A Redo (Sterling Shore 6)

I’m such a fucking idiot. All I had to do was replace the damn phone. I knew it was bad to freeze up. Why did I trust it?

After skidding to a halt, I leap out of the car and race toward the door. To my surprise, Allie steps out before I can even knock, and she looks like she could kill me. I can’t blame her.

“Do you know how it feels to get a call about your child being forgotten at school?” she asks in a deceptively calm tone. “No,” she continues, not giving me time to speak, “you don’t, because you didn’t answer your phone when Angel told them you were supposed to be picking her up. But I know how it feels, because that’s the call I got today. Fortunately, I was near my phone at the time.”

My stomach sinks to my toes, and I try to spit out an apology, but she walks in and slams the door in my face, making it clear she’s done.

No. Not like this. I fucked up, obviously, but I can fix this. I know I can. Starting with replacing my motherfucking phone.

***

ALLIE

“Allie!” Bella hisses.

I jar awake, feeling for Angel beside me, but she’s not there. Oh, that’s right. She went to her bed, mad at me for being so hard on Wren. Figures she was eavesdropping. But I don’t understand why she’s mad at me.

“What?” I ask in a rasp tone, proving I’ve just been startled awake.

“Wren’s outside and he’s building something. Very loudly.”

What?

Confused, I stumble out of bed like I’m drunk instead of disoriented. I follow her to the patio doors where Wren Prize is definitely outside and building something, cursing when whatever it is kicks his ass.

“Is that a basketball goal?” Bella muses.

Glancing at the clock, I see it’s two in the morning. How long has he been out there?

The goal is laying in disassembled pieces on the ground, and Wren is sitting cross-legged in the middle, staring at the instructions under the faint glow of the streetlight. He has to squint and angle the paper to read the words, and I sigh.

“What’s he doing?” I groan.

“He’s trying to apologize,” Bella says with a grin and a shrug.

“By buying his way out of the guilt?”

“By doing something for his daughter that he knows she loves,” she corrects. “If he wanted to buy his way out of it, he would have paid someone to come do this for him. Instead, he’s doing it on his own—this late at night. Go put the guy out of his misery.”

I scowl at her when I feel her loyalty shift.

“He really fucked up, Bella. This wasn’t some little slip.”

Why does she look so disappointed in me? Why am I always the bad guy?

“Allie, he’s still new to this, and he’s going to make a lot of mistakes. Just like any other person on the planet. Perfection doesn’t make someone a good person. Someone who owns their mistakes and does all they can to make it right… well, that’s a good person. Whether you like it or not, Wren Prize is in your life like a permanent fixture now. You’re going to have to learn to forgive.”

Forgiveness has never been a strength of mine. In fact, I feel weak when I forgive someone and absolve them of their sins. It feels like I’m telling them it’s okay to screw me over.

She pats my shoulder before walking back toward her room, leaving the decision about what to do in my hands. She’s right about Wren being a permanent fixture. I don’t see him ever going anywhere, and this isn’t just about me forgiving someone; Angel is involved.

Uncharted territory.

I contemplate leaving him out there for a while, let him stew in his guilt. But I cave and move outside with a begrudged motion. Stupid forgiveness bullshit. He’s barely even groveled, damn it.

Wren looks up immediately, dropping some tool that smacks his knee and earns a wince from him. I try to keep my face impassive, but he looks so pitiful right now.

“Sorry if I woke you up,” he says softly, returning his gaze to the task at hand. Ah, hell. Now I actually feel like the bad guy.

***

WREN

This fucking goal is the biggest pain in the ass, but Angel loves basketball. She’s too small and not strong enough to hit the normal goals at the park, but this one is adjustable and can be lowered.

I should have already done this, but I’m constantly worried about crossing a line with Allie. Fuck the lines. I’m going to mess up no matter what I do, so I might as well mess up doing something that Angel will enjoy.

Allie might think she has some divine right to keep our child away from me, but she doesn’t. I’ve done everything her way without any slack for over three months, and only one of those months has involved me actually seeing my child.