Page 97 of More, Daddy
What’s interesting is that Cadence herself wrote Briar could be “too quiet” and “too much of a wallflower” for a cheer coach.
Yet, when I’m with Briar, she’s outgoing and vibrant. Her laugh adds color to my sepia existence, her smile makes my pulse leap, and her sense of humor has me smirking hours later. What nineteen-year-old has a vendetta against Elvis impersonators?
“She turns twenty next month,” I finally reply.
“Say it,” Leah says softly. “I need you to say it out loud, and look comfortable saying it if you’re asking the same of me.”
There’s subtext shoved into that sentence like crazy, and I read through it, nodding my head. “She’s nineteen years old, Leah. And she will be twenty in four weeks.”
“Nineteen,” Leah repeats.
I nod my head, and keep my shoulders set back, powerfully, my spine straight. “I read in her file that her dad stopped coming to parent teacher conferences around sixth grade.”
Leah arches a brow. “Does she know you read her file?”
I shrug. “I have access. She’s aware of that.”
She shakes her head. “Not what I asked.”
I shake my head in response. “No, she doesn’t know.”
“West, I–”
I take off my hat and shove a hand through my hair, hoping to dispel some of the frustration bubbling up inside me. “Her dad’s a flake. A long haul trucker. Shows up when he feels like it, leaves without a word.” I swipe my hand over my forehead, finding myself suddenly sweaty. “She pays the mortgage and most of the bills. And she’s been contributing to the bills since before she was a junior coach.” I shake my head. “Nineteen going on twenty ornot, she’s more grown and responsible than I was at her age.”
Leah smiles, one of those crooked, kinda sad, kinda sweet smiles that infuriates me. “I know she is. I’ve known her for years, West. Briar is a sweet, kind girl. In fact, her mom was killed on the same stretch of black ice that took Jake Turner’s wife all those years ago.”
I scratch at the side of my jaw. “I didn’t know that.”
Leah nods. “Are you nervous about people knowing you’re dating someone so young? You seem like you came in here ready to convince me.”
I ignore the first part of that question in favor of being argumentative. “I don’t want to have to convince you of anything. But you are the first person I’m telling, and I won’t bullshit you.” Our gazes lock, years of friendship between us. “Your opinion matters.”
Leah tucks her hair behind her ears, and brings her hands together, making me nervous, in the way only a principal can do. “You want me to be okay with it so you can be okay with it, but West,youhave to be okay with it. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. If I say it’s fine, great, it’s fine, but am I the one absorbing those shitty judgey looks from the old ladies at the Eat O Rama on Sunday morning when you two are shopping? Do I have to face the nurse at the OB office when you take Briar in for an appointment and tell them that you’re her partner, not her uncle or father? No, I don’t.”
“I’m not even old enough to be her father,” I say quietly.
Leah slaps her palm onto the desk, making her cat’s cradle clink together. “What’s holding you up?”
I shake my head. “Nothing.”
“Liar.”
“I don’t know.” I sigh.
“Liar.”
I sigh again. “If anyone ever knew what we like, you know, in the bedroom,” I start, happy now to be a we and not just a me. “They’d think I wanted Briar because it plays into all that, you know?”
Leah pinches the bridge of her nose. “You have a kink. And it’s private. If people find out and they judge you, who cares? Honestly, who cares?” She shakes her head, stripping all the bullshit away from everything, leaving reality out there, raw and bare. “Your life is short. You can either be happy or make everyone around you happy.”
I lick my lips. “I love her. I haven’t told her, but I’m in love with her.”
“Does she know what happened with Priscilla?” Leah asks, her voice quiet, private for my benefit.
I wobble my head. “Kind of. Broad strokes.”
Her phone rings, and she picks up, telling her assistant Denae to put the call on hold for the time being. Leveling her gaze my way she says, “You really wanna know? I think you two make a great couple. Yes, she’s young but I know you both and I know you both well. I can see it.” She picks up the handset and holds it to her ear, but keeps her finger hovering over the hold button. “But tell her you read her file. Just because you have access doesn't mean you have the right, you know?”
