Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

He couldn’t deal with these people on no sleep. Coffee and a hot shower would only keep him going for so long. He’d managed to keep his irritable mood from Lila and Noelle, but the rest of the town was definitely starting to notice. He was a bear.

Noelle sat with her laptop at the breakfast table, a big bowl in front of her. She glanced up. “There’s oatmeal. Lila made it in the slow cooker last night. It’s pretty good.”

Her eyes went back down to the screen.

He grabbed a cup of coffee. He was too tired for this, but he didn’t like the fact that there seemed to be some tension to his daughter he didn’t understand. “I heard you decided to not go out this weekend. I thought you had fun.”

She didn’t look up from her computer screen. “I did. The movies were good, but I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“I get the reports on your pacing. You’re ahead, sweetheart.”

“I don’t want to go.”

“Did those girls say or do something they shouldn’t have?”

“No. I just don’t want to go. And I think you should talk to your girlfriend about the fact that she’s not my mom.” Noelle’s lips firmed. “Look, I like Lila. I like her a lot, but I’m starting to think that maybe she doesn’t like me.”

“Why would you say that?”

“She’s always talking to me about how smart I am and how much I could do.”

“That doesn’t seem like a bad thing.”

“It is when you really can’t do any of those things. I can’t go to college, Dad.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe we can work something out. I mean, I’ll be honest, I don’t see you going to UT Austin and living completely on your own, but maybe we could start looking around for a community college we could get you to. And maybe we should think about getting a car you could drive.”

Her skin paled in the morning light. “I’m not driving. I’m not.”

“Sweetie, you have to learn at some point.” Had she honestly believed she wouldn’t drive at all?

Now her eyes met his and there was disappointment in them. “She got to you.”

“Got to me how?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. Like I said, I like Lila.”

Frustration welled inside him. “Tell me. I can’t solve the problem if you don’t tell me what the problem is.”

“I’ve started to wonder if maybe she doesn’t want to be burdened with a stepdaughter in a wheelchair. She keeps pushing me to try things I can’t do. Maybe she wants to send me away so you can start a new family and not have to deal with me.”

Oh, they were going to have to have a meeting. A family meeting. “That’s not what she wants. She’s thinking about you and what’s best for your future.”

“I don’t have a future,” Noelle shot back with a savage anger he hadn’t heard from her before. “Not one that includes going to college and living in a dorm. I can barely manage to get in my chair from bed, much less getting myself around a campus. I’ll go and do the PT because it seems like that’s something she needs me to do in order to be okay with me, but I don’t want to listen to her complain about how lazy I am.”

“Nobody is saying that. Lila certainly isn’t. Is she saying things when I’m not around?”

“No. Not like that,” Noelle replied. “She’s always positive about it, but I have to wonder. I know I’m a burden.”

“You’re not a burden. You’re my daughter and you still come first in my life.” She had to. He was pretty sure he wanted to marry Lila, but Noelle still had to come first. “I’ll talk to Lila. Maybe we should all sit down and talk.”

There were tears in his daughter’s eyes. “I don’t want her to hate me. I want things to stay the same. Can’t she like me the way I am?”

“She does like you.” His heart ached for her, but she was wrong about Lila. She had to be. “Are you okay with her taking you to therapy? I can pick you up, but I have a meeting that will likely run long.”

Could he get out of it? He would send Roxie, but she was even less tolerant than he was and might end up arresting the board members.

Noelle sniffled. “Yes, I can go with her. We’re fine most of the time. We had a nice night last night, although she tried to teach me how to make the oatmeal. I can’t cook. She keeps trying to teach me things.”

She was trying too hard. “Lila is the type of woman who throws herself into everything she does. She’s a type A. She has to be to do her job the way she does. She’s trying to solve problems and be a good role model to you. Be patient with her. She means well.”