Page 86 of The Twelve Months of Christmas
Ava chuckled. “I remember a few close encounters with the wall.”
“Better than what I remember,” Reggie said. “I remember a couple of close encounters with my daddy’s belt.”
“Ugh,” Ava said with a shudder.
“Yeah, it was no fun. Let me tell you, I learned real quick not to mouth off to him and I learned to do what I was told.”
“Out of fear,” Ava argued.
“There was that, but it was complicated. He was being a father the only way he knew how at the time. My old man also never went a night without kissing me good-night when I was small. He took me fishing, and when I got old enough, financed my first car—an old beater—and helped me work on it. He got me my first job working at his pal’s service station, and he taught me the value of a dollar. And he never worried about whether or not I liked him. Told him I hated him once and he said,I’m not here for you to like, boy. I’m here to turn you into a decent human being.”
Molly smiled at him and took his hand. “I’d say he did.”
“I try,” Reggie said humbly. “And you know what, I loved that man like crazy. It about killed me the day he died.”
“But you told him you hated him,” put in Paisley, who’d been on her iPad, but obviously listening.
“You’re right, Paisley, I did say that. But I don’t think I ever meant it. Sometimes you can have so many feelings inside you at once it’s hard to know what they all are.”
“I love my mommy,” Paisley told him.
“And so you should. Your mommy works hard to give you a good life,” he said.
That had to earn him some brownie points with Ava.
“It’s too bad Bella can’t see how hard Sunny’s working to make her life good,” Molly said.
“Some things you don’t see till you’re older,” Reggie said. “Anyway, you can’t force people to like you.”
“I like you, Reggie,” Paisley said.
That big smile of his took over his face. “I like you, too, Paisley.”
“Want to come in for a while?” Molly asked Ava as they pulled into her driveway.
“Better not. We have some errands to run.”
“How about you?” Molly asked Reggie.
“Sure. I got no place to be,” he said.
Molly didn’t have to look to know her daughter was rolling her eyes. Ava was still convinced that Reggie was too old and too broke to qualify as good boyfriend material.
Ava was wrong. There was something special about Reggie, and being with him made Molly happy.
“I don’t think I’ve won your daughter over yet,” he said as they settled on her back deck with mugs of coffee to enjoy the view of Sinclair Inlet.
“It takes Ava a while to warm up to people,” Molly said.
It was no lie. Her daughter tended to be suspicious of men. Hardly surprising considering her experience with men.
“I’ll keep stacking the kindling,” he joked.
“She’ll come around,” Molly said, then mentally added,She’d better. Because Molly liked Reggie just fine.
Later he sent out for Chinese, and they ate at her patio table and watched the sunset. Finally he said, “I’d better get going.”
She almost said, “Do you have to?” The evening had gone down smooth as her favorite rum raisin ice cream.
