by Rachel Hanna
“I’m so proud of you. And I’m here for you one-hundred percent. I can’t wait to see you when you get back, and I know you will make a great impression on the president of the company.” She leaned in and pulled him into a tight hug, pressing her cheek to his chest. Mia drank in the smell of his cologne, hoping it would hold her over until he got back.
“It won’t be long. And I promise when I get home, we will go out to a nice dinner and I’ll tell you everything.”
She pulled back and looked up at him. “I’m going to hold you to that. I’ve missed you lately.”
“I’ve missed you too. I know this came out of the blue, and I promised not to leave again…”
“You’re not leaving. You’re going on a short trip. We will be back together again very soon.”
“And please tell Kate that I hope everything goes well when her ex-husband gets here. I wish I could be here for back-up, but let her know I’m here in spirit.”
Mia nodded. “Don’t worry, she’s got plenty of people to stand in the gap for her today.”
“Oh, I know,” he said, laughing. “That guy is not going to get by you, Cooper and your dad. I kind of feel sorry for him.”
Mia squinted her eyes. “Don’t feel sorry for him.”
“I’m going to miss you. I’ll call you tonight as soon as I get to my hotel. “
“I can’t wait to hear from you,” she said, holding his hands and smiling up at him.
“I love you, Mia.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers for a long moment before turning and walking down the stairs.
“I love you too!” she called to him as she waved. He climbed into his truck and drove up the driveway and out of sight.
Chapter Five
Kate stood in the kitchen, nervously wiping down the counter as she waited for the inevitable knock at the door. Evie was sitting on the sofa, pretending to look at her phone, but Kate knew she was anxiously awaiting the arrival of her father. She and Evie hadn’t really talked a lot about it in recent days because she didn’t really want to pry or say something she shouldn’t. She wasn’t sure if her daughter was excited, anxious or scared. Maybe she should have asked more questions or shown more of an interest, but she figured that her daughter would come to her if she wanted to talk about it.
Mia was still upstairs getting ready for the day, but probably also licking her wounds with the fact that Travis had left a day early. She knew her sister was worried about losing Travis again, but she just didn’t have the mental strength to talk to her either. Right now, everything was focused on making sure that her ex-husband didn’t break her daughter’s heart all over again.
“Hey. He’s not here yet?” Cooper said as he slipped in through the back door. He was talking quietly, obviously not wanting to upset Evie. She now had her headphones in, probably blasting music to distract herself. The level of tension in the air was thick, like a smoky, hazy fog.
“No, not yet. But I expect him any minute. I’m sure he flew in this morning and is probably getting a rental car.”
“And how are you?” Cooper asked, as he slid his hands around her waist. She put her hands on his chest and looked up into his genuine eyes. Kate was so thankful to have a different kind of man in her life now, someone strong and stable who would be there for her and her daughter no matter what. She had watched Cooper working to sketch out the perfect treehouse platform for Evie the day before, and it’d made her heart melt. She wasn’t his daughter, but he always treated her like she was an important part of his life anyway.
“Nervous. Anxious. Slightly homicidal?”
Cooper laughed. “Maybe I should watch you more than I’m going to watch him.”
“Maybe so. I’m just trying really hard not to say or do anything that will upset my child. Her emotional and mental well-being is far more important than me getting to say some things to Brandon that I really want to say.”
“You’re a great mom, Kate. I know you’ll do the right thing, and we will work together to protect her.”
As if on cue, she heard a car door shut outside. Evie looked at her, her eyes wide. “Is that him?” She had no idea how she even heard the sound with her headphones in her ears.
Kate walked across the room and looked out the front window, peeking between the wooden plantation shutters. “It looks like it’s him.”
Evie stood up and pressed her hands down the front of her black skirt. She had worn one of the only skirts she owned, a pair of black flats and a red blouse that Kate had bought her for a wedding they went to a year ago.
“How do I look?” Evie asked, a slight smile on her face.
Kate walked over to her and ran her fingers down the side of Evie’s hair. “You look beautiful, as you always do. And your father’s not going to care how you look. He wants to see you because you’re you.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
A moment later, there was a knock at the door. Kate stepped back a few feet, Cooper’s hand on her lower back. “This is your moment, honey. Go ahead and answer it.”
Evie sucked in a deep breath and then blew it out before walking to the front door. When she opened it, a flood of memories hit Kate like a ton of bricks. She hadn’t seen Brandon in years, even getting rid of their wedding photos so she didn’t have to look at him. She thought she’d never have to see him again since he had basically abandoned their daughter. Never did she assume he would be walking her down the aisle at her wedding or sitting in the waiting room one day when she was having their first grandchild, but here he was. Standing at her front door. In that moment, she was thankful she didn’t know where Mia kept the shotgun.
“Evie?”
“Hey, Dad.” The conversation was awkward. Stilted. A little bit canned. It made Kate feel uncomfortable for her daughter, but she wasn’t going to say anything.
