Warnings and Wildfires

“No,” I grumble. Anything more than a handful of lettuce on my plate always ended in a lecture on how much prettier I’d be if I lost weight. And when that didn’t work, a few summers at fat camp hammered home the message.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Saying goodbye to my daughter never gets any easier.

For seven years now I’ve been taking Madison to the airport at the end of her visit and sending her home.

Still hurts every time.

So she doesn’t get upset, I try to bury my feelings and keep our conversation superficial. After our talk on Friday, she didn’t ask me again about the extra visits. I didn’t bring it up because I hadn’t discussed it with her mother yet.

At the security gate, she jumps up and gives me the biggest hug. I almost lose it.

“Love you, Daddy.” She sniffles. She calls me that less and less, so I squeeze her tighter.

These moments I love and hate the most.

“Love you too,” I whisper. She’s growing up so fast. Next time I see her, she might not let me hug her like this, so I soak it all up now.

Pulling back, I kiss her cheek. “Be good.”

Her smile’s strained and half-hearted. “I’m always good.”

I give her another quick hug and check to make sure she has everything before setting her free.

Once she’s through security, she jumps and waves before running for her gate.

The Empire airport isn’t that big and I’m able to watch her almost the entire way.

A few minutes later, my phone pings.

Madison: On the plane.

I walk out to my Jeep and finally call Lauren.

“Hey, Sully. Is she on her way home?”

“Yup. Her plane just took off.”

“How was she?”

I’ve been going over how to approach this since Friday night. How to gain more visitation without pissing Lauren off or getting dragged back into family court.

“Great. We had fun.”

“That’s good. Well—”

I cut her off before she gives me an excuse to get off the phone. “Lauren, do you have a minute to talk?”

“Sure.” Her wary tone doesn’t disguise her curiosity.

“Maddy asked about coming to visit more often—”

“I’m sorry.”

What the hell is she sorry for?

“It’s fine. I want to see her more. Can we work something out?”

She sighs into the phone. “How’s the gym?”

“All right,” I answer slowly, not sure why she cares. “Still struggling, but getting better.”

“Do you have more people to help you run things?”

“Jake.” I cough to cover my discomfort. “And a new person I hired to help out.”

“Do you have the time?”

The insinuation that I somehow neglect Madison when she visits, pisses me off. “I’ll make the time, Lauren.”

She lets out another sigh. I wish we were doing this face-to-face so I had some clue of what’s going through her head. On the other end, she’s quiet for so long, I pull the phone away to make sure we’re still connected.

“How about the weekend after next?”

Shit, my mother has plans to be out of town that weekend, but there’s no way I’m turning down this opportunity.

“That would be great. It won’t mess her up with school or anything, right?”

“No, it should be fine. Are you sure about this, Sully?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Great, she probably thinks I’m trying to weasel down my child support payments or something.

As if she heard my thoughts through the phone, she says, “We don’t need to go back to court and make it official yet. Let’s try it out a few times and see how it goes.”

“That’s fine.” Lauren and I mostly get along. Well, except for the part where she hid my daughter from me for four years and then seemed surprised and annoyed that I wanted to be a part of Maddy’s life when I found out she existed.

Not that it still burns my ass or anything.

Even so, I’ve heard enough horror stories from other single parents that I don’t suffer any guilt over my next request. “Can you send me something in writing, though?”

“Sure. Is e-mail okay?” she asks with only a hint of the irritation I expected.

“That works. Thank you, Lauren.”

She sighs again. “I should probably be thanking you. She’s been a handful lately.”

“Really?” News to me. Except for a random smart-ass comment—which I blame Jake for—Maddy’s easy to spend time with.

“Figures she behaves when she’s with you. While I get the back talk, door-slamming, and attitude.”

I’m not really sure what to say about that. Since I only see my daughter two and a half days a month, there’s not a whole lot I can do to remedy the situation or take the pressure off Lauren. “Do you want me to talk to her?”

Lauren snorts. “Sure. Maybe it’ll mean more coming from you.” I’m so close to saying that it didn’t need to be this way. She could’ve moved back to New York when she said she was going to. Maybe not hidden the existence of my daughter for the first four years of her life. Let me be more involved. Any of those things. But rehashing the past doesn’t help anyone. It’s not worth arguing over again.

I just want more time with Madison.

“I’ll give her a call tomorrow.”

“All right. I’ll let you tell her about the extra visits, okay? Just in case you change your mind. I don’t want her to get her hopes up—”

“I’m not going to change my mind.”

“Good night, Sully.”

She hangs up and I blow out a frustrated breath. At least it went better than I expected.

An extra weekend with my daughter. I’m grinning from ear-to-ear and I can’t think of anyone I want to share this news with more than Aubrey right now.

It’s about forty-five minutes to her place from the airport. Did she even make it home yet, or is she still at my mother’s getting grilled?

She doesn’t answer the text I send, so I decide to go straight to her place and find out.

When I bound up the stairs and knock on her door, she opens it within a few seconds.

“Sully!” Her big brown eyes shine with happiness and surprise. “I didn’t expect to see you.”

“Is it all right that I stopped by?” My gaze drops to the tank top and tiny shorts she’s wearing, and my mind immediately shifts in another direction.

“Hey, Sully. Can’t stay away, huh?” Celia teases.

“You manage not to kill my brother, Celia?” I joke back.

“Barely,” she grumbles, dropping onto the couch.

I jerk my head toward the stairs and trace my fingers down Aubrey’s bare arm. “Want to go for a walk with me?”

“Sure.” She ducks behind the door and grabs a hoodie.

“It’s still hot out,” I warn her.

She gestures to the tank top. “It’s kind of thin.”

“That’s why I like it.” I keep my tone low, only meant for her.

A brief smile flickers over her lips, but she doesn’t respond, other than slipping the sweatshirt over her head and shoving her feet into a pair of woolly boots.

“Seriously, it’s still like eighty degrees out.”

“I always wear these around here at night.”

I hold out my hand and she takes it. “I’ll be back in a little bit,” she calls to Celia before shutting the door.

We’re quiet as we take the stairs. The wind kicks up when we step into the courtyard, blowing her hair all around. She tips her head back, breathing in the sweet, humid night air.

“Doesn’t smell like fall yet,” she says.

Her serene smile and closed eyes sends a sizzle of arousal down my spine. The shorts that stop mid-thigh don’t hurt either.

“How’d it go?” she asks.

I don’t answer right away. Usually I’m bummed aft

er sending Maddy back to Florida and head straight to the bar to meet up with Jake and Keegan. Tonight, the second I saw Aubrey the usual pain washed away. “It’s never fun. But I talked to Lauren and she agreed to let Maddy visit more often.”

“That’s great.” She squeezes my hand and seems genuinely happy about the news.

“We planned on the weekend after next.”

“Awesome. Does Maddy know yet?”

“No. Lauren wants me to tell her. She’s afraid I’ll back out or something.”

Aubrey rolls her eyes but doesn’t comment. I love that she’s on my side without talking shit about my daughter’s mother.