It's been a few days since the whole period thing with Sydney. I haven't asked any questions and she hasn't offered any information either. Instead of the period party the guys thought was such a great idea, I opted for a celebration dinner of our own without truly announcing it.

“I'll be right back.” I park the truck outside Happy Daze Tavern.

“I'm starving,” Syd whines, but I shut the truck door and hurry in to drop off the cabin key to Dane.

My stomach does some twisty bullshit thing when my hand lands on the handle of the door, but I shake it off and enter the bar. There are only a few groups milling around, some playing darts and a few regulars lining the bar.

On instinct my gaze lands behind the bar and that feeling in my stomach vanishes when I spot Chad, Dane's other employee serving drinks. He nods at me and I do the same, sliding between the tables to the back office.

My knuckles hit the wood door and my hand moves to the doorknob. It's locked.

“Dane!” I say, and a loud crashing sound comes from within.

“Shit,” I hear from behind the door followed by a bunch of scrambling.

I'm not in the mood to catch a glimpse of Dane's groin cleavage he's so proud of.

“Here.” I slide the envelope under the door.

His laughing and Ava's giggling commence and I assume they're either still getting it on or trying to get dressed.

I walk back down the hallway shaking my head to myself. I'm not gonna lie, the amount of sex they have forces me to remember the good times in a relationship—the sex whenever and wherever you want part. That thought is immediately followed by the vision of a certain chestnut-haired girl. Her curls spread out on my pillow and her ample tits in my hands.

Fuck, what am I doing?

Vance, I forcibly remind myself. Your best friend who you promised you'd take care of his baby sister? Plus, there's no way Charlie could be my guinea pig even if I was ready to give a relationship a try.

I head out of the tavern and climb back into the cab of my truck, finding Syd on her phone. No surprise there.

“Okay, let's go.” I crank the ignition and a text message dings on my phone.

“What was that about?” she asks, which surprises me because lately my errands are only a thorn in her side and she never much cares what I'm doing, just more when I’ll be done.

“I had to drop off a key to one of the cabins.”

I fiddle with the radio to turn it off her station and back onto my classic rock. She groans and I let my smile shine on the inside. Isn't it a father's responsibility to make his preteen daughter's life unbearable?

“Dane and Ava are renting a cabin?”

Shocked by her talkative mood, I turn to give her my attention. “No, Charlie, um…Miss Rose.”

“Dad. She's been Charlie my entire life.”

“Well, at school she's Miss Rose.”

“I’m aware.” There's the tone that's been missing this outing. The tone that suggests she has no idea how I made it this far in life because I am a complete moron.

“Watch your tone, Sydney.”

She ignores my attempt at discipline. “You letting Charlie stay in a cabin?”

I raise both eyebrows. “She bid on it, remember?”

“I also remember you pulling her into the hallway.”

Fuck, sometimes I forget how observant she can be. Especially when she barely talks to me, it's easy to forget she doesn’t miss much.

“I was worried she didn't have the money.”

She looks out the window and I move the gearshift to put the truck into drive.

“You're letting her stay for free?” Now it's her eyebrows shooting up to her hairline. “Interesting.”

“What?”

“Just you and Miss Rose. That's all.”

I glance to the side to see her shrug.

“Now she's Miss Rose?”

“I want to respect my elders, especially if she might be my stepmom one day.”

My foot slips off the brake and I slam it back down before running into Dane's Jeep.

“Tell me Syd, does getting your period, make you think crazy thoughts?”

She giggles. “You like her.”

“No, I don't.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No. I. Don't.”

“Who sounds like the adolescent now?” She begins to type away on her phone again with that know it all smirk.

“She's Vance's little sister. I've practically known her since she was born.”

“Whatever you say, Dad.”

My foot eases off the brake and I start pulling into traffic when my phone dings with another text message. I throw the truck into park with a growl, flustered and annoyed.

“I'm starving, Dad,” Syd whines again.

“Okay, okay.” I place my phone in the cup holder, putting the truck in gear.

We head out of town toward Wet Rock and Sydney glances over to me once she figures out where we’re headed.

“Dinner with Nana and Papa?” There’s a note of disappointment in her voice.

Nana and Papa are Melissa's parents who recently moved thirty miles outside of Climax Cove. They could very well be my own set of parents. After Melissa died, I think caring for Sydney helped them through the grieving process. I'm sad to say it took me longer and every time I held Syd, I thought about Melissa, which in turn made me depressed. It was an ugly cycle that I'm thankful has stopped.

“Nana keeps asking me to help her with her phone.”

“She's seventy, Syd. Give her a break.” We make the drive to my in-laws, which have become few and far between as of late.

“I see Grandma all the time on Instagram.”

I glance to my side. “I think she sees it as a way to keep in touch with you.”

“She friended Chloe the other day.”

I shake my head, smiling to myself because Chloe is Syd's crazy friend. Everyone has that one friend who comes into your house, helps themselves to anything in the fridge and makes themselves at home. The one who always plops down on your couch after a long ass day, only wanting to drink a beer and watch a game. Chloe is to Syd, what Dane is to me.

“Chloe pressed the decline button right?”

She raises her eyebrows with a smirk. “What do you think?”

“And?”

Her giddy laugh reminds me of simpler times between us.

“And Chloe started asking her how bummed she was about One Direction breaking up.”

“What did Nana say?”

Another giggle escapes and bounces around the cab of the truck. I can’t help the smile that’s on my face.

“She said they'll catch up to one another if they're all going in the same direction.”

Sydney bends over in a fit of laughter, spurring my own amusement from my daughter's reaction.

