Page 6 of Roxy's Independence
As I finish with my wandering, I turn and my eyes widen for a whole nother reason. Egypt, and a boy a little older than she is, are staring at each other with a glint of mesmerization. The twinkle in his eyes is what has me choking on thin air. “Hell no,” I grumble as I stomp in their direction, intent on breaking up this little fascination of theirs.
“What’s this?” I ask, pointing at their conjoined hands from a shake that never finished. “Hands to yourself, boy.”
“Dad!” Egypt scandalously shouts. “You’re embarrassing me.” I’d rather embarrass her than have her thinking she’s old enough to hold hands with a boy. She hasn’t even hit teenage status yet for fuck’s sake. I should’ve had a few years to get used to the idea of having a daughter and getting all of my weapons in order before her hormones get out of whack and overrule her common sense.
“Weston,” Roxy calls my name as she places her hand on my forearm. “Why don’t you go see what Canyon’s getting into at the motorcycle shop down the street and let me deal with this.”
Gritting my teeth, I lean over and announce, “No boys, Roxy. Not now, maybe not ever. I’m not ready for it, and I don’t like it. For his safety, you may want to remind your daughter of that fact.”
“I’ll remind her, handsome. While I do that, go rein your boy in before he tries to buy one of everything,” she reasons.
“Whatever, Foxy. Fix this,” I order, waving my hand between the two kids standing in front of me. When she squeezes my arm, I spin on the heels of my feet and go outside where I catch my first breath of fresh air. I’m not fond of this new development of my daughter and the opposite sex. It’s offensive for a father to witness. I mentally catalogue every gun and knife I brought with me. Wondering if I should enact my rights as a dad and carry it on my hip for this boy to see.
Stomping down the sidewalk, I find Canyon with his arm swung over a girl’s shoulders. A smile crosses my face because that’s my son. Already a ladies man. I laugh at the contradiction I’m feeling when it comes to him and his sister. It’s different, though. At least to me it is. Boys are physically stronger than girls. Canyon can take care of himself—I don’t have to worry about him having his innocence stolen from him. But I do need to reiterate to him that she is somebody’s daughter and he needs to respect that. So, I wipe the smile from my face and breach the door.
“Canyon,” I say his name with a warning tone.
“Dad. This is Meri, she’s the shop owner's daughter. She was showing me around.”
“With your arm over her shoulder?” I question, raising my brows at him. “That’s a good way to get shot, son.”
“I don’t shoot my prey, it’s too messy. I have a shovel and a backhoe, can’t miss what you can’t find.” A giant of a man comes out from the back, announcing. “Meri, go stock some shelves.”
“Yes, Daddy,” she quietly says, glancing up at Canyon with a shy smile as she leaves the comfort of his arms and shuffles out of the main floor and toward the back.
I’m not a fan of the way the man eyes my kid, but as a father, I begrudgingly get it.
“My daughter’s not on the menu, boyo. Is there anything specific you’re in the market for?” He propels his hand in my direction and introduces himself. “Name’s Mario. This is my shop. If there’s something you’re looking for but can’t find, I have a catalogue behind the counter you can shift through and I can special order then have the item conveniently shipped to your house.”
I’m not getting welcome vibes from Mario, so I place my hand on Canyon’s shoulder and maneuver him toward the helmets. I’m convinced that’s why he came in here, he’s been using my old one and has been in the market for one he can call his own. The sooner we go through his inventory and beat feet, the better. My kids are causing chaos in this small town and we haven’t even been here twenty-four hours yet.
CHAPTER
FOUR
Roxy
Men can beover the top when it comes to their little girls and the opposite sex. Egypt didn’t do anything wrong by simply holding a boy's hand as they introduced themselves. He wasn’t in the right frame of mind to take a moment to step back, watch, and realize that’s exactly what it was—a quick hand shake and release. I sent him away to find our son so that he didn’t make a more of a fool of himself than he already had.
“Mom,” Egypt cries, her face blazing red from humiliation.
“It’s going to be okay,” I promise her. I step toward the young man, ready to apologize for my husband's overreaction. “I’m sorry about how Weston treated you. He isn’t ready for his daughter to have boys as friends.”
“I have a lot of friends that are boys, Mom,” Egypt complains through a huffed breath.
The boy laughs as the shop owner comes over to us and smiles at me. “I didn’t introduce myself earlier, I’m Emerson, and thisis my son, Axel. He’s a sculptor and I’m a painter. We each offer classes in our craft, which you’ll find in the brochure. The camp we offer is in two parts, but you don’t have to sign up for both.”
“Nice to meet you Emerson and Axel,” I say, extending my hand. “Again, I’m sorry for the way Weston acted.”
“It’s okay, I was an alpha male’s daughter too, so I understand a father’s devotion and protectiveness when it comes to his girl,” Emerson states, a humorous smirk crossing her face. “They can be overbearing and a bit embarrassing at times. Axel gets it, don’t you, kiddo?”
“Yeah,” he answers, a bit of laughter in his voice. “My pap is still like that with my mom. One time, he pulled out a measuring stick and checked the distance between her shorts and knees. It was funny.”
“It certainly was not,” Emerson scoffs. “We were on the way to the beach. What did it matter what I had over my bathing suit when I was going to be in something far skimpier than that once we got there.”
Egypt’s eyes grow as wide as saucers as she peers up at me. “Dad won’t do that, will he?”
I wave my hand back and forth in a so-so motion because the odds are, he most certainly will do something close to that when the time comes. My money’s on something a bit more drastic than that, but I won’t bring that to light because our girl deserves to be a kid without worrying about teenage drama between a father and daughter for a while longer.
