I looked him in the eye with all the courage I could muster and did what I thought was unthinkable.

“Rick, Sunny and I are seeing each other. We were out together when she got the call, and I brought her home to?—”

“You what!” he spat. His face flushed red instantly, and his grip on the doorknob tightened until his knuckles were white. “What on earth?”

“Rick, I’m sure this is a shock, and I’ll give you all the time you need to absorb it, but I love your daughter, and we are trying to make this work.” I stood firmly, jaw set, eyes locked on him, watching him grow angrier by the second.

“Get out of here.” Rick’s chest puffed out and he backed into the house, just inside the darkness where his features took on a menacing look. “And stay away from my daughter. My God, Carter, she’s a child.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he continued in a booming voice that startled me.

“She’s vulnerable and broken, and when she finds out it was your company behind all of this, do you understand how hurt she’ll be?” He shook his head, and without another word he slammed the door in my face.

I stood there for a second feeling hurt and broken, but guilt soon flooded my chest, then my mind, then my gut. Rick was right. I had no clue what I was doing. The minute I found out my company was involved in that trial, I should have told her. I should have told her who I really was from the beginning and not waited, and now it would seem like I was hiding things from her, manipulating her. I was such an idiot.

And when Sunny found out, she’d be devastated. She’d never speak to me again.

17

SUNNY

Iheard the shouting, Dad going off on Carter, but I didn’t stop to intervene. I was too upset to listen to any of it or deal with it. I walked straight to my room and shut the door, collapsing on my bed in a heap of emotion and tears. Only moments later, I heard the door slam and Dad’s angry stomping in the hallway.

My door burst open, and I blinked my eyes open to see through blurry, teary vision that Dad stood with a glare on his face in the doorway. He seemed larger than normal, like those times when I was a kid and I’d done something wrong, and he put the fear of God in me with nothing more than an angry expression.

“Soleil, what were you thinking? The man is twice your age. You can’t go sleeping around with?—”

“Stop!” I spat, forcing myself upward. My stomach rolled again, threatening to force more bile up, and the toast Carter insisted I eat. I was done—sick of him telling me what to do, where to live, what to think or feel. I had enough. “Dad, you can’t keep getting in the middle of my life. I’m not a child anymore.I’m twenty-eight years old. I’ve lived on my own for almost ten years, and I’m only back because of what happened.”

“Soleil, I?—”

“No,” I said, cutting him off again. “No, I’ve had enough. I know you care, but I am my own person, and I’m not listening to you anymore. You can’t fix me up or control my life. And you don’t have a say in who I date or what I do.” Hot tears burned my eyes and cheeks. I was supposed to be grieving, not fighting my parents. “I just found out why Kira died, and I’m really upset, but all you care about is the fact that I was out with Carter. Can’t you see how messed up that is?”

“Soleil, I’m sorry, I just…” Dad’s words failed him for the first time in my entire life.

“Please leave my room, and please stop nosing into my life.” I waited as he backed out of the room just as angry as he’d come in, but he didn’t say another word. I’d made my point, though I didn’t know how well it would stick later on when I had to sit across from him at dinner and look him in the eye.

I couldn’t believe what Mrs. Baker told me about Kira. If only she had known that her body wasn’t handling her blood sugars correctly and that because of it her kidneys were already struggling, she would be alive. I should’ve known, and looking back I blamed myself because the signs were there. Her constant sense of thirst, being fatigued and bleary-eyed, the way she said her fingers tingled sometimes. All signs of high sugar I should’ve pointed out and never thought about.

Sobs wracked my body so hard I never heard when Mom walked in. She curled up behind me on the bed and wrapped her entire body around me like I was a little girl again. I felt the tissues she shoved into my hand and wiped my nose, but nothing would ease this ache. This all came down to something very preventable. And on top of all of this, throwing up thismorning at Carter’s house only made my very real fears even more palpable.

“Hey, baby, it’s okay. Listen, take a deep breath, okay? This isn’t good for your health. Your blood pressure has to be so high right now.” Mom sat up and brushed hair out of my face. Obviously, she’d heard the news too, or she’d be asking what’s wrong. Or maybe she heard Dad screaming at Carter. I didn’t know.

“Mom, she should be alive,” I whimpered, dabbing my face again. I hadn’t felt this amount of pain in weeks, and it was all too much. I blurted out, “Mom, I’m not okay. I’m worried.”

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