Tanner’s changed that, and by god is he going to regret it. I step away from him. “Get him in custody,” I say. “And call the police. He’s been feeding pot to my twelve-year-old, and I want it all in a report. Got it?” I thrust the bag at Jo, one of the other security people. “And get this tested for drugs. If I don’t get adetailed,airtightsummary, I will hold you personally responsible.”
Jo takes it, wide-eyed. I’m generally regarded as easy to work with. But not when someone messes with my daughter.
Tanner holds up his hands. “Naw, man. I didn’t do anything. You should try those brownies, though.They’re the shit.”
Tanner is the one who’s a shit, but I manage not to go off on him again while Russ escorts him out of the cabana.This is completely going to ruinTroy’s shoot today, and probably he’ll have to recastTanner or write him out of the rest of the scenes, which will be a disaster.
But I don’t care. I just want the kid away from Ivy.
Another security guard tugs Costanza out of the cabana. He’s started whining, probably from all the yelling, and I’m beginning to wonder if he wouldn’t have been better off back at the ranch, attachment issues notwithstanding.
I kneel next to Ivy, who rolls away from me and almost falls out of the hammock. I grab her, but she wrenches back and manages to land on her feet. “Leave me alone, Dad,” she says. “You’re ruining everything.”
“The only thing I’m ruining now is your buzz.” I want to ask her if she knew what was in the brownies, but I’ll save that for later when she’s sober.
Oh, god. My twelve-year-old is high. How did I not protect her from this? How do I suckthis much?
“Ivy,” I say, moving around the hammock toward her. “Seriously. I need you to come back to my trailer and lie down.”
“What do you care!” Ivy screams at me. She stumbles backward and trips onto a lounge chair. “You don’t care what happens to me! You didn’t care when you left Mom, and you don’t care now that you’re back together, and you won’t care next time you leave, either! Just go away, Dad. Just leave me alone. Everything’s easier when you’re not around.”
I stare at Ivy. I don’t want that to sting, but it does. My own daughter doesn’t want me around, and we used to be so close. Like an idiot, I thought we’d always be able to talk. I take a step back.
No.That’s wrong. It doesn’t matter if she wants me around. She’s my daughter. She’s stuck with me. And so are Kim and Luke, for that matter. Kim told me things would be easier if I wasn’t here, and listening to her was the worst mistake of my life. She wanted me to fight for her, and I should have, for all three of them.
I’m damn well going to fight for them now.
“I’m not leaving, Ivy,” I say. “I’m not leaving you, or your mom, or your brother. I’m your father, and I’m never leaving any of you again.”
Ivy looks at me for a moment with red eyes.
And then she bursts into tears.
I reach down and scoop her up, lifting her into my arms and carrying her out of the cabana and down the beach. I can hear shouting behind me—we’re within sight of the press line, and I know there are going to be pictures of this.
But I don’t care. Let them take pictures of me taking care of my daughter. Let them be ready for the legal troubleTanner’s just landed himself in.
This is my family, and no matter what hits the news, I’m going to take care of them.
Whatever it takes.
When I get back to the trailers, Kim runs up to me. “Blake! When I got out of that stupid harness, I went looking for her, but I couldn’t—oh god, is Ivy okay?”
Ivy has her eyes closed, which is good, because I don’t want her talking where other people can hear. “Yeah,” I say. “She’ll be okay. Let’s take her to my trailer.” On the way there I catch sight of Aaron, who’s being led by security in handcuffs. I hear sirens, and I hope the police get here soon, because they’re going to be taking reports for hours.
But first, I need to get my daughter somewhere safe. Kim opens my trailer for me, and I take Ivy straight back to the bedroom and lay her on the bed. “You get some sleep, okay, Ive?”
Her eyes are still closed, and she nods lethargically, as if she used all the energy she had to scream at me, and now is drifting off in a haze. When Ivy’s safely closed in the room, Kim grabs my arm. “What happened to her?”
“She’s high,” I tell her. “Tanner fed her pot brownies. Ourtwelve-year-oldwas givenmarijuana.” I realize I sound like the oldest, squarest adult on the block right now, but I don’t care. Kim looks equally horrified, and together we crash on the couch in the main room.
“Oh, god,” she says. “You’re sure that’s what it was?”
“She was pretty out of it. So I hope that’s all it is. But I gave the brownies to security, and they’ll get them tested.” I shake my head. “I want to prosecute the hell out ofTanner. Do you have a problem with that?”
“No,” Kim says, then winces. “But it’ll be public. Do we really want to put Ivy through that?”
“We can’t protect her from everything. I obviously did a shitty job of protecting her from this, but I can’t let that little asshole get away with it.”
