Sweet Sunshine (25 page)

She nodded seriously. “Good. She makes me happy, too.”

“I need to talk to Chloe in private for a second, baby girl,” I said as I stood to my full height and pulled my wallet from my back pocket. “There’s an ice cream place right there.” I pointed to Blizzard Bob’s which was just two doors down from where we were and handed her a ten. “We’ll be done talking by the time you get back.”

“Can I get two scoops?”

I narrowed my eyes at her sudden smile. “You can have
one
.”

She let out a huff and hopped off the bench. “Fine. Be right back.” Then she was gone. Once I saw her walk safely through the door, I looked back down at Chloe, who still sat on the bench.

“Bribing your daughter with ice cream. That’s a new one for you.”

I rubbed the back of my neck uncomfortably. “These were extenuating circumstances.”

She uncrossed her legs and stood up. “I bet. You know she totally got two scoops, right?”

One corner of my mouth hooked up at her teasing tone. “I have no doubt about that, whatsoever. My girl’s got a sweet tooth.”

Chloe returned my grin. “Good thing your girlfriend’s a baker.” With that sentence, I took my first full breath in ten minutes. “She kissed you.” She stated matter-of-factly. “You didn’t kiss her back.”

“Hell no!” I answered vehemently. “I’d stood up to leave and she must have seen you through the window and kissed me. I swear to you, I didn’t want it.”

“I know,” she said softly. “I trust you, and I know how you feel about her. What’s more, I know how you feel about
me
.”

“I love you,” I said instantly.

“And I love you too. But what I don’t understand is why you were there with her in the first place.”

I collapsed onto the bench, pulling her down with me and settling her in my lap as I explained. “She called and said she wanted to discuss the custody arrangement. My gut told me it was a mistake, but…”

“But you’re Eliza’s dad and want what’s best,” she finished, running a hand through my hair.

“Exactly. Before I even showed up, I warned her that if she was playing me, that was it. I was getting an attorney and taking her to court.”

“And what happened?”

A deep frown spread across my face. “She fucking played me. She’s so goddamned manipulative that she used our daughter
again
, after I warned her. She lied and made her play, and now I’m done. I don’t know if what I have is enough to get full custody of Eliza, but I’m going for it anyway. That woman is poison.”

Her fingertips came up and smoothed the furrow in my brow. “Good. Derrick, she told me today she wants to live with you. I can’t imagine there’s a judge out there who wouldn’t listen to that little girl explain what she wanted and why and not see that you’re the best choice.”

I squeezed my eyes closed and rested my forehead on her shoulder and I inhaled deeply. “I’m sorry you had to see that today.”

“Honey, I’m more concerned for you. You’re the one that had to
live
through it.”

My head shot up and I chuckled as she smiled down at me. “So you’re not mad at me?”

Her face scrunched up adorably as she pretended to give it some thought. “Nah, I’m not mad at you. As long as it never happens again, we’re good.”

“It won’t,” I replied.

“Then we’re good.” She reached up and brushed her fingers along my jaw. “I trust you, Derrick. I mean it. And I love you. I know you wouldn’t cheat on me. I’m just sorry you were stuck in that position.”

“God, I love you,” I breathed, leaning in to give her a kiss.

She pulled back, causing me to frown.

“I’ll kiss you as much as you want, honey.
After
you scrub your mouth, preferably with industrial strength soap.”

Derrick

CHLOE LAID CURLED
against me, her face pressed in the crook of my neck as I wrapped my arm around her, trying to let her soft, even breaths lull me to sleep.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t working. Three days had passed since the latest stunt with Layla, and the anxiety I felt at my daughter being stuck in that house with her clawed at my gut so painfully I actually felt sick.

It was well after two in the morning and I still couldn’t get my mind to calm down enough that my exhausted body could relax enough to sleep. I kept replaying the conversation I’d had with my attorney over and over again, trying to think of
something
that would help my case.

“Mr. Anderson,” my newly hired attorney Walter Lancaster started, rubbing a hand along his jaw, “I understand your concerns, believe me. And I’m not telling you what you want is impossible. I’m just saying that it’s going to be an uphill battle. While I have no doubt that everything you’ve told me about your ex-wife is true, it’s harder to prove a person is manipulative to the point that’s it’s harmful to a child’s wellbeing. We could have your daughter testify that—”

I spoke up, interrupting him mid-sentence. “I’m not putting Eliza through that. I won’t do it. She’s been through enough just living in that house with that woman. I can’t make her get up there in front of, not only a judge, but her own mother as well. Isn’t it enough that she
wants
to live with me? Won’t the judge take that into consideration?”

I left Walter’s office feeling even more disheartened than I had when I walked in. I felt like I was failing my girl and there wasn’t a goddamned thing I could do about it. I’d never felt more helpless in my entire life. After the conversation with Walker, I’d been so low that nothing could pull me out of it, not even the sunshine in Chloe’s smile.

But like the good woman she was, she hadn’t pushed, trying to cheer me up when she knew it was impossible. She just let me stew in silence, offering silent comfort in the form of her touch, her kiss. I couldn’t have possibly loved her more.

The ceiling fan spun in lazy circles, the moonlight shining through the trees and into the room created wild patterns along the walls that I’d spent the last two hours tracing with my eyes, uselessly searching for sleep.

