“Holy shit.”
I pointed a finger at her. “Don’t curse.” I sat back, looking her squarely in the eye, honest for the first time in years. “The day after her funeral, I walked out of the house and never looked back. Her family was the officiant on everything, and I was no use to anyone I knew…so I became nobody.”
“God, Neal, that’s horrible.”
I attempted a smile. “It was. Not it is.”
Madeline swallowed a peach. “What about my mom?”
“What about her?”
“Are you some kind of freaky gold digger?”
I chuckled. “No, Madeline. I’m not.”
She sat back, arms crossing once more. “What are your intentions?”
“To be everything she needs and wants, for as long as she’ll have me.”
Madeline carefully observed me, squinting a little. “You’re telling the truth.”
“I am.”
Her expression suddenly brightened. “Oh my God, will you guys have more kids?”
I coughed into my fist, unsure how to answer. “That’s up to your mother.”
“But if it were up to you…” Madeline’s grin was wide.
I chuckled. “As many as possible.”
Madeline gave a soft whoop then pointed her fork at me. “I have a good feeling about this. Don’t screw it up.”
“Me too.”
The rest of the meal was finished amongst a lot of chatter. Madeline seemingly caught me up on every single detail of the rest of her week. But after I realized I didn’t need to remember anything, I relaxed. By the time I pulled up in front of the building, Madeline was half awake in the passenger seat, andwhen the doorman opened the door, I gripped her elbow to be sure she didn’t topple over on her way to the penthouse elevator.
Penelope was in the kitchen when the two of us walked in, her beautiful face immediately breaking into a huge grin as she saw us.
“How was it?”
I stilled, my hand gripping the back of the kitchen barstool, and waited. Madeline made a noise, plopping her stuff down on the counter with a sign. “It was lame, but Crowe took me to get chicken nuggies, so everything is better now.”
My throat burned with the need to turn and see if the girl was selling the story well. Penelope’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything. After a moment, she moved to her daughter, brushing hair out of her face with a graceful hand. “I’m glad you had fun.”
“Me too. I’m going to head to bed in a minute though. I want to get donuts with Camilla in the morning.”
“Sounds great, baby,” Penny answered easily, gathering Madeine into a hug before releasing her in the direction of her room. Madeline hesitated, casually leaning across the space and giving me a quick, hard clench of her arms. An almost-hug. I could almost hear the walls around my heart shatter.
“Good night Crowe,” she threw over her shoulder, marching down the hallway.
“‘Night,” I murmured back, my entire body frozen in shock.
When we heard Madeline’s door close, Penny immediately rounded on me. “Those must’ve been some nuggets.”
I didn’t stop myself from leaning over and brushing a kiss over her temple. Her cinnamon scent washing over me. “They’re the best.”
“Neal,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
