Page 81 of The Only Reason (The Trident Trilogy 2)

He smiles for a second then looks down. “I feel like I don’t even know her anymore.”

“You know her. She’s still the same person.”

“You think she understands why I did it? Why I disappeared?”

“I don’t think she’s mad at you, if that’s what you mean. Understanding it might take a little more time.”

“I don’t know what to say to make it better. She doesn’t want to talk to me anyway.”

“She wants to talk to you more than anything in the world. She’s just being stubborn. She wants her dad. All these years, all she wanted was to have you back. Now that she has that, deep down I don’t think she really cares how it happened,” I say, pausing for a second. “I know you’re having some doubts about your decision, but, man, you did a lot right before that. She’s seriously the best person I’ve ever met.”

He stares at me for a minute before he replies. “She was such a sweet, sunshiny kid. I hope she still has some of that. Her face looks so serious now.”

“She hasn’t changed that much. Underneath it all, she’s still sweet, carefree, funny . . . This has all been a lot—for everyone. Give her time.”

He nods and drains the last of his coffee.

“Sorry I came at you with the abandonment shit. I didn’t mean it,” I say, avoiding his stare.

“Yeah you did, but it’s fine. You did a decent job getting us out of that situation.”

“Yeah, that, and I took a bullet for you.”

“Settle down. That bullet wasn’t going anywhere near me. All you did was keep it from hitting the wall behind me.”

“It would have hit you.”

“Maybe.” He shrugs. “Why’d you take it?”

“She couldn’t have dealt with losing you again. Seriously. She would have died with you right there on the spot.”

“From the way she screamed when you were hit, I don’t think she could have taken you dying much better.”

“She’d get over me dying—eventually. But she’d never get over you dying again.”

He stares at me for a second and then nods. “If you think you taking a bullet for me is going to keep me from kicking your ass if you ever hurt her, you need to think again.”

“I will never hurt your daughter,” I say seriously. “But you know my jaw—where you landed that right hook—hurts more than where I took the bullet. You’ve got some force there.”

“You can never go wrong with a basic hook,” he says, smiling. “You took it, though. Most guys can’t stay standing if I land it decently. You might not be as big of an asshole as I thought.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. I’m definitely an asshole.”

He laughs. “Chase told me once Millie was going to bring home a guy just like me. Looks like he wasn’t too far off. I’m kind of an asshole, too. As long as you’re an asshole for her and not to her, I guess I’m fine with it.”

“Speaking of her, I told her I’d bring her breakfast. I better get going,” I say, standing up.

“Let me guess: exactly three pancakes—extra fluffy—with strawberries and powdered sugar only—because syrup makes them less fluffy.”

I smile imagining young Millie—blonde curls swinging back and forth—demanding that order. “Sorry. Now it’s a hard-boiled egg, fruit cup, and extra coffee. Although the pancakes sound better to me.”

“All grown up now . . .” He stares straight ahead at the wall. “Does she still like strawberry ice cream?”

“She never eats ice cream.”

He looks at me with genuine shock on his face. “I can’t believe that’s true. Are we sure that’s my daughter?”

“It’s your daughter. She stopped doing things that reminded her of you. Now that you’re back, I’m sure she’ll be all about fluffy pancakes and strawberry ice cream.” I smile. “I really need to get her the breakfast before she passes out from low-blood sugar. She has to be fed constantly. Was she like that when she was a kid?”

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