Page 55 of The Run Home
“Listen,” I started again, serious as a heart attack. “I want to be with her. I want to be there as a father. I want to be a better man for Shae. That’s why I asked you all here. What the fuck do I do now?”
“Well, you start by cleaning up that fucking potty mouth,” Mom groused into the charged silence, making us all laugh.
And then, we began to make an extensive plan.
The rest of the family cleared out before Kinsley got home from her date. I was waiting on the couch when the front door clicked open and my daughter crept in. She didn’t look like she’d been rolling around in the hay—or the back of a truck bed—so I let out the breath I’d been holding all night.
“Hey,” she whispered, aware that her grandmother was already asleep at this hour.
“Hey,” I said back. “How was your date?”
Her face split into an immediate smile. “Good!” She walked over and sank onto the opposite end of the couch. “He took me to dinner at Grass. He pulled out my chair, held the doors, and wouldn’t let me pay.”
Well, that sounded promising. “And then what did you do?”
Her gaze skittered away, and I was once again holding my breath.
“We went to some field where kids hang out?” She wrinkled her nose. “Blueball Hill or something?” She looked up at me and saw the way my jaw was tense. “Nothing happened! We just sat around the bonfire and talked. It was really great, actually.”
“So, are you two officially dating now?”
Her gaze dropped to her lap, smile breaking free. “Yeah, he asked me to officially be his girlfriend and I said yes.”
As much as it pained me to see this young woman who’d just a day ago been a toddler with a flower crown on her head and a Barbie in her hand agree to be someone’s girlfriend, I put my arm around her and gave her a hug.
“Congratulations, Tink,” I murmured into her hair.
And miracles upon miracles, she hugged me back.
“I have some news I want to share with you,” I said lightly, wanting to punch myself in the face for breaking up this moment with my daughter.
Kinsley pulled back and scanned my face. “What?”
“Ms. Fletcher and I have been seeing each other,” I started.
Kinsley grinned. “I know. You two are so cute together!”
I blinked, unable to follow this part of the conversation. When had she seen us together? We’d been so careful to hide things.
“Um, okay. Let’s table that for later. I, uh, well…”
“Just spit it out, Dad,” Kinsley said with a hint of that teenage attitude she gave out so well.
I sucked in a deep breath and got to the point. “Shae and I are having a baby.”
Kinsley’s face froze. Her mouth opened like she was going to say something but no words ever came out. I nudged her shoulder gently.
“It wasn’t planned, which seems to be a theme in my life, but I plan to be involved. Having you with me this year has shown me how much more I should have been involved in your life, and I want to do better this time around. I’m trying to be a better dad to you and this new baby.”
A tear slid down Kinsley’s cheek and my entire body ached that I’d been the one to put it there. Fuck, I sucked at this.
“But I need to know all the ways I fucked things up with you so that I don’t do it again.”
To my utter surprise, Kinsley threw her arms around my neck and squeezed so hard I thought she might choke me. I hugged her back of course, willing to hold on to her forever, especially since this was the first hug she’d ever initiated with me. Damn, a hug and a kiss in one day. Maybe I was getting better at this father thing already. But then her body began to shake and I realized she was crying.
“Shh, it’s okay,” I whispered. “I’m sorry, Tink. I’m so so sorry.”
My words only made her cry harder, so I shut my mouth and just held her. My own eyes burned, hearing and feeling her sobs. Eventually, she calmed down, her sobs turning to a stray sniffle here and there. She pulled back, swiping furiously at her eyes, mascara making tracks down her cheeks.
