Page 184 of Between Never and Forever
“Is this the 3-D paper craft thing or the comic book thing?” I ask Sharon.
She does a better job than I do of keeping up with Brynn’s newly packed and ever-changing social calendar.
“It’s the skate park thing.”
I cock my head to the side.
“Skate park thing?”
Brynn comes bounding back down the stairs dressed in shorts, a tank top, and tennis shoes, with a skateboard hauled under one arm. I look from the skateboard to Savannah and find she’s already smirking at me. This is her doing.
“Don’t worry,Daddy. Boss will be wearing a helmet, knee pads, and wrist guards.”
I narrow my eyes at her.
“Call me Daddy again,” I threaten, and she giggles and waggles her eyebrows at me in a way that suggests I’ll definitely be following through with the implied threat later.
“Dad, I need you to sign this waiver, please,” Brynn interjects, slapping a form down on the counter in front of me. “It’s so you can’t sue them if I break my arm or leg or, well, anything else.”
I choke on my coffee, and laughter bursts from Sav and Mabel. I flick my eyes toward them, then glance at Brynn. She’s bouncing from foot to foot, obviously excited to go to this skate park and do things that might cause her to break one or more bones.
“Why am I just learning about this?” I ask as I scan the safety waiver.
“We just found out about it last night,” Sharon answers. “It was in the local library newsletter. We printed the waiver this morning.”
Hm. A safety waiver. A skateboard. A potential broken bone. I look at Red.
“I’ll be there,” he reassures me, and I hear Brynn sigh dramatically.
I glance at Cameron. “And you?”
“Oh, um, I’m not skating. I’m just going to watch and play with Ziggy.”
I look back at Sharon.
“You’re bringing the menace?”
“Hey!” Sav says on a laugh. “Be nice to my baby. She’s not a menace. She’s just misunderstood.”
“She’s a menace,” I say in unison with Red and Mabel, then Mabel grunts when Sav smacks her with a throw pillow. I smirk at them before Brynn groans.
“Dad,puh-lease, hurry. Red drives like an old grandma, and we’re gonna be late.”
Sav snorts and Sharon smiles, but Red doesn’t so much as flinch. The man deserves a raise.
I make eye contact with my daughter. Her eyes are bright with excitement, and the California sunshine has brought out freckles on her cheeks that weren’t there a few months ago. It makes her look more like the kid she is and less like the teenager her attitude suggests. With all the shit she’s been through in her eight years of life, it’s a relief to see her with an unbidden smile on her face.
It used to be a struggle for me to get Brynn to leave the house. She never wanted to try new things or meet new people. She never really wanted to be akid, and selfishly, part of me was okay with it. I liked that my daughter would rather hang out at the office with me than with kids her own age. At least that way I knew she was safe.
Since moving in with Savannah, Brynn’s comfort zone—which once only had space for me, Sharon, and video chats with Cameron—has expanded to include all of Los Angeles. And even though I know this change is a good one, it’s been a difficult adjustment for me.
I smooth my hand over Brynn’s dark brown curls.
“I liked it better when all you wanted to do was play Scrabble with me,” I say honestly. “That didn’t require a safety waiver.”
Brynn grins.
“Yeah, but you can’t teach me how to do a 360-kick flip.”
