Not weak. Not broken. But affectionate.
And that was when, for the first time ever, I recognized how much Liam was truly Charlotte’s father.
“She has your eyes,” I said as my own started to well up—again.
Chapter 12: Liam
The moment was…not too much. But it was as heavy a moment as I’d felt in a long, long time.
My daughter. My beautiful, innocent, sweet daughter. I finally saw her. All after petting a dog that apparently had sent other people to the hospital for having the audacity to pet him. How I’d pulled that off, I didn’t know—if anything, I should have been “more” man than some of the other people that had gone up and pet her.
And as I looked at Kelly talking to me right now, as I saw her eyes welling up with emotion at the similarity between me and her—our—daughter…
Well, fuck.
I had a little more understanding of why Scott had gone for Kaylie. I still thought that was a shit move, and these were wildly different circumstances. But I at least understood why he’d done what he’d done a little bit better.
“Liam…”
This was getting…well, not bad. But the situation called for action, least of all because we were in a public place, and most of all because it was clear this was getting a little out of my emotional depth.
Instinctively, I turned away, not wanting to get too close for comfort, whether literally or metaphorically. But, noticeably, I did not walk away.
“I just want an hour of your time, and then we will leave you alone if you want. I promise. Come with me for a bit.”
Yeah, I’d played this game too many times before. One hour turned into one day, which turned into one week, which suddenly turned into an agreement to be a part of something that…
I did want to be a part of. At least as it related to Charlotte. There was still much to figure out with Kelly. But between Charlotte and, hey, let’s face it, the dog, there was enough there that I could at least give an hour.
“OK,” I said. “One hour. No more, no less.”
Kelly nodded.
“Front seat is open,” she said, “and thank you.”
I didn’t say anything back. I headed to the front, got in, and buckled myself up. At first, I just looked straight ahead, somewhat in disbelief of everything that was happening. How the fuck had a one-night stand and a one morning fight to end all fights wound up here?
But when Kelly got in, half out of not wanting to look at her and half out of a genuine interest, I looked in the rearview mirror at my little girl. I’d seen her earlier, of course, but I’d had to break away my attention to help Kelly. And now, finally, I was getting to look at beautiful little Charlotte.
I had to be honest, I was never good at seeing parts of myself in other people. Family friends who knew my parents always said that I had my mother’s eyes and my father’s hair, but even with photos, I just didn’t see it. Maybe I had a blind spot for that.
So I couldn’t say that I saw how Charlotte had my eyes. But it didn’t matter, because she was so perfect. She had…
She had the innocence I’d never had.
Maybe that’s why she was so perfect. She didn’t know that her parents, at best, had a lot of issues to work with. She didn’t know that love could end with a terrible accident someday. She didn’t know that the world was full of people who were less interested in making things better and more in only benefiting themselves.
The world, to her, was just Mom, Bucky, and this man named…well, hopefully Dad, but at least Liam. And it was a perfect world, and while it wouldn’t last forever, it was one worth living in.
“What’s the dog’s name again?” I said.
“Bucky.”
“Bucky,” I repeated.
I liked it. Kind of dorky and cute, but also a bit rough. Not like “Teddy” or “Freddy.” And while the German Shepherd had been nothing but great for me—in my defense, I’d always felt like I had a sixth sense of connection with dogs—I could easily see how the creature could be a perfect watchdog for Kelly. German Shepherds, raised right, were nothing to fuck with. Kelly didn’t need guns or an alarm system when she had the dog.
But for now, I let the creature be. I didn’t want to press my luck after what Kelly had said.
We pulled out of the lot, and I didn’t question where we were going. Kelly had an hour of my time, and if she wanted to spend the hour just driving in circles, I was happy to let her do that. If she was heading back to her place, cool by me. It was about twenty minutes past ten o’clock; I was willing to give her half an hour past eleven, but mostly because I had nothing else to do today.
But as Kelly drove, I could sense how nervous she was. She wasn’t saying a word. Her knuckles were white with how hard she was gripping the steering wheel. She didn’t shift her eyes off the road once, not even to look up at the rear-view mirror to look at Charlotte. I could tell without even trying that this wasn’t like her.
“Where are we going?”
Kelly didn’t respond at first. I couldn’t tell if she was just ignoring me or genuinely hadn’t heard me. Both possibilities seemed reasonable.
“Kelly.”
“What?” she snapped, but she quickly got herself back under control.
“Where are we going?”
She drew in a