“You look so grown up,” he said. Kate wanted to yell out, “I guess so because you haven’t seen her in years!” but she refrained.
“It’s been a long time. Do you want to come in?”
Brandon nodded, obviously nervous. He looked quite different than the last time she’d seen him. He was thinner, not quite as tan as he normally was. His formerly thick, dark hair had thinned out quite a bit over the years. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a simple polo shirt, his normal attire. Brandon had never been one to get into fashion, and he seemed to be stuck in the same time warp from the last time she’d seen him.
“Hi, Kate. It’s good to see you. You look well,” he said, still sounding extremely awkward. She just stared at him, no words coming out of her mouth. She didn’t respond, welcome him to her home or say anything. She felt frozen.
“Hey. I’m Cooper.” She was thankful to have a boyfriend who stepped up in that moment, obviously realizing she was stunned like a deer in the headlights.
“Nice to meet you.” Brandon stood there for a moment longer than necessary looking at Kate, probably wondering if she’d gone mute or something.
“Come sit down, Dad. I want to hear how you’ve been.”
Brandon walked over and sat down next to Evie on the sofa, about three feet of space between them. Kate could tell that her daughter was still very hesitant, as she should’ve been. No girl should ever have to feel like her father was a stranger, like she needed to sit down in her living room to catch up with him after years of time apart.
“I just can’t believe how grown up you look,” he said.
“Well, it has been a lot of years. You look a little different too.”
Kate felt an overwhelming sense of sadness as she listened to their conversation. They had been so close when Evie was a little girl. Kate couldn’t deny that they’d had a tight relationship, a typical father daughter bond. That’s why she had been so shellshocked when Brandon had decided to cut her out of his life for reasons she would never understand.
And then he had married Kara and runoff to Mexico, having a new family of his own. How did a parent do that? How did he just cast Evie aside like she
didn’t matter? How could he sleep at night knowing he had a daughter out there somewhere who didn’t know what she had done wrong to deserve losing her father?
Not wanting to interfere in her daughter’s reconnection with her father, Kate quietly walked back into the kitchen, Cooper following behind her. They walked out onto the back deck, shutting the door as softly as possible.
“You okay?” Cooper asked.
“No. I feel worse than I thought I would. I don’t even know why I couldn’t say any words. It just seemed like none of the words I had on the tip of my tongue were appropriate for the moment.”
“It’s going to be alright. Your daughter is smart, and she will know how to handle her father. You’ve already raised her to be a strong young lady.”
Kate slid her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest, sinking into him. Right now, she just needed somebody to be her rock.
“I hope you’re right. I feel like I’m just serving her up on a silver platter so that he can hurt her all over again.”
“You know, maybe he really does want to reconnect with her. Maybe he’ll surprise you.”
Kate looked up at him and chuckled. “I know you’re trying to see the positive in this, but you don’t know Brandon. There’s something else going on here, and I intend to find out what it is.”
Mia walked up the stairs with Brandon following behind, holding a suitcase in his hand. She couldn’t believe the man was staying at their B&B. She feared that Kate might get up in the middle of the night and “accidentally” smother him while he slept.
“Wow, these stairs are pretty steep,” he said. For somebody at such a young age, only in his early forties, he sure was out of breath. It wasn’t like he was overweight or anything, so Mia couldn’t quite figure it out. Maybe he just didn’t get much exercise in Mexico.
“Yeah? Well none of us have any problems with them.” She sort of wanted to turn around and push him down the stairs on behalf of her sister and niece. But she thought better of it, not wanting to spend the rest of her life in jail. After all, that would mean Travis may ride off into the sunset with Sam.
“I see,” Brandon said, his voice monotone.
“You’ll be in room four. It overlooks the lake, in case you want to jump out of the window at some point.” She flipped on the light, stepped back and crossed her arms, leaning against the door frame.
Brandon walked past her and put his suitcase on the bed before turning around. “Do you have some sort of a problem with me?”
Mia’s mouth dropped open. “How long do you have?”
“Look, we’ve never met. You don’t know the first thing about me, and it’s not very welcoming the way that you’re acting.”
“I am Kate’s sister.”
“Oh. I see. Yes, Evie told me that Kate found her sister on some Internet site. Who knew that her mother got around like that?”
It took every ounce of restraint that Mia had not to lunge forward and strangle him with her tiny little hands. “You really need to think about your words,” she warned. “Around here, we don’t take too kindly to people talking about our mothers, and I’m a very straight shot.”
“Are you threatening to shoot me?” he asked, incredulously.
Mia walked forward, looked up at him and pointed her finger. “Listen up, buddy. That’s my sister and my niece down there. And you’re in my mother’s house. You will either be respectful, or I will call the local sheriff and have you carted out of here so fast it’ll make your head spin.”
Brandon held up his hands. “Calm down, lady. I’m just here to see my daughter. I don’t need any drama from you or your sister.”
She felt like her face was going to explode. A flush feeling rushed through her body, and she felt like she would be able to easily lift a car off of someone right now.
