Page 65 of The Prodigy

“Your pops couldn’t flip burgers? Mow some lawns or something?”

“I guess not.”

It was like she was speaking a different language. That shit didn’t compute. “How do you have kids—daughters, and not provide?”

“He was going through something.”

“What man ain’t goin’ through some shit?”

Her eyes lowered to the floor.

“Look…I don’t mean to talk down on your pops. That shit just surprised me. Cuz my father used to have this little saying. He’d say, ‘I’d die a thousand times before I let my family starve.’ And he meant that shit, too.”

She looked up at me and I saw pain. “What was that like?”

“I guess I never really thought too deep about it. It’s just…the way life was.”

“But what did it feel like to ask for something and know you were gonna get it?”

“Oh. It was cool. It meant a lot.”

That was a lie. Truth was, I really never thought about it because it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I thought all fathers felt that way. Apparently not.

“What did you want that you didn’t get?” I asked.

“When I was younger, I wanted all the things other kids had. I wanted the clothes and jewelry and a car—” she chuckled. “I knewthatwasn’t happening, so I didn’t bother asking. Oh, and a puppy.” She paused. “But after my mother disappeared, all I wanted was for my dad to find her. At leastlookfor her. But he didn’t even put up a single flyer on a telephone pole. And then he just…left.”

I set my glass down and took a few steps toward her. She tensed up at first, but when I wrapped my arms around her, I felt her relax and melt into me.

“I wish I knew what to say.” I squeezed her tighter. “I don’t really know what I am to you right now, but I know I don’t like to see you feeling like this.”

She sniffled. “It’s okay. I just had a moment. I’m fine.”

“Still…”

“And what do you mean you don’t know what you are to me? According to this rock on my finger, you’re my husband.”

I smiled. “Yeah, and that rock damn sure wasn’t cheap.”

She laughed into my shirt.

“Well if it’s one thing I do know, it’s what a husband is supposed to do. So let me do that for you.”

She pulled back to look up at me. “Do what?”

“Let me help you find her.”

She blinked rapidly. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I can’t make no promises, but I got people who can dig into that kinda thing.”

Tears filled her pretty eyes. “You would do that for me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

I searched for an answer that wouldn’t make me sound like the simp I was becoming.

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