Dad grumbles. “Twelve, huh? Least you weren’t wearing a cape.”
Willow’s brown eyes widen like she’s insulted. “It was red with gold trim and I wore it proudly.” She makes a Superman stance and then laughs to herself as she rolls her suitcase out from under the staircase. “Ready when you are, Spout.”
Dad’s eyes land on Willow’s hand on the suitcase and his brows perk, but he doesn’t say anything. Probably wondering where she spent the night.
“Oh, let me heat up a tart for you before you go.” Ginger rushes to the kitchen. Willow follows, protesting that she doesn’t need the calories.
I glance up the stairs. “I should go check on Ellie before I head out.”
“What she do anyway? Willow. For work?”
I shake my head like it doesn’t matter. “Plays piano at a bar in Manhattan, I think.” I pause. “Sings too.”
Dad nods slowly.
“What?”
He shrugs. “Don’t look like that girl’s in any rush to get back.”
“You get all that in ten minutes?”
“I got all that from Ellie tellin’ us Rose’s friend surprised her with an impromptu visitandthat she thought she left. Then she ends up here. Offering help. Don’t take a rocket scientist, Dal.”
“Did you have a point or can I go spend some time with my daughter now before I leave her yet again to drive to the airport?”
He looks me dead in the eye. “Thought about asking her to stay for a while?”
Is he serious? The hell for?
“Don’t know what you mean by ‘a while,’ but no. I don’t need anybody here. Not for Ellie. Not for me. Not for a week, not at all.”
Dad looks at me like he understands my resistance all too well. And since he’s the only one who does, I tell him. I lift my head to the darkening clouds, rubbing a hand over my jaw. “After Millie died, I didn’t know how to get by. Hell, I didn’t think I could or even wanted to. But then Ellie happened .?.?.” I sigh with an ease only she brings out of me. “And I figured it out. How to live, how to be there for someone who depends on me. She and I—we finally got our rhythm. A trust I’m building from scratch because I missed sixyearsof her life. It’s the one thing—the only thing helping me move past losing the love of my life.” I swallow hard, my eyes darting to the expanse of my fields as I continue to accept life without her. “You were there. I don’t need it. I barely crawled out of that hole once. I’m not about to go under again. Not when I’ve got a little girl depending on me. I’m all she’s got. And she’s getting all of me.”
His eyes are warm but his jaw is tight as he takes in every word. “Son, I appreciate you don’t want Ellie growing close to anyone, but .?.?. no one’s talking forever. These are desperate times. You’re going to need help. Especially with winter staffing around here being minimal. Early mornings, sometimes late nights—”
“Not her,” I snap quietly.
Dad perks a brow. “Too pretty.”
I shake my head.Too fucking a lot of things.
Willow’s fierce but fragile, clever, witty. Beautiful as all hell, but her voice—if I hear her sing again, even hum, I’ll lose my goddamn mind.
Before I have a chance to tell him to drop it—or see my girl for even a minute—through the window I catch sight of a familiar truck pulling up to the house. “It’s Cole Hartly.”
“Ellie’s grandfather?”
I glance upstairs. “He must be here to tell her about Maya.” I rub my jaw, panic creeping into my veins. “I haven’t had a chance to call him to discuss when or how yet.”
“Hell,” Dad mumbles, then puts a hand on my shoulder. “Might as well get this over with. Want me and Ginger to go?”
Something twists in my stomach about Cole’s visit. “No,” I mutter. “Hold on a second. Keep Ellie upstairs, will ya?”
I’m in knots when I step outside. The man just lost his wife so I’m careful not to snap at him for showing up unannounced. Especially if he’s here to break my girl’s heart when it’s supposed to be a happy day for her.
“Cole,” I start, meeting him halfway—a good twenty feet from the front porch.
He nods and glances at the house.
