Chapter Nine
Liam
“Please come to breakfast with us,” Holly begged.
I held the phone to my ear, listening to my daughter plead with me. Her mother’s voice was in the background, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“I’m sure your mother and grandmother want some alone time with you,” I tried backing out of the topic.
“No. They’ve had eleven years with me,” she whined.
I chuckled. She was right. They did have eleven years. But, I still wasn’t sure how I felt about having breakfast with Maria and Alyssa.
“I can pick you up right after,” I offered.
“Please,” Holly pleaded.
How could I say no?
“You’re sure they don’t care?” I asked.
“Yes,” she exclaimed.
I hung up the phone as I slumped onto the couch. Fuck.
Maria answered the door when I brought Holly home the previous evening, and her glares were just as terrifying as they’d been when I first arrived home. I knew Alyssa was home. I could see her through the screen door, lying on the couch. Her beautiful blue dress was gone, replaced with jogging pants and a t-shirt. I didn’t see any sign of Bruce’s truck, which, for whatever reason, made me happy.
I ran my hands over my head. The once bald scalp was now growing a short pile of hairs, all blond like Holly’s. I thought about shaving, but winter was coming. I’d let it grow out some and then go into the local barber shop to get it trimmed up. Alyssa had always commented on my hair, how blond it was, and how much she loved it, so I wanted it back.
I pulled on a clean t-shirt, stretching it over my muscles, and then tucking it into my jeans. My stomach grumbled, and it wasn’t from hunger, but more from anxiety. I wasn’t ready to face Maria’s cold eyes or the warmth of Alyssa’s brown ones.
With a deep sigh, I pulled open the door to the diner. Maria’s glare was stiffening as I took my first steps towards their booth. Holly looked up, her eyes bright and cheerful, helping to ease some of the tension her grandmother created.
“Daddy!” she roared across the restaurant, people looking up from their meals to glance in my direction.
A few smiles, a few cold stares of confusion, and then Alyssa turned around. She was beautiful.
A faint smile appeared on Alyssa’s face but disappeared quickly as I made my way to the table. The only open seat was next to Alyssa, so I slid in, inhaling her sweet perfume.
“How are you, pipsqueak?” I spoke to Holly, avoiding the formalities of greetings to the women who I wasn't sure even wanted me there.
She giggled. Her cheeks turned pink, and her eyes squinted in my direction with a wrinkled nose to match.
“I’m not a pipsqueak,” Holly chuckled, still blushing.
“Compared to me, you are,” I teased, reaching across the table to grab her hand in mine.
I tried to imagine what she was like as a baby, a toddler, just younger, but I couldn’t. I hated that had been stolen from me, but I couldn’t hate Alyssa, even though I wanted to at times.
“Coffee?” the waitress asked me.
She was already placing plates down on the table in front of Maria and Alyssa, but not Holly.
“I waited for you,” Holly announced with a tone of irritation in her voice.
“Thank you, but you could’ve ordered,” I smiled.
Maria glared at me, her eyes cold, dark, and filled with distrust. I could understand why to an extent. I’d left her daughter, and it was a messy breakup, but I thought it was for the best. I loved Alyssa then, and still loved Alyssa now. I didn’t want to hurt her. I certainly didn’t want to leave her here alone to raise my child. She couldn’t hold that against me.
“Are you ready to order?” the waitress asked as she filled the coffee cup I pushed towards her.
“I am. I’ll have whatever she’s having,” I smiled towards Holly.
Holly’s eyes lit up, and her smile widened.
“Chocolate chip pancakes and extra bacon,” she wasted no time ordering our meals.
“Wow,” I laughed.
The waitress looked to me as if to ask if I was still willing to eat the same meal. I nodded, and with that, she disappeared to put in the ticket.
Holly immediately started telling me about the fall carnival, how her mother was making game booths and even renting a dunking booth. I watched as Maria rolled her eyes. It didn’t surprise me. Maria didn’t like change.
“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” I turned towards Alyssa, surprisingly with a smile waiting for me.
“Me too!” Holly squeaked.
“I think it’s a waste of money,” Maria scowled.
“It’ll bring in much more money than just a bake sale,” Alyssa argued.
“I agree,” I chimed in.
“We could have a hayride to old man Guthrie’s pumpkin patch. The kids could pick out a pumpkin for five bucks, making him more than he’d make selling them to the local stores,” I added.
“We?” Maria quickly scoffed.
Alyssa looked out the window of the diner, unwilling to back me as I’d backed her.
“You could help me and mom paint the game fronts,” Holly beamed, ignoring her grandmother’s tone of disapproval.
“I’d be more than happy to help,” I replied.
“How was your fancy date with Bruce?” Maria changed the topic as she pulled Alyssa back into the conversation.
“It was okay,” she mumbled.
My leg brushed against hers as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Electricity shot through my body from our touch, but she quickly pulled away, sliding against the window as closely as she could.
