“First. With Ms. Green. She’s super nice.”
“You know what? You’re good enough to play with the older kids. Or I could give you private lessons.”
She jumped up and down, her hair a swirling mess around her face. “Then I’ll be on TV, Mom!”
Jules frowned at me. “I’m not sure that’s in our budget, Drew. Let me talk with Darla at home.”
“At no cost, on me,” I said, not about to be denied. I was a thirsty man in the desert.
“No, no. I don’t do things like that.”
“But, Mom! I’m bored playing with you.”
“Don’t do this. I don’t want your pity,” Jules said through gritted teeth.
“But I want to. She’s—” I got a death stare at that. Clearly, I wasn’t to mention that Darla was my daughter. But who the hell did she think was her father? “I was going to say she’s very talented.”
“She is. It’s in her blood.”
“It most definitely is.”
“Mom, I’m thirsty. I’m going over to the fountain.”
When Darla was out of earshot, I gave Jules a hard look. “You can’t keep her from me.”
“You just said an hour ago that you didn’t ever want to talk about this.”
“I didn’t. Now I do. Forgive me for the whiplash, but it’s probably warranted. I just found out, and I don’t even know if she has a middle name or my last name.”
“You left.”
Jules’s hair was in that stupid put-together bun she wore now. I wanted to rip it the fuck out and kiss her silly. Or punch her in the gut. I’d never hit a woman before, and I didn’t plan on doing it. But still.
“Darla Katherine Smith. Katherine with a K.”
“So you gave my child my initials but never intended to allow her to meet me? To know me?” When Jules pressed her lips together but didn’t respond, I pushed harder. “I want to see my daughter, and since she has no clue who I am, this is how I’m going to do it.”
Darla came running back over to us. “Let’s go, Mom! You said we were going to paint our nails too.”
She jumped around on one pink tennis shoe with her other leg in the air. Then she switched hopping feet, doing a little jig on the concrete. For a minute, I thought she had to pee, but she didn’t look uncomfortable. In fact, she was singing to herself, and she was so freaking adorable, I hated to interrupt.
“See you next Sunday, Darla. Your mom said yes; you can come take lessons with me.”
“Woo-hoo!” She threw her arms around her mom’s waist, hugging her.
“Just come on by Rocky Brook around ten. Sound good?”
When Jules did nothing more than nod, the score wasn’t love–fifteen anymore. It was fifteen–all, and I was going to get a chance to spend time with my daughter.
I’d say the advantage was all mine, even if that wasn’t the right way to keep score.
Drew
The week dragged on. Unable to calm my mind, I was opening and closing the gym each day, trying to calm my body. I’d canceled lunch with Sully, and sent younger associates to all of my other lunch meetings.
Besides sweating at the gym and moping at my office, I spent several nights staring out my floor-to-ceiling windows, looking for nothing and hoping for everything. I showered but didn’t shave.
By Thursday, my whole face itched from the scruff, and my entire body shook with fury. I wasn’t going to make it to Sunday, so I let go of my impulse control and drove right to the Southern Steak and Sea.
