“Deal with this, Fletcher.” I scoot off the counter and drop to my cold feet on the ground so spears of electricity shoot along my legs and almost take my breath away. “I’ll support you however you need in order to do this. But you need to do something.”
“I don’t know what to do!” His words are intense and filled with anger, but he speaks on a hiss. “What the fuck am I supposed to do? Take her away from Jada, and in a few weeks, explain to my daughter that her mother OD’d because I broke her fucking heart?”
“If you think Jada is that close to overdosing anyway, then you’re abusing your child by sending her there.” Shaking my head and moving past him, I glance over my shoulder with pity. “You breakmyheart, Fletch. I had no clue my friend was a child abuser.”
“Jesus,” Archer hisses as I wander closer. “Go for the jugular why dontcha?”
“Someone has to.”
Lowering to the couch beside him, I sit so my shoulder brushes his arm, then I lean my head to the side and rest against him so I get a clear view of the most beautiful little girl I’ve ever met.
“She’s amazing, Fletch.” I remain where I am on the couch, but I move my eyes to catch the man having an existential crisis in the kitchen. “She’s beautiful, and she has a chance to grow up to be the very best of us all. But right now, while her life is the way it is, it’s like she’s drowning, but instead of helping her, passersby only rest their feet on her head and push her under.”
Reaching across, I revel in the way I can touch her. I can stroke her cheek and brush the hair off her face. And all the while, I can lean on Archer. On the man my heart yearns for and refuses to give up on.
“But you could reach a hand in and pull her out of there,” I finish.
“And what then?” He runs his hands through his hair. “What, Mayet? I’m a cop. I work insane hours. You’re suggesting I take her from her mother, from the only true home she’s known, and… what? Plop her inside a daycare for fifteen hours a day? Do I leave her at home when I’m called out for a job in the middle of the night? Let her get herself up in the morning? Maybe I should buy her a little gun and bring her to work? I don’t have enough money for childcare, because I send Jada everything I’ve got. So I should—”
“You should stop being so dramatic,” I roll my eyes. “You take the girl, you stop sending your baby-momma all your money, and instead use it to pay for a nanny. You do your best to be there for Mia, provide her a stable parent, let the nanny catch the slack. Then you put your ex-wife into a rehab program and save her damn life. If you leave the status quo as it is, she dies within a few years anyway, but maybe she takes your daughter with her. Or she leaves Mia with enough trauma to send her down the same path. Get them both out now, save two lives. When rehab is complete and you have a healthy co-parent again, you place Mia back with her mom, if that’s what everyone wants, and then you have a solid foundation for a happy family. Why are you making this so difficult?”
“No, you’re right, Delicious.” He throws his hands in the air and spins away. “Just go ahead and invalidate everyone’s hardships by bringing your clinical solutions in here. Totally supportive and cool.”
Humored, I smile and wait for him to turn back to me. “Would you like my help finding a rehab program?”
“No!” He twists away again. “Fuck you!” Then, spinning back, he breaks my heart when a single tear glistens on his cheek. “Yes please. Help me.”
With my pulse in my throat and nerves warming my belly, I push off the couch and cross to my friend in an instant. I wrap him up in a hug and plaster my cheek to his pounding chest. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Fletch. I’m sorry the world hurt your family.”
“I never meant to abuse my child.” His voice breaks and hitches. “I never meant to hurt her.”
“I know you didn’t. I’m sorry I said those things.”
“I want her more than I want to breathe. But I don’t want to kill her mom in the process.”
“So let’s save them both.” Pulling back, my heart skips a beat when I find this usually strong, silly man’s eyes brimming with pain. “I say the harsh words, but I mean them with love.”
Peeking back at Archer, I swallow when I find his eyes trained on the side of my face. “I always,alwaysmean them with love. Even when you don’t like what I have to say.”
Coming back to face Fletch, I reach up and swipe the trail his tears made along his cheek. “I can’t believe you have a daughter! Why did no one tell me?” And then I gasp. “Does Aubree know? Will I be the first to know something?”
“Aubree doesn’t know.” He drops his gaze and sniffles. “I keep my private shit private.”
“Well, I think you should shout about Mia to anyone who’ll listen. She’s pretty frickin’ cute.”