Holly’s eyes were lingering on us from across the booth, a wide smile creeping up on her face. My cheeks started to heat, and I knew they were turning a bright shade of pink as I realized Holly wanted her parents together. I wouldn’t mind a chance at making Alyssa happy again, at having a family. But that ship had sailed, right?
The chocolate chip pancakes arrived, and after what seemed to be a race to the finish, Holly and I both scooted our cleaned plates to the edge of the booth table. The tension was high, and it was clear that Holly was in just as big of hurry as I was to exit this breakfast.
“You ready to get outta here, kiddo?” I asked Holly.
“Yes,” she bounced from her seat and stood at attention.
“It was really great to see you,” I smiled at Alyssa.
There was that smile again, faint, but present. Her cheeks blushed with color, and her eyes quickly moved away from mine.
I slid the bill from the table, arguing with Maria as she reached out for it.
“I got it,” I insisted.
Holly took my place in the booth seat as I got up, squeezing her arms around her mother.
“When are you bringing her back?” Maria asked.
“I-uh, I was thinking she could stay the night,” I muttered.
Holly had asked, and I didn’t want to overstep my boundary, but she was my daughter, and eleven years had been stolen from me. Maria squinted, shaking her head as her lips tightened into a thin line.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she hissed.
Holly frowned, her foot stomped, and her hand raised to her hip.
“Why not?” she griped.
“It’s fine,” Alyssa said softly, her faint smile returned.
Maria looked pissed that Alyssa would defy her by allowing me to have an evening with my daughter.
“Sweetheart,” she started to say, only to be stopped by Alyssa’s hand held up like she was stopping traffic.
“I’m her mother, Liam’s her father, and I think it will be good for both of them,” she defended.
Holly grinned from ear to ear, tugging on my hand to pull me away before her mother could change her mind or have her grandmother put her foot down.
“Thank you,” I smiled as I was pulled towards the cash register by the front door.
“What are we going to do today?” Holly asked eagerly.
“Let’s decorate your room,” I suggested.
Her eyes lit up, and her smile brightened with joy as she clung to my arm.
I paid the bill, left the restaurant, and didn’t look back, even though I wanted desperately to get one more look at Alyssa. The fear of getting another glare from Maria kept mey gaze forward, heading to my truck.
“Mom and Bruce are arguing,” Holly said with a matter-of-fact tone as she climbed into my truck.
“Really?” I questioned with a smirk as I closed her into the passenger side.
Once I slid into the driver’s seat, Holly was ready to continue her rant about Bruce and her mother’s relationship.
“She was really upset with him last night. I think they might even break up,” Holly smiled.
“What was she mad at him about?” I asked, feeling a twinge of hope with the information being released.
“He’s selfish, and he made her pay for dinner again last night,” Holly stated.
“How did you know that?” I questioned.
“I overheard her and Grandma talking,” she beamed proudly.
“Well, I think that is grown up talk, not meant for pipsqueak’s ears,” I teased.
“I’m not really a pipsqueak. I’m eleven, and I know a lot about life,” she insisted.
“I bet you do,” I laughed.
Holly sat up tall in the truck seat, obviously trying to make herself appear bigger, more well-versed in life.
“I know Mom still loves you,” she gushed.
I nearly slammed the brakes on my truck as my legs stiffened from her comment. My heart raced, my palms started to sweat, and I couldn’t look over at my daughter without showing her how excited that thought made me.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Whenever anyone says your name, she blushes or looks away. I catch her looking at old photographs sometimes, photos of you and her when you were young,” Holly informed.
Wow.
“That doesn’t mean she still loves me,” I admitted.
“Yes, it does,” Holly insisted.
I wished it were that simple.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. She has Bruce,” I said, trying to brush off the topic.
I pulled into the parking lot of the hardware store and shut the truck off. I turned to Holly, eagerly staring at me with more hope in her eyes than I had in my heart.
“Don’t ya wanna be a family?” she asked.
I wanted it more than anything.
“It’s not always that simple,” I explained.
“Do you still love my mom?” she questioned.
“I-uh,” I stuttered.
“I think you do,” Holly smiled.
She was a smart little girl.
“I do,” I admitted.
“Okay, then we just get rid of Bruce,” she declared.
I had to laugh at her mob-style comment. ‘Get rid of Bruce.’ What did that mean? I pictured him duct-taped in the back of my pickup while driving him out of town, Holly on the look-out as I dug a large hole in the ground near the desert.
“How do you propose we ‘get rid of’ Bruce?” I chuckled.
“Make mom fall in love with you again,” she explained.
Good. At least she wasn’t planning on whacking the guy.
“I thought you knew she still loved me,” I teased.
“Yeah, but women need to fall in love,” she sighed and rolled her eyes.
I laughed. What a smart little girl. She was a lot like her mother. That was for sure.
“What if she doesn’t want to fall back in love with me?” I asked, entertaining her idea as well as my own hope.
“She will,” Holly grinned.