Why would he ever meet my mom?
What had just happened here?
“Rene? Did you want to say goodbye to your mother?” Edward prompted, still holding the phone out to me.
I scrambled for it. “Mom?”
“I like your Daddy,” she said, sounding a hundred percent relaxed now. “But I’m going to let you go now that I know everything’s fine, Renny. Mr. Olson dropped off some new books from the library I want to get to. I’ll see you when you get home tomorrow.”
“Mom?” I repeated, feeling off-kilter and confused. “What did—”
But before I could even get the whole question out, she said goodbye, made a kissy sound into the phone, and then hung up.
I stared at it for a minute, then looked up at my Daddy. “Um…”
He smiled. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he said, smoothing my hair back from my forehead. “Your mother knows I’ll take care of you.”
“But you told her… you said you were going to meet her in person?” My heart started to pound. “Why would you say that?”
He frowned. “She was worried about that old Volkswagen of yours, and frankly, love, I am, too. It doesn’t look safe.”
He was talking about my car?
Why was he talking about my car?
Had he just called me “love” again?
“Okay, but...” I shook my head. “What?”
Edward smiled. “We’ll have it towed somewhere here in Asheville, and they can do a full diagnostic on it. Then—”
But my palms had started to sweat, and as I wiped them on my sleep pants I blurted, “Towed? But I have to work tomorrow.”
“I know, your mother told me. I’ll get you home in time.”
“You’llget me home?”
“Of course I’ll get you home, sweetheart.”
I shook my head. He couldn’t take me home. We had different homes. Different everythings. In different cities. What was he even talking about? And why were his eyes all soft and melty while I was feeling… feeling more and more confused and frantic?
“If the car can’t be salvaged, we’ll need to make other arrangements,” he was saying while I slowly freaked out inside, “but I’ll be the one to handle—”
“Edward,” I blurted, talking right over him because okay, maybe the freak-out hadn’t been happening all that slowly after all. “Whatother arrangements? I can’t… I can’t afford… I don’t have… it’s not…”
Oh God, I couldn’tbreathe.
“Shh,” he said, pulling me close and giving me a soft kiss that fixed everything. At least until he asked. “Rene, who takes care of you?”
That made me want to cry, and I jerked away from him and looked down.
“You do,” I said, my throat suddenly tight, “but—”
“There is no ‘but,’” he interrupted sharply, a wrinkle appearing between his brows as he turned my face up toward him, tugging me back into his arms. He swiped a thumb under one of my eyes, and I blinked furiously, embarrassed that I was ruining things. “Itake care you,” he said firmly, staring into my eyes hard, like he was searching for something. “There is not a ‘but’ there. Taking care of you is non-negotiable. That’s my job. It’s all I want to do. I’m your Daddy.”
“But… but only until tomorrow.”
Edward froze. “What?”
