Page 93 of Of Literature and Lattes
Alyssa turned and found Becca looking forlorn and fidgety in a booth. “She’s acted like a dream all morning. Take her.”
“Thank you.” He dropped a kiss on Alyssa’s lips. “Meet me at the park later? I thought we’d go home, change, then go run all the energy out of her.”
Alyssa checked her watch. “They leave for the airport in a few minutes. After I help clean up, I—”
“The staff, Liam, and I will clean up,” Lexi cut in. She then shifted her attention to Jeremy. “She’ll be there in twenty.”
“Okay then.” Alyssa nodded to Lexi, then to Jeremy. “Since I’m on the clock now, I should go check on the happy couple and get them moving.”
One last kiss and Jeremy walked one direction while Alyssa headed the opposite.
She caught her mom’s eye halfway across the room. Janet’s face lit a notch brighter as she stepped away from Seth and met Alyssa in the middle. She pulled her daughter into a hug. “This is the most beautiful gift you could’ve given us.”
“It wasn’t just me.” Alyssa squeezed her tight.
“I don’t mean the reception. I mean forgiving me, staying, being here today, and standing beside me at church this morning. Everything.” Janet’s gaze drifted to the corner. Alyssa followed and landed on her grandmother, who sat in a booth talking with Jasper, a sour expression on her face. “Especially for your generosity.”
“I’m sorry she hasn’t been kind. I thought she’d warm up by now. She loves Dad.”
“She thinks I’ve gotten off too easy.” Janet glanced to Seth before refocusing on Alyssa. “Maybe I have... I’m sure I have.”
“You haven’t.” Alyssa shook her head. “And I’m sorry for my part in that, Mom. All of it.”
Chapter 42
Jeremy slid into the leather booth across from his daughter. “What do you say we head to the park?”
He laughed as Becca shot from the booth and dashed across the restaurant. “Come on, Daddy,” she called from the other side.
“I’m coming.”
Within seconds he was outside standing behind Chris and his brother Luke. Neither noticed his arrival.
“No, I don’t want to hear it.” Luke had his hand up in his brother’s face. “That’s not how proposals work. She should be the first, then she can tell me. How can you not know this?”
“Ugh... Youaregood at this stuff,” Chris replied.
Grasping the topic, Jeremy opted not to interrupt, and instead bent to clasp his daughter’s hand and whispered, “Let’s go, Bug.”
As he opened his car door for Becca, he saw Chris climb into his truck and leave his brother standing on the curb. “Do you need a ride?” he called.
“Thank you, no. I’m walking today. It’s only a couple miles, and it’s about the only time I get to slow down and savor life. And today deserves a little savoring.”
Jeremy watched Father Luke set off down the road. Twenty minutes later, after a quick stop at his apartment to change, he noted Luke still on his walk, now passing the edge of the park.
He raised his hand in a wave and received an answering one as Becca pulled him to the swings.
“Come on, Dad.”
Within minutes, he soared. Becca, on the swing next to him, was only a little lower in her arc. She watched his every move and had already become an expert at leaning back on the downswing and pumping her legs hard on the up.
“That’s kind of high. Slow down a touch,” he called. “And wait until after I land.”
Two more pumps with his legs and he soared through the air to land at least twenty feet from the swings. He let his weight and momentum roll him into the wood chips. “It’s a new record.”
Becca leaned forward as her swing came through its final arc. He could see the concentration on his daughter’s face and wondered if, perhaps, this wasn’t their best game. Too late now, he thought, as she flew through the air.
He stood in her path and caught her as she reached the ground. The two of them crashed together with Becca resting safely on top of him. She was roaring with laughter.
