Page 71 of Bully's Second Chance
And while I didn’t feel worthy enough to take it on, them offering it to me felt like a passing of the torch. Like Jax taking over his father’s company after his father had retired, which made me smile.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Jax said.
I gazed toward our daughter. “Do you think she’d want to run the spa someday?”
He nodded. “I think that if you give her the option to carve it out the way she wants to when she takes it over and trust her the way you trust yourself, that she could make a great spa owner one of these days.”
“But, what if she doesn’t want to take over the spa? What then?”
He shrugged. “Then, you hold interviews. You take someone under your wing like Pa did with you. And then, when you find the right match, you’ll know exactly what to do.”
My hand settled against my stomach. “You think her sister would have wanted it?”
That’s when we stopped walking, and Jax turned me to face him. “I know it hurts. The loss is great, and we’ll never be able to fill that hole. But, we have to move forward for Angel’s sake. If we’re stuck in the past, dwelling on that kind of pain, she’ll think it’s okay to do the same thing.”
I blinked back tears. “I know, I know. It’s just—you’d think after three years I wouldn’t feel so…”
“Sick to your stomach about it?”
I swallowed hard. “Yeah.”
He pulled me in for a hug. “There are days where it doesn’t even cross my mind, and then there are days where it’s all I can think about.”
I wrapped my arms around him. “Really?”
He kissed the top of my head. “Really, really. But, on the days that are harder than most, I take time off work and spend it with Angel. Spending time with her helps to remind me that I still have a purpose. I still owe it to her twin to raise her right.”
I nodded. “That makes sense.”
“And when you find your own way of coping, you’ll know. It might not bring you solace, but it’ll bring you peace. It’ll bring back your light.”
I pulled away from him and gazed up into his face. “When did you become so wise?”
He winked. “I could smack your butt once you start walking if it’ll help you feel better.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course, you would.”
The second I turned to face Angel, he swatted my ass, and it made me squeal. I heard Angel squealing as well, her voice echoing across the property as she ran through the scattered wildflowers she had apparently run off with while she and Jax were planting them in the flowerbeds. She opened her arms and fell into a soft patch of grass, and I jogged over to her. And when I saw her smiling up at the sky, I lay down beside her, and Jax lay down on her other side.
“Look at that cloud, Angel. It looks like a heart,” I said.
She pointed. “I see it.”
Jax chuckled. “And that one? It looks like an elephant to me.”
Angel furrowed her brow. “Ele—ephan—wha?”
I giggled. “I can show you pictures when we get inside. How does that sound?”
Angel settled her hand on my arm. “Otays.”
I tried my hardest not to cry as I reached over and patted her hand with mine. She squeezed me tightly as if she didn’t want me to move, so I got comfy for an afternoon of staring up at the sky. We played cloud shapes for as long as she wanted before I heard her soft snores falling from her lips.
So, once we knew she was really asleep, Jax and I both got up, and he scooped her into his arms.
“I’ll tuck her in today,” he whispered.
I rubbed his back. “I’ll pull out some lunch for us. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
