Page 17 of Chasing Shelter

She sent me a wavering smile. “I think I made an oopsie.”

It took everything in me to keep the panic I felt from myexpression. Keely had attempted something a little more ambitious with her hair this morning. Her pigtail braids were off-center, and one looked like it was sticking straight out thanks to some hair gel she’d clearly gotten into.

Keely’s lower lip started to tremble. “Can you fix it?”

Hell.

That killed me every time. It didn’t matter if it was a skinned knee or a lost stuffed animal. I couldn’t handle Keely being upset. I glanced at my watch, nearly letting an audible curse slip free. We had eight minutes before we needed to leave.

“I got you,” I assured her. But I wasn’t so sure. Both Fallon and Rhodes had tried to teach me braiding, but my fingers didn’t seem to have the dexterity. The best I could do were simple braids, and even those didn’t look especially awesome.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Keely smacked a kiss on my cheek as she dropped her brush onto the kitchen table.

I turned in my chair and assessed the damage. This wouldn’t be easy. My hands worked at getting one of the rubber bands loose, almost losing a finger in the process. I grunted as it snapped against my skin.

“Hurry, Daddy. We’re gonna be late.”

I was well aware of that fact. Sweat broke out on my brow like I was trying to defuse a bomb. When I finally got the rubber band out, the braid didn’t fall. “How much gel did you use, Keels?”

“Only half the bottle,” she said, snatching a piece of my bacon.

Jesus.

I grabbed the brush and tried to gently work it through her hair.

“Ow, ow, ow!”

“Sorry.” I winced. “It’s just a little tangly.”

I wondered if I should dunk her head in the kitchen sink, but we didn’t have time. I worked as fast as I could, detangling as the clock counted down. By the time we hit three minutes, I’d managed to get her hair into loosely braided pigtails that hung on either side of her head.

“Done. Let’s hit it,” I said, pushing to my feet.

Keely felt her head. “They aren’t spunky.”

I grabbed her backpack and lunch box. “Spunky?”

“They’re supposed to be spunky. Like they’re happy.”

“Happy hair?”

Keely bobbed her head in a nod.

“Maybe we can try for that tomorrow. But we gotta jet.”

Keely’s mouth thinned, a mixture of frustration and sadness swirling in her light green eyes. And hell, if that didn’t make me feel like a failure. It seemed I was always letting her down about something. Hair wasn’t a big one, but it only drove home the others. Like the fact that I hadn’t been able to make it work with her mom.

We headed toward the door, Keely going straight through it as I paused to set the alarm. “Keels, wait,” I called. Knowing that my birth father had gotten out of prison had my head on a swivel every time we stepped outside the house. But the only thing I saw when I moved onto the front steps was Keely’s tiny shoulders shaking as she tried to hold in her tears.

Fuck.

“Hey, Colson fam,” a musical voice sounded from next door as I locked the deadbolt.

Great.Now, Ellie would bear witness to my failings as a parent.

As I glanced over, I saw Ellie’s gaze zero in on my daughter’s face and instantly register her distress. Most people avoided a potential kid tantrum like the plague, but not Ellie. A second later, she was crossing the yard, headed straight for Keely.

“What’s going on, bestie? Rough morning?”

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