I just stare at the mirror tag in his hand, then shake my head. “I need another permit to park it in the family housing apartments.”
“What? What the fuck, man? That place is trying to keep you poor. Well, I’ll get that one tomorrow morning. I don’t have any clients until three.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know. I want to do that.”
“Vivi doesn’t mind walking.”
“I know that too. She told me herself. But I don’t want you walking, Daisy. You don’t have to keep the truck. Those old trucks are kind of an acquired taste. But I’m a pretty good mechanic and my friend Bobby, he runs a garage on the north side of town. I had him pick up your car from your apartments today. He’s gonna fix it for you. But you need a new transmission, so it’s gonna be a little bit. Oh, and can you give me your car keys? He needs them.”
“You picked up my car?”
He doesn’t say anything. He can hear the irritation in my voice. And I get it. I should be gushing with appreciation. But I just feel like… like he has taken over our life.
Our life. As in mine. As in Vivi’s. As in the girls in this house with the last name of Lundin, not Vaughn.
“We could take a drive up there after dinner, if you want.”
“Up where?”
“Ronnie’s house. It’s in Bellvue. They have a farm.”
Now I really want to cry.
“Or… not,” Vic adds quickly. “Yeah. Let’s not. Let’s have dinner so Vivi can stay happy. Then I’ll drop you off at home. Like I said, I don’t have clients until three tomorrow. What’s your schedule look like?”
“I have lunch and dinner shifts.” I’m still looking at my feet. And I feel like a pouty teenager, but if I look up at him, I will cry. I just know it. And I refuse to cry in front of Vic Vaughn.
“OK, well, how about this? I’ll pick you girls up in the morning, we’ll go out and see Veronica and the nieces, you can figure out if you’re comfortable with her watching Viv or not, then I’ll have you back in town for your shift. Sound good?”
I swallow hard and nod, trying my best to rally. Then I fish through my purse, hand him my car keys, and say, “Sure. I think I can handle that.”
“OK. Cool. Let’s go eat then.” He walks towards the door, his heavy biker boots thudding on the hardwood floors.
I take a deep breath and force myself to rally. I’m good at it now. I’ve been rallying like a champion for an entire year.
And when I stand up, I’m smiling.
We go downstairs to the kitchen and find the entire Vaughn family—even Pops, despite his claim of being tired—sitting in the mismatched chairs at the table waiting on us, and I don’t even freak out. I’m calm.
I keep the charade up until we’re done. All the way home in Vic’s truck. All the way inside the apartment. All the way through Vivi’s bath, storytime, and kiss goodnight.
But when all that is over, I am lost.
I have no idea what’s going to happen, I just know one thing for certain—my relationship with my daughter will never be the same again.
CHAPTER ELEVEN - VIC
The next morning Daisy and Vivi are waiting for me in the parking lot of their apartments. I pull up the truck up and then lean over and open the passenger door. Vivi scoots in first, sitting in the middle of the bench seat.
Daisy hesitates. “Is this… legal?”
“Is what legal?”
She points to Vivi sitting in the center. “That.”
“We have a seatbelt, Daisy. She was wearing one last night when I dropped you off.”
“Right. I’m aware. But that was a few blocks over. This is a trip up to Bellvue. So is it legal?”
I sigh. “I guess. I mean, I’ve never been stopped and I’ve put two nieces in this cab plenty of times.”
“I’m not trying to be a witch, I’m just trying to get the facts.”
“Understood.” I hold up a finger, pull out my phone, and do a search for bench seat safety laws in Colorado. “Well. I can’t find anything specific, so I’m gonna go with legal. But if it makes you feel any better, how about you and Viv change places so she can have the shoulder belt?”
“Aww,” Vivi complains. “But I wanted to sit next to you.”
Daisy’s face falls when these words come out of Vivian’s mouth. And I don’t blame her. I’m the new, shiny thing and she’s the one who’s done all the work. If I were her, I would hate me too.
I pat Vivi’s knee. “Scoot out, child. Your mom’s gonna sit in the middle so you can have the safest safety belt.”
“That’s dumb,” Viv complains. But she moves.
Daisy slides in, and then pulls the shoulder belt over our daughter. Then she belts herself in and settles back into the seat rest. “OK, we’re ready.”