Page 105 of The Situation
“Yeah, well, your dad did that to her.”
Carys covers her mouth. “Is she okay?”
“She’s okay. Your dad is a dead man as soon as I get my hands on him.”
“Tate,” Carys says, “you can’t do that. Not because he’s my dad. Fuck that. But you can’t get in trouble over someone who isn’t worth your time.”
I glance at Gannon for support. He winks.
“Yeah, Tate,” he says, pointedly. “Let’s use our heads here.”
Ivy’s cries ring through the baby monitor propped up on a fruit basket.
“Let me get her,” I say, knowing Gannon needs a few minutes alone with his wife.
I head down the hall and open my niece’s door. She’s sitting in the middle of her bed, sniffling. Her dark hair is wild, sticking everywhere but down.
She’s the cutest little thing ever.
“Rough nap, baby girl?” I ask.
She smiles when she sees me. “Ta! Ta!”
“Yeah,” I say, chuckling. “Tate. Can you say Tate?”
“Ta!” She reaches for me. “Up.”
“You learned a new word, you little smartie.” I lift her out of her crib and kiss her chubby little cheeks. “You have a soggy bottom. Let’s change your diaper.”
“No.” She shakes her head just like her mother. It makes me laugh. “No.”
“Yes,” I say.
“No.”
“The one word you can say as clear as a bell.”
I lay her on her changing table and make quick work of cleaning her up. She manages to chant her displeasure the entire time while trying to wiggle off the table and pull anything off me she can grab.
“Up!” she says, flexing her little fingers at me.
I pretend to bite one of them, making her giggle.
“Come on, you little monster,” I say, picking her up. “Now remember, Uncle Ripley is bad. Can you saybad?”
Her eyes light up as we round the corner. “Dada!”
The name is a squeal as much as it is a word. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Gannon smile so wide in his life—not even the time he punched Renn in the stomach and Mom didn’t believe him.
Ah, the good ole days.
I hand Ivy off to her father and join Carys in the kitchen.
“I’m sorry if I upset you,” I say. “I probably should’ve approached that differently. I’m a third party here, and this isn’t about me.”
“No, I get it. If someone hurt Gannon, I’d act the same way.”
We watch him play with Ivy. The asshole who never said a nice thing to anyone is putty in a toddler’s hands. It’s almost hard to believe … but also not.
