Page 34 of Written with You (The Regret Duet 2)
Hadley.
Willow.
Whoever the fuck she was.
I missed her.
Rosalee hopped off my lap. “Can we go tell Hadley? She’s going to be so excited.”
Shit. This was going downhill fast. It was time to stop this runaway train. Blunt. And to the point. That’s what kids understood. “We can’t see Willow anymore. She lied to Daddy about a lot of stuff. I’ll get you a new art teacher. I’ll—”
“What? Why? You lie all the time. You told me I didn’t even have a mommy. Just a daddy. And you told me that you rescued a seal on Rosie Posie Day.”
I sat up straighter in my chair. She had a point. “I did do that. I was trying to protect you though. Except for the seal. That was a joke.”
“Maybe Hadley was joking.”
“She wasn’t.”
She planted her hands on her hips. “You don’t know that.”
“Yes. I do.”
“You could be wrong. Did you ask her?”
“Sweetie. Rosie. Listen. There are good lies and bad lies. Hadl—Willow told bad lies. The kind that are not a joke. The kind that are not funny. The kind that could hurt people. I get that you liked her. I liked her too. But—”
“What kind of lies?”
“Bad ones.”
She stomped her foot. “Like what?”
I sighed. “It doesn’t matter. It’s my job to protect you. And—”
“What kind of lies!” This was yelled at exactly one decibel below a dog whistle.
There it was. The confusion. The surprise. The anger. The rage. All the emotions I’d been feeling since I’d found out that the woman I was in love with was…well, not the woman I thought I was in love with. But this time, the hurt was ten times more potent because the emotions were ravaging my baby.
I scooted to the edge of my seat and plucked her off her feet, settling her on my lap again. “She told me she was your mommy. She tricked me so she could spend time with you.”
Her eyes lit. “But that’s a good lie. Uncle Ian does it all the time to spend time with me. He told you he needed my help at the bank, but we really just went to get ice cream.”
“Yes, but Ian was joking, and he’s not a stranger. He’s Daddy’s best friend.”
And then she backed me into the corner that I knew existed. The one that had a blinking neon sign over the top of it. The one that had two stools and a craft table. The corner that had absolutely nothing to do with me and the betrayal I felt.
“But Hadley is my mommy’s sister. She’s not a stranger.”
“Rosie.”
Big, fat tears rolled from her eyes. “She draws really good. And she’s fun. Please let her come back, Daddy. Please.”
I didn’t have much of a heart left, but it was breaking all the same.
Her bottom lip pouted. “When I lie, you just put me in timeout. Maybe you can put Hadley in timeout and she can come over next time.”
I wanted to say yes. I wanted to take it all away from her.
I’d caused this. I’d allowed it to happen. I’d let my defenses down, assumed that the cloud of chaos was done with me. I put my trust in a woman and ended up with not one, but two broken hearts—three if you counted Willow’s.
God. Willow.
I was pissed. I was hurt. I was bitter.
But every single one of those emotions was mine.
Yes, it was my job to protect Rosalee. But what was this protecting her from? Glitter? Smiles? A piece of her family that was nearly extinct?
Willow had wronged me.
Me.
But she’d never once done anything but the best for Rosalee.
“Please, Daddy,” she repeated.
I sucked in a deep breath and looked down at my baby—who was no longer a baby—as tears dripped down her cheeks.
When a man did stupid shit, it could usually be traced back to one of three things: a woman, alcohol, or his kid.
As it turned out, this one was two out of the three.WILLOW“I’m coming!” I yelled, walking to my front door as my bell rang for the third time in less than ten seconds.
It was probably Jerry dropping off his recycling again. Apparently, his son had started bringing his recycling to his father’s house so he too could use the magical recycling bin. I was all for helping the environment, but this was getting ridiculous.
I ground my teeth when the bell rang again just as I hit the foyer.
I will not cuss out an elderly man.
I will not cuss out an elderly man.
I snatched the door open and my heart came to a screeching halt as I took in Caven standing on the other side, sporting the world’s darkest glower.
But the little girl standing at his side was what ripped the breath from my lungs.
“Hadley, guess what?” Rosalee exclaimed. “Your name is Willow and you were my mommy’s sister. You look just like her because you were twins! Isn’t that cool?”
