“Why’d you come to Austin, Chloe?”
A quiet beat, and then another. Finally, she sighed. “I was lonely, okay? Kyle left a few weeks ago and?—”
“Kyle?”
“My boyfriend,” she huffed. “I know I’ve mentioned him.”
I really didn’t think she had, but what did it matter? “He left.”
She sighed. “Yes. And the apartment just felt so big and empty. I started thinking that maybe I’d been too hasty, maybe I shouldn’t have ended things without giving us a real shot, you know? I mean, God, Liam. We never even went to couple’s counseling.” I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t remind her that I had begged to find a marriage therapist, and she had always refused. “I don’t know. I guess I just thought if I came and saw you and Josie, things would start to make sense. I thought we could try again.”
I gripped the steering wheel tight. So her latest boyfriend had left her, she was lonely in an empty apartment, and that made her think she should revisit the marriage she had abandoned.
“But you left again,” I pointed out. “I take it you must have changed your mind when you saw us in Texas?”
“You don’t know what it’s like, Liam,” she whined. “You’re gone all the time. You’re constantly on the road or at the rink.”
“You knew that about me before you came to Austin,” I pointed out, somehow managing to keep from raising my voice.
“I guess…I don’t know. I thought it might be different.” She sighed loudly. “You have no idea what it’s like to struggle to find your place in the world, Liam. You are so fucking lucky to have always known exactly what you wanted to do.”
Hockeywaswhat I always wanted. But when Josie had come along, my priorities shifted. Getting on the ice was no longer the best part of my day. And knowing that Chloe hadn’t had the same revelation about our daughter just made me really sad for her.
“I’m sorry you feel lost, Chloe,” I said, and really meant it. “I hope you can figure out what you’re looking for. But in the meantime, you can’t tug Josie around. You can’t keep confusing her.”
“I never meant to confuse her,” she began, but I wasn’t done.
“Look, our daughter doesn’t actually require much from you, Chloe. She’s pretty damn smart and incredibly resilient. She’d be happy with regular phone calls. A few visits a year. Enough to let her know that you actually give a damn.”
“Of course I give a damn.” All of the whine had left her tone. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was talking to the real Chloe, without all the self-pity, without the facade of the perfectly-put-together, designer-style, cool girl she usually tried to project.
“Then prove it,” I told her bluntly. “Don’t show up here talking like you might stick around. Don’t give her false hope. Just call her once in a while. Make plans to see her and stick to them. It really isn’t that hard.”
She was silent for a long moment. “Because you’re the one that does the hard part,” she finally murmured. “You’re the one who’s there day in and day out.” I could hear her swallow heavily on the other end of the phone. “I appreciate that, Liam. You’re a wonderful father and our daughter is lucky to have you.”
“I’m the lucky one.” And it was true. Josie was a gift I could never begin to deserve.
She laughed softly. “The fact that you see it that way proves my point.”
I didn’t bother responding. I didn’t need Chloe to validate my abilities as a father. I’d been doubting myself for months but I was done with that now. I knew, deep down, that Josie and I were going to be okay.
I glanced at the dashboard clock. Our conversation had eaten up a good chunk of my free hour. “I need to get to the rink,” I told her. “Are you planning to come back to Austin or are you heading back to New York?”
“What do you think I should do?” she asked, voice small. “What do you think is best for Josie?”
Honestly, I had no idea. But I did know that a lot of the pain of the last few months had come because Josie and I weren’t talking to each other. That needed to end. “I’ll talk to her,” I finally said. “See how she feels about it. Then we can go from there.”
Chloe let out a long breath and I couldn’t tell if she was relieved or disappointed. “Okay. I’ll leave it up to the two of you.”
That was about the most mature response I’d gotten from her in ages. “Thank you.”
“I really am sorry, Liam.”
I was pretty sure I believed her. “You can do better, Chloe,” I said. “I know you can.”
The tremor was back in her voice. “Thank you. I guess I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Okay.” Just as I was about to end the call, a woman passed my car on her way into the building. She didn’t look a thing like Grace but she was wearing a green blouse—one that had me remembering the first night we’d spent together, when I’d peeled it from her body. “Hang on,” I blurted out. “Chloe?”
