Page 75 of Heartbroken Husband
When I came downstairs at five a.m. the next morning, instead of being surprised by Lu appearing like a Victorian era ghost child, she was already there, evidently waiting for me. Bear was already leashed up and ready to go, sitting with his eyes perked and his tail thumping against the floor when he saw me.
Lu even already had her helmet on, dressed in her usual overalls, mismatched socks, and her shoes on the wrong feet. I stopped dead in the doorway as I took it all in, staring at her and thankfully already dressed for the run I’d also already been planning to take.
It sure didn’t look like she would have let me get away with not going. She stared right back at me in complete and utter silence, not saying a word, but it was pretty obvious she was ready to come with me.
Finally deciding to just roll with it, I walked over to the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen and grabbed a morning protein bar, sliding the box out and showing it to her. “Do you want one?”
She shook her head. “I had a banana.”
What I had for breakfast yesterday. I wonder if that means something.
“Okay,” I said, stowing the box again before turning to face her and leaning back against the counter. For another beat, we were both completely quiet again. I didn’t know what was going on in her head, but I was trying to figure out how to prove to her that she could trust me.
Eventually, I took a breath and just put it out there, trying to level with the newly five-year-old tyrant. “So listen, I need to go on a longer run today. Like, ten miles at least.”
She stared back at me, totally expressionless.
“That’s too far for you to go on your scooter,” I said when she just kept staring.
As soon as the words were out, however, the stare turned into a glare, those clear blue eyes narrowing until there was no color left at all.Wow, she’s rather good at this.
“If you could ride a bike, that would be better,” I said. “For both us. Ten miles isn’t so bad on a bike.”
She glared even harder, one of her tiny eyebrows even arching now. Thankfully, two could play this game. I had a little sister and I’d learned early on how these glaring contests worked, so I narrowed my eyes right back at her.
Bear glanced between us nervously, a soft whine coming out of him. I knew he could sense the tension. He just didn’t know that on my end at least, there was a plan.
“What if I taught you how to ride a bike this morning?”
She took what felt like an eternity to answer, letting the tension from her side fester. Naturally, because she really did seem determined not to make this easy on me, the answer was not what I wanted when it finally came.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to,” she said, sticking her lower lip out. “My bike isn’t even here, so just, no. Mommy says a girl never needs to explain herself when she says no. It just means no.”
I came very close to groaning out loud.God, I hope this is a phase.
Otherwise, I was going to have to spend her teenage years sweet-talking cops in exchange for her freedom—or at least lowered bail amounts. On the upside, I would never have to worry about boys taking advantage of her.
Yeah, because I’ll be too busy hiding the bodies she leaves strewn in her wake.
Even so, I wasn’t giving up. Because come her teenage years, I was still going to be in her life whether she knew it yet or not. If I never did anything else right, just knowing that I would be there for these girls in a way their father evidently wasn’t interested in would be enough.
“What if I bought you a new bike?”Fuck, I probably should’ve asked Adeline about that first.“I mean, once we?—”
“Any color I want,” she stated, cutting me off with zero hesitation.
“Okay.”Screw it, what’s the worst that can happen?“Any color you want.”
At worst, Adeline would be pissed at me for spoiling the kid without getting her permission. I could take that. Probably.
“With a basket,” Lu said then, clearly used to negotiating. “Or no deal.”
Shit, she really is good at this.
“Okay. Fine.”