“Well, just be happy she’s not on SnapChat.”

“Can you imagine? It’d be her and Papa figuring out the camera for the whole ten seconds.”

“They could be a YouTube sensation.” I take a second to glance over at her.

She slaps her leg and again bends over, laughing.

My heart warms from our ability to fill the thirty-minute drive with more than silence and whatever station she wants to listen to on the radio. I, for one, was thankful when One Direction broke up.

By the time we're pulling into Nana and Papa's driveway, I'm hopeful that there’s a possibility I'll get through these teenage years unscathed.

“Oh. My. God. Dad, look at the goose.” Sydney’s covering her face with her hands and shaking her head back and forth.

We both stare at the front porch where a goose sculpture is dressed up like a turkey in honor of Thanksgiving in a few weeks.

“Just be happy your Nana didn’t put that on Instagram,” I say and my little girl laughs. I soak in the sound while I can.

* * *

At the dinner table, Violet, Sydney’s Nana, keeps eyeing me as she places dishes down on the table. Phil is busy with his crossword puzzle, asking Syd the answers. He thinks his granddaughter is a genius.

“You should get her tested. She's gifted.” He barely peeks up from the paper, asking her another question. “All right Syd, Cube creator Rubik?”

“That box thing with all the different colors?” Violet asks placing some bread on the table. “I remember Melissa changing the stickers, pretending she finished it.” Her smile falters for a second and even after twelve years, everyone in this room can feel how much she misses her daughter.

Syd's thumbs move across the screen of her phone. “Erno,” she says.

“That's it. You're amazing.” Papa tosses her another accolade.

Sydney smiles down at her phone and then eyes me as I pick up my fork and dig in.

“Oh, Sydney, after dinner, can you help me with my phone?” Violet asks as she takes a seat. “I tried to use that Google Map thing the other day and I don't understand it. Bea said that it's supposed to be easier than MapQuest.”

“What's MapQuest?” Sydney asks.

“Look, Phil, I know something she doesn't.” Violet nudges her husband's arm with her own.

“Because it was around before she was born.”

Violet's crystal blue eyes stare at him until he looks over the rim of his reading glasses. “I used it to get you to the hospital the other day just fine.” She cocks her hip to the side.

He shakes his head.

“What?” Sydney places her phone on the table and looks between the two of them.

I place my fork on the plate and wipe my mouth.

“Are you okay, Phil?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I'm fine.” He shoots Violet a look and it’s clear he’s not happy that she said anything.

“Just heartburn,” Violet says, rising from the table.

Sydney looks to me and I smile a reassuring grin to calm her worries that probably match my own.

“So, you're good?” Sydney asks her papa.

He smiles and nods. “Perfect. I'm a Marine after all. Gonna take a lot to keep this ol’ guy down.” His eyes focus on the paper in front of him. “Now, my genius of a granddaughter, what’s the Spanish word for attract through one's charm?”

Sydney's thumbs move across her screen.

Violet walks back in with a stack of napkins.

“Second to last letter is a d,” he continues.

“Put the paper away, Phil.” Violet's voice has an edge now.

“Duende,” Sydney answers.

He presses the pen to the paper and then takes off his glasses, setting them on top of the paper. “Seriously, Garrett, you need to get her tested.”

“I think hacking might be more her thing.” I eye Syd and she smirks.

“Dad, you are duending Miss Rose.”

“I don't think I'll be scheduling that test anytime soon.” I direct my attention to Sydney. “Wouldn’t it be used like, Miss Rose is duende?”

“I don’t think that’s right either. Do you know how to find the answer on that phone?” Phil asks Sydney and she smiles and nods.

Violet holds up her hand. “Regardless of how to use it, it means attractive. Who is Miss Rose?” Her gaze volleys between Sydney and me.

I cock my jaw. “It's Charlotte Rose. You know…Vance Rose's little sister.”

“And the new counselor at my school,” Sydney adds.

“And you like her?” Violet asks.

“No.”

“Yes,” Sydney counters.

“No.”

“Yep,” she says.

I shoot Sydney a look that says quit it and she giggles.

“You do.” Violet points to me. “Your cheeks are pink.”

I roll my eyes. “She's been helping me out the last week or so.”

“How so?”

Sydney's giant smile drops and her eyes widen. Now it’s my turn to embarrass her. Tell her grandparents how she's got her period and a bra all in one week.

“Just some stuff with Syd's classes and things.”

“Oh.” Violet picks up her fork.

“Well, you know it's about time you find someone.” She looks over to Phil whose fork is pushing around his stroganoff on his plate. “I mean, we want you to find someone.”

The mood at the table shifts and the light-hearted humor from minutes before has disappeared. Sydney buries her head back in her phone.

“Right, Syd?” Violet doesn't let the topic go. “You want your dad to be happy…”

Sydney glances over to me and then back to her phone with a shrug. “Yeah.”

“See, Garrett.” Violet's hand covers mine. “If Charlie is the one you want, you should go for it. Don’t let Phil and I stop you.”

I could ramble about ten different reasons and none of them are Violet and Phil, although it would be awkward to bring a woman here ever.

“I'm not ready.”

Sydney's chair slides across the floor. We all look and she’s standing. “I have to go to the bathroom. Don't read into things.” She disappears down the hall and the bathroom door shuts a minute later.

“Don't worry. She'll be fine when you are ready.”

Phil places his glasses back on and picks up his pen. Violet begins eating again and I sit there wondering how Syd really would be if I was ever ready.

She never even knew Melissa.

I don't have time to give it any more thought because my phone dings in my pocket. I pull it out to find a text from Charlie.