“She misses Dad a lot, but I never would’ve guessed she’d go to a bar when she’s lonely.”
“We’re more than a bar. My family’s owned it for almost fifty years, and everyone’s more like family than customers. She’s in good hands with us, and your girls were too.”
“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing anymore,” he admits in a moment of vulnerability as he stares down the length of his legs. “I think I’m fucking everything up.”
I stop what I’m doing, wanting to give him my full attention. It’s not that I care about him, but I liked his girls, and I know what a difficult time they must be having without their mom around.
“Why do you think that?” I ask, setting down the cleaning supplies and moving toward the waiting room to where he looks way sadder than I’d ever imagine possible.
“I wasn’t built to be a single father to two little girls. I don’t know anything about girly shit.”
I can’t stop the tiny laugh from escaping my lips, earning me a glance from Wylder. “Sorry,” I tell him and clear my throat before sliding into a chair, leaving one between us. “It doesn’t matter if they’re girls or boys, kids only want to know you love them.”
“How would you know?”
I search his eyes, hating that I’m going to get into my personal life, which I don’t do often, but I feel like it’s important at a time like this. “My mom died when I was young. My dad didn’t plan on being a single father to two kids either, but he survived, and so did we.”
“Fuck,” he hisses, his eyes softening and remorseful. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I say, my typical answer when someone finds out my mother died when I was little.
“I love them more than anything else in this world. It’s so hard watching them be sad every day, and there’s nothing I can do to fix it.”
I turn my body, bending my knee to put my ankle underneath me. “Wylder, you can’t fix everything, but you can put on a good show every day. If you’re happy, they’ll be happy.”
“It’s that easy?”
“Are you happy every day?” I ask him, but I already know the answer.
“Is anyone?”
“Nope, but you can fake it until you make it. Girls need love…lots of love. Kisses and hugs. Since they don’t have a mom, they need their dad. They need to know you’re not going to leave too.”
His face morphs into something akin to horror. “I would never do that.”
“I’m sure they thought that about their mom at some point too.”
“Katie’s trash.”
“Katie,” I whisper-hiss.
“Hazel’s easy to shower love on, but Maddox is another situation.” He squeezes his eyes shut, letting his head fall backward until it makes contact with the wall.
I smile, remembering her attitude earlier. “Teenagers suck.”
“Please tell me she’ll grow out of it in a year?”
“How old is she?”
“Fourteen.”
I burst into laughter. “You have about ten years of this Maddox before a different one takes over.”
“Jesus,” he mutters, curling his hands around the metal arms of the chair. “I won’t survive.”
“You will, but it’s going to be rocky.”
“I know nothing about teenage girls.”
