“We will be home in a few days. Can we see you then?”
He made a regretful hissing sound. “I’m sorry, Nora, but I’m going to be leaving again.”
“No.” Nora whined.
“Well, if you hadn’t left town?—”
“Garrett!” Hollie’s voice rang out, stopping him.
Thank goodness she stepped in. If she hadn’t, I would’ve. As soon as the word “you” came out of his mouth as the reason he couldn’t follow through, I wanted to strangle him. Because that would likely be the only word Nora remembered. And I’d be damned before I let Garrett place that burden on a five-year-old.
Nora looked up, her expression one of sheer anguish.
“Baby, let Mommy talk to Daddy for a minute.”
Nora slowly nodded, relinquishing the phone to Hollie. Holliesnatched it, pressing the camera to her belly. She whispered. “Can I step into your bedroom?”
“Of course.”
With that, Hollie padded down the hallway and my bedroom door softly closed. A boulder on my chest would’ve felt more comfortable than whatever my heart was currently doing. It spasmed with anger and disbelief and a thousand other things I could never put words to. Thank God Hollie ended that rollercoaster from hell. Nora didn’t need that conversation, despite how much she wanted it. If he wasn’t going to show up for his daughters, then he needed to get lost. Dropping a line at his convenience would hurt more in the long run. Vanishing would be better.
Nora crisscrossed her arms across the table and sank her chin onto their pillow. Tears stormed her big brown eyes, her cheeks turning red as a soft squeak eked from her trembling lips.
Protectiveness raged behind my ribcage, my feet instinctively moving toward her. I slid onto the bench seat beside her and lifted my hand to gently pat her back. She took the touch as an invitation, scooting close and burying her head on my ribs. For a few minutes, she just cried. And I let her.
She sniffed loud and turned her watery eyes up to my face. “Why doesn’t—he like me anymore?”
“Nora, honey.” My shoulders fell. “It’s not that he doesn’t like you.”
“When—why does he never—come see me?”
I took a deep breath. I was way out of my depth here. Hopefully, I wouldn’t screw this up. “I don’t know, Nora. Some people don’t know how to really love others.”
Nora shook her head. “But it’s not hard.”
A soft smile pulled in my cheeks. “I agree. It’s easy to love you. But, sometimes people love themselves more, which is why they do things that hurt other people.”
Izzy dealt us in, the cards skimming across the glossy table top and stopping at my fingers. “I thought loving yourself is a good thing.”
I picked them up, unsure what game we were playing. “Yeah, weshould all love the ways we are unique and value what we bring to the world, but if you only focus on yourself, you hurt other people who need your love, too.” Was I butchering this? “There’s a balance and it’s not always an easy one.”
Cade chimed in as he laid a card down. “I miss my mom, Nora.”
Nora sniffed, suddenly sitting up and looking around the room as if she just realized Cade didn’t have a mother. “Where is she?”
“She’s in Heaven.”
Nora’s brow knit in confusion.
Izzy helped her out. “That means she’s dead.”
“Oh.” Nora’s voice fell, her bottom lip poking out. “That makes me want to cry more.”
Cade gave her a soft smile. “When I miss her a lot, I draw a picture of her. Maybe you could draw a picture of your dad to feel better.”
Nora sat up, sniffling. “Do you have some paper?”
Cade dropped his cards and stood up. “I’ll go get some.”
