“What else is there?”
Absently, I picked up a piece of driftwood, still warm from the afternoon sun. “Is it too much for you? Too complicated?”
“What kind of hypocrite would I be if that were the case? I have a daughter of my own. Complications of my own.”
I turned to face her. “But we just met. You signed up for a guy who’s supposed to be fun and spoil you—not someone about to become a full-time single parent to a kid who might not even want to know him.”
“I signed up to meet a real person. One who was honest with me. That’s what I need more than anything.”
“Thank you,” I said, my throat tight. “I haven’t been a dad for six years. Nicole alienated me from her in every way, and now the poor kid’s just supposed to move in with a stranger.”
She looked at me with those clear blue eyes. “You’re not a stranger. You’re her father—who wants her.”
“More than anything.”
“It might be tough at first, but, if you just stay the course, she’ll realize how good she has it—and how much you love her.”
I stared at her, hardly daring to believe it. “That’s basically what my mother said.”
“She must be very smart.”
“She is.” I stuck the piece of driftwood into the sand. “Just when I thought my life was going one direction, it does a switchback.”
She covered my hand with hers. “Isn’t that life, though? We just never know what’s coming.”
“It’s awful.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, pretty much.” Her expression softened, the earlier wariness gone. “Tell me about Margot.”
“Margot.” I teared up hearing her name come from Lila’s mouth. “She was my whole world from the moment she was born. When they put her in my arms for the first time, this overwhelming, all-consuming love just … crashed into me. I wanted only to protect her. But I couldn’t. Not from her mother.”
“Why do you think she took her from you?”
“It’s hard to explain Nicole. Years of therapy have taught me she’s the classic narcissist. She has this insatiable need for attention—always posting photos of herself in a bikini, humble-bragging about something. Manipulative and selfish, only she won’t admit it. She has this way of turning everything around so it’s the other person’s fault.”
I relayed some of my conversation with Nicole earlier.
“That’s awful,” Lila said. “But I actually understand. My ex was the same. That’s why he couldn’t resist the nubile intern—she showered him with attention.”
“She’s kept Margot from me out of spite. And now she wants to remarry and suddenly needs me to step in. I was so angry earlier I had to keep myself from punching the wall. As my mother said, she sold her daughter back to me.”
“And you don’t know what kinds of issues she’s going to have,” Lila said. “It may take some work, but she’s better off with you.”
“I don’t know if I can fix six years with Nicole. And Margot hates me. Nicole made sure of that.”
“You’ll win her back. You just have to have patience.”
“I’m so out of practice,” I said.
“She’s going to be scared—and hurt that her mother’s sending her away because she found a new man. God, it’s so awful. How could she … never mind. As my therapist says, we can only control how we react, not what others do to us.”
“I don’t even have a place for her to live,” I said. “My house is about to go through a major renovation.”
“We’ll find you a rental.”
“That’s what my mom said.”
“Again, she’s a smart woman.”
