Page 41 of My Protector Daddy

Warmth spread through me as I took the guitar from her and stared at it. “Thanks.”

A smile formed on my lips, and I brushed away the tears on my cheeks with my free hand. “I’m sorry, Danielle.”

“I know you are,” she said. “We’re best friends, Leah and I don’t want to lose that, but you and my dad? I don’t know if I can handle that.”

I nodded, completely understanding what she meant. It was wrong from the start, so I knew I had to end things with her dad, either way.

Tommy

Leahwasn’tatthecabin the day I dropped by three days later to grab a few things. Staying at my house in Main Dallas made it easier for everyone involved, including my commute to work, but it wasn’t what I wanted when I decided to go back home to Dallas.

Lakewood was my home, and the cottage always brought back fond memories of the good times I spent with Danielle after her mom left. She resented me for that, and our relationship was never the same, but we still had our moments.

Danielle’s words the day she walked in on me, and Leah still hurt. It reverberated in my mind each time I closed my eyes, and I wondered if there was a way to take away the thought. I saw Danielle in the kitchen when I walked in, and she lifted her head from the notepad in front of her and stared at me for a half second before looking away again.

When she didn’t say a word, I decided to speak first, so I walked over to her side, pulled out a chair, and sat. “Danielle …”

“Not now, Dad,” she cautioned before returning her attention to her notepad again. “I’m trying to write these lyrics and you’re taking up my space. It’s affecting my creativity.”

“Don’t do that, Danielle. Don’t act all bitchy to try and ice me out. I want to talk to you, and you obviously have a lot to say to me, so let’s hear it.”

It took a while before she dumped her pen on the table and looked at me. “You want to hear it?” she asked. “You want to hear it?”

“You’re my daughter, Danielle … I love you, and yes, I want to hear it.”

“You let Mom go, and then you ice me out like all that happened was my fault. All those years all I wanted … All I truly wanted was to leave this godforsaken town. Music was my freedom, and I took it even though you didn’t support me.”

Her voice turned hoarse, and I could tell she was about to cry. Danielle was a grown-up now, and it was probably time to rip the band-aid off and tell her what happened to her mother all those years ago.

“I didn’t want to leave your mother,” I began while she panted from her exertion. Her red cheeks slowly started to pale as I continued, and I heard her audibly long intake of breath too. “I begged her to stay even after I found out she was cheating on me, but she didn’t want to. I thought we were in love, but apparently, I was the only one that was still in love. She wanted out of our marriage and our lives, and she didn’t want you to go with her, Danny.”

“No,” she croaked and touched her neck. “That’s not true. That’s not possible. Mom would have wanted me to go with her, but you didn’t let her take me.”

Her eyes widened as she yelled, and I moved closer to her, then took her hands in mine. “I wanted to work things out, Danny. I wanted to work things out for your sake, but she refused to stay with us. She didn’t want to stay in an unhappy marriage, Danny, and I couldn’t make her stay.”

Danielle broke down in tears at that point and even when I walked closer and wrapped my arms around her, she couldn’t stop. She cried for a long time and went through a range of different emotions right there in front of me.

First, it was denial and she kept calling me a liar while hammering her fist on my chest, then next was the pain of finally excepting the truth. I consoled her through it all and made sure to caress her back until her tears finally subsided.

When Danielle finally sat down again, I brought her a glass of water and patted her shoulder before handing it to her. “I am sorry, Danny,” I whispered to her. “I love you, Danny, and with Leah … Things spiraled out of control, and yes, I fell for her, but that’s just …”

“You did what?”

Danielle’s question made me realize I had just confessed to falling for Leah. I backed away from Danielle and shook my head.

“Did you just say you fell for her? Did you fall for Leah? Like, fall in love with her?”

Love.Was that the right word to describe what I was feeling? Leah made me happy, and she invoked feelings in me that I hadn’t felt in years. Yes, I cared for her … I always had, but this was something else now.

This was love.

“Yes,” I answered Leah. “Yes, I fell for her. I never thought this was possible, Danelle, but it happened.”

“Does Leah feel the same way?”

Her question hung in the air above us, and I licked my lips and then recalled the last conversation I had with Leah.

“I don’t think so.”

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