Page 77 of Between Never and Forever
This is his daughter. Brynn ishisdaughter.
I do the mental math, and it all adds up.
I have to force the image of him standing in the middle of my raggedy Miami living room out of my head. I grit my teeth and breathe slowly through my nose, trying like hell not to spiral into that memory. The cell phone. The ultrasound picture. Thejust once. But then a third surprise grabs at my chest and squeezes, and it’s all over for me.
There’s a ring on his left hand. It’s black, and looks like it might be made of silicone, but there’s no denying what it is. A wedding band.
“They’re going to make you marry her.”
“No way, they wouldn’t.”
“They will.”
“It doesn’t matter what they want. I won’t do it.”
I almost want to laugh. Levi Cooper is standing in front of me, shielding his daughter from me like I’m some dangerous stranger, and he’s wearing a wedding band. My eyes fly behind him, scanning for someone who could be a wife. Theoncewho became theone. When I see no one, I look back at his face, but he’s not looking at me.
He’s staring at my hand.
My left hand.
And suddenly, my emerald sham of an engagement ring feels like my own sword and shield. I flex my fingers, watch his jaw tense, then bring my hand up slowly and press it to my chest. His eyes follow, stick for a breath, then rise to my face.
“Uh, Dad, can you hear me?” Brynn says, and I watch as she tugs on his shirt and pokes her head out from behind him. “Can she, Dad? Please?”
Without saying anything, without taking his hard eyes off me, he hands the bag of books to Brynn, and she drops quickly to the floor and digs through it. She pops back up with a magazine in hand.
“Oh, no.” Brynn looks at me. “I don’t have a pen. Do you have a pen?”
“Priscilla,” the barista calls, and I blink, shaking my head slightly to rid myself of the fog that came with Levi’s reappearance.
“My coffee,” I say lamely before looking back at Brynn, forcing a smile.
I scan her face, looking for Levi, but the curly brown hair and blue eyes must come from her mom’s side of the family.
“I’ll get a marker from the barista, okay, Boss?”
She nods, showing off her toothless smile, and I give Levi a wide berth as I pass him. I release a shaky breath when I round the corner back into the café, but then gasp when I see what’s waiting for me.
There she is. It’s her. She’s here.
Flash.
Sav, when did you get into town?
Flash.
Are you here with Torren King?
Flash.
Sav is it true you’re engaged now?
Show us the ring, Sav.
Flash. Flash. Flash.
“Fuck.”