Chloe’s body shifted next to me as she dreamed, curling tighter against me, the feel of her warm skin like the balm it always is. I turned to my side and wrapped both arms tight around her, holding her to me. I don’t know how long I laid there, listening to her inhale and exhale, like a soft melody before the loud ringing of my cellphone cut through the serene quiet.

All of my senses went on high alert as I hit the lamp and snatched my phone off the nightstand. A phone call that late at night was never a good thing. I felt Chloe come awake beside me as Eliza’s name flashed across the screen, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“Baby girl?” I answered.

“Daddy?” I could hear the tears in her voice with just that one word and everything inside me tensed as I shot up and threw my legs over the side of the bed.

“What’s wrong, honey?”

“I-I can’t find Mom.”

“What do you mean you can’t find your mom?” I heard Chloe gasp at my words, but I was already off the bed, snatching my clothes from the floor.

“I w-woke up…” she hiccupped on a sob, “’cause I had a nightmare. B-but she’s n-not here. I looked everywhere, Daddy. Her car’s not in the d-driveway. I’m scared.”

I tried to make my voice as calm as possible, even though, on the inside, I wanted to find Layla and wring her skinny neck until her head popped. “It’s okay, baby girl. Don’t be scared. I’m leaving right now, okay? I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t worry. I’m coming.”

“O-okay.” Another hiccup.

“Hold on so I can get dressed, all right? And I’ll stay on the phone with you the whole time.”

“All right, Daddy.”

I hit mute and threw the phone on the bed so I could yank my clothes on. Chloe was already up and heading for the dresser. “I’m going with you,” she insisted.

“No, baby. You stay here.”

“Like hell I am!”

“Listen. I don’t have time to argue, sunshine. I need you to stay here. That stupid bitch left my daughter home by herself in the middle of the goddamned night, and she had a nightmare. If Layla so much as shows her face when I get there, it’s gonna be ugly. You being with me will just make it worse. Please, just stay here.”

Her body slumped in defeat, but I knew she wouldn’t fight me. She wanted me to get to Eliza as much as I did.

“Okay, just… hurry. Get to her fast and get her home.”

I pulled her against me slamming my lips to hers in a fast, hard kiss. “I will, baby. And once I get her here, she’s never leaving.”

Her green eyes were wide on her pale, worried face. “Promise?”

“Swear.”

I turned on my heels, snatched the phone from the bed, and turned off mute, putting it to my ear so I could talk to my girl while I hurried to her so she wouldn’t be scared.

THE TWENTY-MINUTE
drive took me less than fifteen. Pulling into Layla’s drive, I saw her car was still gone, the garage door open, leaving Eliza even more exposed in the middle of the night with no fucking one there to protect her.

“Okay, honey. I just pulled up,” I told her as I turned off my truck and shoved the door open in the blink of an eye. As soon as I hit the steps, the front door was thrown open and Eliza’s arms were wrapped around me in a death grip.

“It’s all right,” I soothed, running a hand down her hair. “Come on, let’s get you packed up, okay?”

“Yeah.” She sniffled and pulled away, heading back into the house. I followed, and what I saw when I crossed the threshold had my vision going red.

“Baby girl.”

Eliza stopped and turned to me. I pointed at the two empty wine bottles sitting on the coffee table. “Are those old?”

She shook her head, another tear falling down her cheek. “Nuh uh. Mom was drinking them before I went to bed. Her words started sounding funny and she got really mad about something, yelling and not making sense, so I went to bed without giving her a kiss goodnight.”

That bitch. That fucking goddamned bitch!

She got drunk and belligerent, then got behind the wheel of a fucking
car
, and abandoned our daughter in the middle of the night. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that when I called Walter in a few hours, I’d have everything I needed to strip that bitch of custody completely. She was fucked.

“Come on, sweetheart. We’re packing you up.”

When we got to her room, she pulled a small suitcase out of her closet and started putting in a few articles of clothing.

“Do you have any more bags, Eliza?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“Get them.”

She went back into her closet to retrieve more bags as I started scooping up everything in her dresser and dumping it into the open one on her bed. “Daddy, what are you doing?”

“Everything, Eliza. I want you to pack all of your clothes. You’re not coming back here, you understand me?”

Her eyes widened as she whispered, “Really?”

“Yes. I want you to put everything you want with you into those bags. You’re moving in with me, starting tonight.”

“Okay!” she shouted, sounding excited for the first time tonight since she called me, scared and in tears, before frantically throwing anything she could reach into her bags. We were finished and in my truck about forty-five minutes later. It was amazing what a little girl
insisted
she needed just to function. Her bags were stuffed full, and Layla hadn’t shown her face in the time I cleared Eliza’s room out.

Not that it would have mattered.

“You really mean it, Dad? I’m really gonna live with you all the time now?” she asked once we were on the road, heading back to my house, back to Chloe.

“I mean it, baby girl.”

She was silent for a few seconds. “Do you… do you think Chloe will move in with us, too?”

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. “You want her to?”

“Yeah,” she answered softly.

I gave that some thought, then landed on what was probably the most brilliant idea in the world. “Then you should tell her that.” Because there was no way in hell my woman could say no to my girl. It was a foolproof plan. “And really sell it, baby girl. Maybe throw in a few tears, too.”