“I don’t know what my sister ever saw in you.”
“Well, I don’t know what I ever saw in her either, so that makes two of us.”
“Dinner is at seven.” She turned to start walking toward the door.
“What about lunch?”
“You’re on your own,” she said before slamming the door.
She turned to walk down the hallway but then heard Evie. She was poking her head out of her bedroom door.
“So you met my dad?” she asked, softly.
Mia cleared her throat and tried really hard not to look like an angry wolverine. “I did. I just got him settled in his room.”
Evie walked out of her room and toward her aunt. “What did you think about him?”
“Honey, it doesn’t matter what I think. He’s your dad, and I hope that you get what you need out of this time together.”
Evie eyed her carefully, like she wanted to say something else, but she didn’t. She probably didn’t want to hear the real, honest answer that Mia was going to give her.
“I hope Mom is okay. She didn’t even greet him when he came in.”
Mia rubbed Evie’s arm. “This is hard, but she’ll be okay. All she wants is for you to have a good experience with this. Just focus on that. Get the answers you need and build the relationship you want. We are all supporting you.”
Evie smiled. “Thanks, Aunt Mia.”
As Mia turned and walked down the stairs, she wondered just how much trouble she might get in if she disconnected the brakes on Brandon’s rental car.
“So, you like living here?” Brandon asked as he and Evie walked down the long driveway. She had invited him to come with her to check the mail, even though she could’ve just as easily taken the golf cart.
“I love it, actually.”
He looked around, like he was taking it all in. “I never pictured you or your mother living in a place like this.”
She looked at him. “A place like this?”
“Well, I mean, it’s pretty remote and not near any cities or big shopping areas.”
“I don’t really like to shop,” she said, pointing out yet another thing her own father should know about her.
“Oh. I didn’t realize that.”
She wanted to lash out and say why he didn’t know it, but she held her tongue. “I prefer hiking and climbing trees around here.”
Brandon chuckled. “I don’t know many teenage girls who like that kind of stuff.”
“Well, maybe I’m not like other teenage girls. In fact, that’s my favorite tree right there.” She pointed across the driveway at the large tree.
“Oh, is it now?” he said, out of breath from the walk. Evie found it odd that he seemed so winded, but maybe he just wasn’t used to such a long walk in the cold weather. After all, Mexico wasn’t exactly a chilly place to live.
Evie walked toward the tree and noticed Cooper was sitting up there. “Oh, hey, Cooper! I didn’t see you up there. I was just showing Dad my favorite tree.”
Cooper waved and then slowly climbed down, jumping the last six feet or so. “Hey. I was just sketching some things out.”
“You’re sketching in a tree? Don’t you have a job or something?” Brandon asked, condescension dripping in his voice.
Cooper straightened, and Evie was afraid he might just sock her father right in the nose, and she couldn’t blame him. He was acting like a jerk.
“Dad! You’re being rude.”
“It’s okay, Evie. He’s new around here and doesn’t understand how we act.”
“How you act?”
Cooper smiled slightly. “How we have good southern manners. How we sometimes think things but don’t say them. Anyway, for your information, I do have a job. Actually, I have a business. I’m a contractor. And your daughter loves this tree, so I’m building her a treehouse.”
“A treehouse? Evie, aren’t you a little old for that?”
She sighed. This wasn’t going well. “It’s more of a platform. And it makes me happy, so Cooper offered.”
“Well, I guess whatever floats your boat…” he said, turning back toward the house.
Evie smiled at Cooper
. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. You better catch up with him. I’ll show you my sketch later.”
She waved as she trotted off to catch up with Brandon.
“You know, Evie, a girl your age should have tons of friends and be going to parties, not climbing up in trees and sitting alone. Doesn’t your mom encourage you to be social?”
“I am social. I have friends at school. But, life is different around here. Slower.”
“And boring?”
She stopped in her tracks and put her hands on her hips. “Why did you even come here?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why are you here, Dad? After all these years, you show up without any explanation of what you want. And you keep making smart comments about my new life. I’ll have you know I love it here! I love the mountains and the lake and the rivers. I love my new aunt and my grandfather and Cooper.”
“Cooper isn’t your father,” he said under his breath.
“And you haven’t been my father in years!”
“Evie…” he said, holding up his hand.
“No! You need to listen to me, for once. You left me behind, Dad. Left me without even caring that I would be hurt. Started a new family. Forgot I even existed.”
“I never forgot you.”
“Well, I must have missed all of those phone calls and texts you sent. Or the cards. Or maybe I wasn’t home when you visited?”
Brandon stepped forward and put his hands on her upper arms, the first fatherly thing he’d done since he had gotten there.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I haven’t been there, and I have no right to judge your life now. I don’t even know that Cooper guy, so I shouldn’t have been so rude to him. “
“Thank you,” she said.
“Look, I want this to work. I want us to rebuild our relationship. Don’t you remember how much fun we had when you were a little girl? When we used to go fishing at the shore? When we would play frisbee at the park?”
