“Why?”
“Because he’s a mean jerk, but I don’t want him dead.”
Mack smiled. She’d been able to read his mind since she was just a little girl.
“Well, why don’t you tell me about it? What did he say? Did he touch you?” Mack asked, trying to keep his anger under control.
She nuzzled more closely into him. Mack had heard one of the guys at work talking about how his teenage daughter no longer wanted him to hug her. Mack had been dreading that day with Millie. He hugged her tightly, thankful that day hadn’t come yet.
“He didn’t touch me,” she said through her sniffles. “He just told me I was ugly.”
A fire ignited within Mack. The exact same fire he felt right before a gunfight. He wanted to hunt this kid down, and beat the crap out of him. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
“Millie, you’re the most beautiful girl on earth. You know that.”
“You think I am, but that’s just because you’re my dad,” she said. “All the other girls are wearing makeup, but Camille says I’m too young for that.”
Mack was stunned that he finally agreed with Camille on something.
“Millie, if I showed you two presents—one with colorful wrapping paper and a big, flashy bow and one in a plain box—and then I told you the one with all the wrapping had nothing inside, but the one in the plain box was full of amazing presents, which one would you choose?”
“So, you’re telling me I’m the plain box without any wrapping?”
Mack smiled. He knew she had always been too quick for her own good.
“I’m telling you you’re the box full of amazing presents. The box that took the time to fill up with all the good things before it got all wrapped up. When you’re older, you can wrap yourself up in makeup, and whatever else you want, and then everyone is going to be jealous that the box with the most amazing presents inside is also wrapped the most beautifully.”
She lifted her head to look at him. “But for now, I’m plain like the box.”
“Millie, there is nothing plain about you. You’re the most beautiful girl in the world, inside and out. And if that boy doesn’t see it, he definitely doesn’t even deserve to look at you,” Mack said, still trying to figure out a way to learn the boy’s identity.
She laid her head back down on him and sighed. “I want to start wrapping my box now, though.”
“There’s plenty of time for all that, Mills. Just enjoy still being a kid. Keep filling up your box. That other stuff will come with time.”
Mack took a deep breath, suddenly knowing she had already passed through the kid phase and was quickly, too quickly, approaching the young woman phase—full of its heartbreak that he couldn’t shield her from. He wanted to stop it like an approaching enemy force, just point his rifle at it, and start firing. If only it were that easy, he thought.