Page 30 of The Manny

He chuffed. “Are you going to try and fix me, Thomas? If so, don’t bother.”

Ignoring him, I said, “The good part about all of this is I think you truly do want to do right by Mia. That will help.”

“Help what?”

“My plan, of course.”

He arched one brow, looking uneasy. “Yourplan?”

I rubbed my hands together. “I’ve never failed a kid, and I don’t plan on starting now.”

“Thomas, what are you up to?” he muttered.

“I’m going to do my best to understand you, Jack. I’m going to help you get in touch with your emotions, so that you can be a wonderful, loving uncle to Mia.”

He looked rattled. “I’m not interested in you understanding me. I never said I wanted to get in touch with my emotions.”

“Too bad. This is for Mia. Maybe you’ll discover some things about yourself too. But ultimately, I want Mia to be happy, and you’re the key to that.”

His lips moved but no words came out.

I smiled, feeling a tiny bit better than earlier in the evening. Jack and his crappy upbringing were what stood in the way of Mia’s happiness. If he hadn’t cared that he hurt Mia earlier, he’d have been a lost cause. But he had cared. He’d handled it all wrong, but he’d at the very least felt horrible about upsetting Mia. That meant inside, Jack was a good man. I was hopeful that if I peeled back Jack’s layers, I’d eventually get to the essence of who he was as a person.

God willing, that person was someone worthy of raising Mia.

Chapter Seven

Jack

All day at work the next day one question kept running through my head, over and over again: What the hell happened last night?

I’d screwed up and hurt Mia, and from that somehow I’d become Thomas’ project. He now had it in his head that he could fix what was broken inside of me. No matter how much I’d tried to discourage him, he’d seemed undaunted.

I dreaded going home. I hadn’t seen Mia since last night when I’d royally made a mess of things. I needed to apologize to her. I knew that logically, but making myself do the right thing wasn’t always easy. Something inside of me fought the idea of admitting my mistakes. That hang-up was due to my dad. He’d been a violent man who didn’t accept apologies. If you’d screwed up, you were getting your ass kicked. No apology would have stopped him. If anything my old man would have gone harder on me if I tried to apologize. He’d taken remorse as a sign of weakness. Maybe my dad had died long ago, but his dysfunctional influence continued on through me.

I stalled leaving work as long as possible, paying bills just so I didn’t have to head home. Eventually though, it was either go home or sleep in the office. I wasn’t quite that desperate, so I locked up and drove home with my stomach-churning.

When I let myself into the house, I heard Mia giggling from the direction of her bedroom. I had half a mind to skulk off into my bedroom to hide, but decided I was acting like a child. I needed to grow some balls and go ask for the kid’s forgiveness. Even if the thought of it made my teeth hurt, I knew it was the right thing. I also didn’t want to have Thomas nagging me the rest of my days.

I hung my jacket up in the hall closet and then made my way toward Mia’s room. When I entered her room, her eyes widened and she scampered into Thomas’ lap. I really had no desire to apologize in front of Thomas, but I knew Mia was too scared of me to ask him to leave.

With a tired sigh, I stood beside her bed. I cleared my throat and said, “Mia, I owe you an apology.”

She blinked at me.

“I said some things last night that were unforgivable, and not even true.” They were kind of true, but she didn’t need to know that. I had been worried about her showing up on my doorstep. I had been concerned about her destroying my peaceful life. But what I hadnotwanted was to hurt her. But I had, and now I had to make it right.

“See Mia,” Thomas said. “I told you Uncle Jack didn’t mean those things he said.”

Her brow wrinkled. “Then why did he say them?”

I winced. “I was being dumb. Don’t you ever say dumb things, Mia?”

She nodded slowly. “Sometimes.”

“Well, that’s what I did. I was feeling frustrated about things and I goofed up.”

Biting her lower lip, she met my gaze. “But you don’t want me here.”

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