Page 4 of His
She giggled. Drew’s giggle never failed to make her father’s heart lighter.
“So!” She scrunched her shoulders toward her ears with that smile still on her baby face. “What’s new with you? Mom said you skipped out on the country to disconnect on some Caribbean Island last weekend.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” Benson reached into his inner jacket pocket to fish out his gift for her. “For you, peach.”
“Oooh!” It was actually two things. The first was a duty-free cosmetic from a foreign brand he knew she loved, and the other was a wood carving by a “local artist.” What he didn’t tell her was that he picked these up at the airport on the way back from La Mariposa.There are… no souvenirs on that island.Not the kind he could give to his daughter, anyway. But when he had a decent layover, he took a moment to pick out thoughtful gifts. “Thanks! You know, this was always my favorite part of you traveling around when I was a kid.”
“Wish I hadn’t done so much of that back then.”
“Really?
“Of course. I would have rather been with you. And your mother.”
Drew carefully placed both gifts into her bag. “What did you do in the Caribbean? Just hang out and work on your tan?”
She asked that so innocently that it almost broke Benson’s corrupted heart. “I caught up with some parts of myself that I had been neglecting. You know me. I work too much.”
“That’s true. Mom still gripes about it, and she’s been remarried once already.”
“Yeah, well, you know what they say about your first real love.”
“No. What do they say?”
Again… she was so innocent. “You don’t really stop caring about them. I’m sure your mother will always fret over me the way I worry about her.”
“Oh? What do you worry about?”
“Nothing she doesn’t know about.”
“Come on. Throw me a bone. I’m old enough to handle it.”
“Well…” What was there to say? So much of it was old hat now that he barely thought about it.I loved your mother. We didn’t work out. It’s for the best. We both moved on. I still worry about her.He didn’t carry a torch for his ex, nor had he thought about her sexually for the past several years. But she was the mother of his child. She had a good soul. And the way she continued to henpeck him in certain ways over the years showed that she still cared, even if it was under the guise of wanting him to be around for their daughter’s sake.There were just some things she couldn’t accept about me. About us.It went beyond his kink. It was his very sexuality that had sent her over the edge.
Drew tapped the table to get his attention again.
“She worries about me working myself to death and not being around when you need me,” he said. “And I worry about that history of breast cancer in her family. Doesn’t just extend to you,peach, but your mother is now that age where she needs to be vigilant. Make sure she goes to her screenings, will you?”
The solemn softness radiating from Drew’s direction was poignantly mature. “Of course, Daddy. I’ll be careful, too.”
He was content thinking that would be that, but Drew interrupted his thoughts once more.
“Did you meet anyone cool on your trip?”
Something like that could have easily made him spiral.I certainly did.In a way, he had mettwointeresting people, although there was nothing he actuallyknewabout the other man Eden had been with that weekend.I feel like I know him, though.He felt like he knew every man who had a piece of her that weekend.
I once knew a guy who would have gone crazy for that…
His throat was dry. So was his mouth.
“Daddy?”
He snapped out of his stupor. Gone were any thoughts of Eden as “Brim,” although he certainly preferred not to think like that in front of his daughter. “I, uh…” He let himself talk, although he knew he would regret it. “I guess Liam called me today. Tried to get through to me at work.”
A slight gasp rattled Drew’s chest. She sat up straight, hands wrapped around her mocktail glass. Was she more surprised by the news or that her father had included her in that?Eat it up, peach. You’re a big girl now.
“Uncle Liam?” she asked.
“Yes. Your uncle Liam.” Of course, the man had not been Drew’sactualuncle, but that was how she knew him when he was around while she graduated from middle school and found her way in high school.The man used to tutor her in chemistry, for fuck’s sake.That was how close they had all been during those times, although Sydney didn’t like it.Told me he was a bad influence on our impressionable daughter.He had no ideawhat gave her that idea… Liam had always known better than to flirt with Sydney, and it was totally in his wheelhouse to have done so.That pervert loved older women as much as he loved younger women.The man was like Benson in a lot of ways. They both lovedwomen.
