Page 59 of The Irresistible One
“This is out of love too, Troy. Goodbye,” I said, and I hung up.
Hayden
I’ll be out of work in about 20, and then I’m going to swing home and shower since I’ve been on the water all day. Do you and Abbi want to meet at my place? Go out to dinner? I can get my chef to whip up something, or we can order in if you’d rather hang here.
I glanced up from my phone while cuddled in the corner of Dottie’s couch. My girl was across from me in the living room, on a kid-sized picnic table with Dottie, having a full-on tea party with real cookies, minus the actual tea, but there was a plastic set of dishes they were pretending with. Although Dottie was in her sixties now, her gray roots like a crown over the top of her head despite the nest of short chestnut curls, she always had toys around her house for moments like this.
This was one of my favorite parts about visiting home, seeing the two of them together. Dottie had had the most monumental impact on both of our lives, and I wouldn’t dream of coming to Lauderdale without seeing her at least once.
“Hey, baby.” I waited until Abbi looked at me. “Do youwant to go out to dinner with Uncle Hay tonight, or do you want to hang at his house?”
“Out!” Her pigtails bopped. “And ice cream!”
I laughed. “I’ll let him know.”
“Do you know how long I’ve known your uncle Hay for?” Dottie asked Abbi as I returned to my phone.
“Forever and ever?” Abbi asked her.
“At times, it seems even longer than that.” Dottie laughed.
Me
We’re at Dottie’s. I’ll leave soon and head to your house. Abbi gave a hard yes about going out to dinner, followed by ice cream.
“Mmm,” Abbi groaned. “This is the best one, Dot!”
There was chocolate all over her lips as she chewed. Girlie beyond belief, but not an eloquent eater—we still had a lot of work to do there.
Dottie looked at me and grinned. In her eyes, I saw the deepest emotion. An understanding between two women with so much history that words weren’t necessary. We just knew—because, in many ways, we had grown up together.
Exactly twenty years ago, when I had first met Dottie, I’d never thought I’d be a lawyer, living on the other side of the country, with the most beautiful daughter. I didn’t know what I would be or what I was capable of at that time. All I knew was pain and abandonment and this constant sense of feeling lost—in life, in love, in every facet that mattered.
But Dottie saw the potential in me. She never questioned my ability. She never pushed too hard. What she had done was push just enough. Not only for me, but for the rest of my family too.
“Will you please join us for dinner?” I asked her.
“You know I don’t like driving at night anymore.” Herglasses had gotten thicker over the years, the latest set as thick as the old-school Coke bottles.
“Then it’s a good thing my brother has a driver who will pick you up and take you home.” I smiled at her.
“Dot, you have to come.” Abbi reached for her hand. “Pretty please?”
She looked from me to my daughter and back. “How can I say no to either of you?”
“You can’t,” I confirmed.
She nodded. “All right, I’ll go.”
“Yay!” Abbi sang.
Hayden
I’m going to ask a question, and I don’t want you to chew my face off because of it.
Me
If it has to do with Colson, don’t go there, Hayden. I mean it.
