Except... no. She was moving on, now. And kind of, maybe, sort of dating Gallant. Which might make meeting Nick’s kid into a test, of sorts.
Proof of concept.
Aubrey drew a long breath. The faint itch of hay tickled her nose. “You know what? I’d love to talk to the math club. When would be best?”
Paige paused just long enough to squeak a victory. “Really? Oh, Mrs. Runge is gonna be so excited. Why don’t I ask her about scheduling, and I’ll get back to you. Here, do you have your phone? I’ll put in my number and text myself. I promise I won’t spam you with math questions. Okay, Imightspam you with math questions, but you can tell me to back off at any time and I’ll totally respect that.”
Aubrey chortled and obediently handed over her cell, then tucked it back into her pocket when Paige finished. That done,they migrated to a rickety folding table by the window, where they tilted their heads together and planned the rebar cuts.
Paige scribbled numbers without hesitation. The girl was lightning quick and, even more impressive, confident about it. Not to mention personable and engaged, as if someone had permanently turned her dial up to eleven.
Within the hour, Aubrey’s cheeks ached from smiling. Why hadn’t she realized teenagers could be so... fun?
“So, is this what you want to do with your life?” Aubrey asked, when they’d settled on the final configuration for the rebar skeletons. “Math?”
“No. I mean, I love it and all, but for me, it’s just a piece of the bigger puzzle.”
“The bigger puzzle being...?”
Paige glanced down, her broad grin tempering to something more restrained. “Um. Astrophysics.”
Aubrey sat back. “You want to be an astrophysicist?Really?”
Paige stole a glance from under her lashes, and Aubrey kicked herself for her reaction.
She, of all people, should’ve known better. “Sorry, I just—”
“I know, I know,” Paige said. “I’m only sixteen, I have about a million years to change my mind. Everyone says. But I swear astrophysics is it. Ever since my dad got me my first telescope when I was ten, I’ve been hooked. The idea of all those stars out there... forming, falling apart, imploding,exploding... I mean, they’re beaming light at us all the time, which takes thousands of years to get here, like some kind of time capsule constantly arriving from the past. I honestly can’t think of anything I’d rather do all day than studythat.”
Aubrey’s heart swelled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to question your conviction. At all. Because you can absolutely know what you want to do at sixteen. I did.”
Paige straightened. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. And astrophysics sounds incredible. I mean, you can do whatever you set your mind to. As in, you, specifically. You seem like a... force of nature. So don’t bother with what people say. Just go out and show them they’re wrong. There’s a special kind of satisfaction in that, trust me.”
“Wow. Thanks. You kind of sound like my dad, actually. He’s always like”—Paige squared her shoulders and adopted a mock baritone—“‘Ignore the haters, Peanut.’ Which is such an old-man way to say it, but I appreciate the message.”
Aubrey chuckled. “He sounds like a good guy.”
“He is. I mean, I’m a daddy’s girl, definitely. But only because he’s a really amazing human.”
A twinge of envy stabbed at Aubrey’s throat. Love saturated this girl’s voice, free of qualifications, a bittersweet echo of the way she’d felt toward her father at that age.
Back before everything had gotten broken. Before he’d smashed it to smithereens. And afterward, it had stayed broken. A decade later, he’d lost his battle with hepatic cancer, and that’d been it. A sad story with no ending.
Aubrey cleared her throat. “I’d like to meet this dad of yours. He sounds wonderful.”
“Oh, you will,” Paige chirped, the damper on her demeanor already dissolving. She glanced at her watch. “In about five minutes, actually. He’s volunteering with us, too. He stopped by the fighting gym this morning, but he said he’d be here by noon.”
A tendril of disquiet unfurled in Aubrey’s stomach. “The fighting gym?”
“Yeah. He’s super into this MMA stuff. It’s so weird, but I’m all for whatever makes him happy, you know? And—Oh, look! Speaking of!”
Paige jumped up and dashed away. All the blood in Aubrey’s body plummeted toward her feet. It was just a coincidence, had to be...
But no. When she swiveled in her chair, there stood Nick, in jeans and work boots, hugging a daughter whose personality could not have been more diametrically opposed to his than if she’d been designed that way.
Their gazes snared over Paige’s shoulder.
