“He’s going to Bud and Ginny’s. I need to call Billy.”
Renie was downstairs with her door shut before Liv could ask her another question.
18
Billy was nearly frantic. It was all he could do not to call Liv, but Renie was an adult and calling her mother because he was worried about her was not an appropriate thing to do. In fact, if anything had happened to Renie, he knew Liv would contact him.
No, Renie was out with this Jace guy, the one she’d spent the summer with. Who taught her more about herself.
Willow started to cry, and he realized he hadn’t been paying attention to her. He was so upset about Renie, he’d forgotten his baby girl. Shit. What kind of dad was he?
He picked her up, and snuggled her against him. Once she had his undivided attention, she calmed down. More warning flags shot up around him. Maybe Renie’s instincts were dead on, and it would be harder to juggle the two of them than he thought. It broke his heart to think she might be right.
His cell vibrated in his pocket and he set Willow down on the floor to answer it. As soon as he did, she started to wail again.
“Hey,” he answered. “Can you hang on a minute?”
He didn’t wait for Renie’s answer, he set the phone down so he could pick Willow up again.
“Hi,” he said once he had his baby girl settled. “Where are you?”
“I’m home.”
“Yeah?”
He was pissed, and he didn’t care if she knew it. She would’ve been pissed too, if the situations were in reverse.
“Billy, I—”
Willow started to cry again.
“Hey, Renie. Willow’s fussy. I need to take care of her. I’ll call you later.”
He hung up on her. Because Willow was fussy. She knew that wasn’t the only reason he had. But still. Wasn’t that the very thing she was most worried about? That Willow would always come first? Their entire lives would revolve around Willow, whether Renie was ready for that kind of life or not.
She wasn’t even twenty-four. Was that the life she wanted?
She came back upstairs, boots on, ready to go for a ride. She’d never felt so glad that Pooh was out in the barn and no longer at Billy’s.
“Where are you off to?” Liv asked.
“Riding over to Bud and Ginny’s.”
“Did you talk to Billy?”
“Yep, for about three seconds. He hung up on me because Willow was fussy.”
“Oh, dear.”
“You got that right. Ya know, I don’t need this shit from him. He wants it all, and he doesn’t care how much he tramples on everyone around him to get it.”
“Wow, that was quick,” Jace said when Renie walked into Bud and Ginny’s house.
“Yep.”
“Did you make your phone call?”
“Yep.”