He seemed unsure of how to answer my third and most important question. I pushed against him harder, causing the wall to slightly crack behind him. He squirmed as I hurt him.
"Dad, that's enough!" Izzy yelled at me. "I'm not a little girl anymore. Let him go."
She sounded pissed, which I was just fine with. She may be nineteen, but she didn’t need to be fucking around with guys. Especially not little weak men like this who wouldn’t be able to protect her should she ever need it.
"Davis, she's right." Lisa surprised me as she sided with my daughter.
I turned to see the two of them standing side by side but six feet apart. They both looked at me with their arms crossed. Izzy was furious, but Lisa was concerned. I grunted in frustration, shoving him back once more for good measure before releasing him. He fell to the floor, hurrying to Izzy's side. He lost more points in my book, if that was even possible, as he cowered behind my daughter.
"Izzy, you know the rules," I reminded her.
When she was here, there were no boys over. If she decided she wanted to be with someone, I was to meet with them before they started something. I wanted to make sure they were a good man before they dated my daughter. She was all I had left of Grace, and I needed to keep her safe as my only daughter. I loved her, even if she hated me right now.
"Again, I'm not a little girl, Dad. I'm an adult now, and I don't have to follow your stupid rules."
"Like hell! Adult or not, you're still my daughter. You'll follow my rules, Izzy, or I'll hunt those boys down myself and meet them the same way I met Neal here. Tell me, Neal, was it worth it?"
He was a coward.
"Don't answer that," Lisa surprisingly directed him. "You're being unreasonable, Davis."
Lisa marched up to me, her eyes locking with mine. She lifted herself on the balls of her feet and whispered into my ear.
"If he answers no, you'll make him hurt your daughter, and for what? To prove a point? That's not how that works. If he answers yes, then you'll be solidifying their relationship. That's not a smart question, my Viking."
Lisa was right, but I hadn't thought of that in my determination to make a point.
"So how do I handle it?" I whispered back.
"Neal, why don't you and I go to the kitchen and make some coffee while these two talk?" She turned to Neal with a warm smile, gesturing towards the kitchen. "I'll take care of him. You take care of her. Remember to be kind and gentle like you are with me," she whispered before heading out.
Could I be kind and gentle right now?
16: Your Mom
Davis' P.O.V.
"Iz, what gives? You knew I was coming home." I asked her as I sat on the couch. My leg was throbbing so badly, a consequence of walking on it before it was ready.
"Yeah, and?" She crossed her arms, sitting on the arm of the couch instead of the cushion.
"What's wrong? This isn't about that kid." I pointed towards the kitchen where that bastard had gone. I still have half a mind to punch him.
"Neal," she corrected me with a roll of her eyes. "Look, I just wanted to fool around. You're doing it, so why can't I?"
And there it was. Her excuse. That was not what was really wrong.
"I'm not fooling around Izzy. I love Lisa, a hell of a lot. It's been a very long time since I felt this way about someone. Since your mother, really. Your mom was everything to me, you know that. It's part of the reason I lost myself, and you, when she died," I admitted to her, remembering the turmoil Grace's death caused.
Izzy lowered her gaze, staring at my feet now. Those green eyes were identical to Grace's, pulling me in every time. Her full, small lips frowned as her brows pinched. She was thinking of her mother, and that always caused a mixture of sadness and anger in her.
"Gladyoucould find some happiness," she said bitterly.
"I know you don't think I deserve any, Izzy. I've felt that way for years, but that's wrong. Your mother's death was tragic, and I will forever blame myself, but I won't stay in this darkness any longer. Neither should you. If this Neal guy is really the one for you, then I'll bite my tongue. But if he can’t even face me for you, then I don't think he's really worth it."
A man should be able to face the father of the woman he loves. I was one to talk, not having spoken to Lisa's father myself. That was going to change this week, taking a page out of my book and facing him. He would know I meant business. Let him try to come for me. He wouldn't survive.
"Yeah, okay."
