“Oh my God, I have so much to tell you,” Penny says. “There was a kissing booth at . . .”
“You mean mono waiting to happen,” Mia jokes.
Penny rolls her eyes. “Anyway, that guy was asking about you.”
Mia’s eyes get huge, stopping Penny, whose nose wrinkles up, realizing what’s she’s done. There are a few words that pique any father’s interest, and “guy” is one of them. Drugs, sex, and condoms are a few others.
“I’ll see you later, Dad,” Mia says, shoving Penny back into her car.
“Dinner?” I call out.
“Yep,” she says. “Seven o’clock.”
“Six,” I say.
She flashes me an agreeable smile before they are off. Shaking my head, I turn to my dad and ask, “So do you know anything about this guy?”
“Some,” he says. “Don’t think Mia realizes that my hearing is still good.”
“Well?” I urge, taking the bags out of the car.
“He lives one town over. Mia doesn’t want to get involved with someone before leaving for school, but finds him very, very hot, apparently.”
“Shit,” I say.
“That’s not the worst part,” he says. “He’s twenty.”
“What the hell?”
“That’s why she hasn’t told you about him.”
“You got this kid’s name?”
“Nope,” he says. “But don’t worry. I think Mia’s flattered more than anything. She’s enjoying the attention, is all.”
“You sure about that?” I ask.
He nods. “How are things here?”
Suddenly, my dad is being coy. “Good.”
Smiling, he starts to walk toward his house. I follow him, carrying his bags. “I need to go see your mother.”
Placing his bags down on his porch, I say, “Thanks again for taking Mia. It was nice for you and her to get away together, and Devlyn and I needed the time.”
“No problem,” he says.
This isn’t like my dad. He was an attorney—asking questions is built into his DNA. “Are you not going to ask me?”
“I don’t need to,” he says, chuckling. “It’s written all over your face.” He pinches my cheek then gives it a playful slap.
“Dad,” I groan, realizing how much I sound like Mia. “I’m going to talk to Mia after her birthday. I want her party to be all about her, not my and Devlyn’s coming out party.”
He nods in agreement, and we catch up a little bit before he heads out to visit my mom. I watch him as he leaves. She’s been gone for years, but he’s completely devoted to her still. Maybe Mia should start a dating experiment for him. My gut twists at the thought. I’m a grown man in my thirties and the thought of my father with another woman makes me uncomfortable.
What’s Mia’s reaction going to be?
Only a few days until I find out, but the truth is, her reaction won’t make or break my relationship with Devlyn. It’s happening, however Mia feels about it.
I’ll help her through it.
CHAPTER TWENTY
DEVLYN
It’s party day, and Garrett’s been decorating the backyard all morning, stringing lights across the yard, setting up tables and chairs, a makeshift dance floor. He’s gone all out for Mia’s eighteenth. It’s sweet. I baked a few of Mia’s favorites to help him out and came by early to drop them off.
Truthfully, I came by early hoping Mia would be out and Garrett and I could have a little time together, but no such luck. Since Mia’s been back, we’ve shared a secret kiss or two in my kitchen, a couple hours here or there when she’s out with friends. Clock watching is not fun, so a part of me can’t wait to tell her. Another part of me isn’t as excited to become public.
Right now, it feels like Garrett and I have these stolen moments. These little pieces of time that are just ours.
Stolen moments.
That’s what each kiss is. Moments we steal from life, from reality. I just hope we don’t get caught. I just hope the punishment isn’t too great.
If Mia’s super upset, then what? What will Garrett’s reaction be? Will he give me up? Maybe not right away, but eventually would he cave to the will of his daughter if she can’t accept me? Mia and I get along right now, but will that change if she starts to see me as her dad’s girlfriend?
“This is going to be epic!” Mia cries, hugging both Garrett’s neck and mine. “Everyone’s coming.”
She’s right. It seems like the whole town is coming out to celebrate. This birthday means a lot to Garrett and Mia. They made it. It means a lot to the people here, too. The ones who taught Mia, gave Garrett odd jobs when they really didn’t need anything done just to help him out, the ones who left boxes of diapers on his porch just because. It’s a happy ending to what could have been a disaster.
“Are you bringing Scott?” Mia asks. “Is he coming to visit? I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“Umm.” I will my eyes not to go to Garrett. It would look weird if he answered for me. “No, we broke up.”
“You broke up with Scott? I didn’t know,” she says, looking at Garrett. “Dad, did you know? Why didn’t you tell me? Now I just look stupid.”
“I didn’t know,” Garrett says, and I can tell he’s trying to decide if that’s the right answer or not.
“No one really knows yet,” I say.
She glances at her dad then back to me. “Sorry.”
Giving her a smile to let her know I’m good, I’m desperate to change the subject and ask, “What are you wearing for the party?”
“It’s between the pink dress or the blue romper,” she says.
I reach into my purse, pulling out a little gift box. “Maybe this will help you decide.”
Her eyes light up, and Garrett flashes me a smile. “Thank you!” Mia says before she even opens it.
“You’re welcome,” I say, my palms starting to sweat a little, hoping she likes them as much now as she did in the store.
I watch her slowly untie the ribbon, feeling Garrett’s eyes on me. He doesn’t know what I got her. When she lifts the lid of the black box, she screeches at the sight of the pearl earrings. “How’d you know?”
She hugs me tightly, and Garrett mouths to me, “Too much.”
I shrug. It’s a big birthday. She doesn’t have a mother to pass down jewelry to her, so I wanted to do something special. Releasing me, she starts to take them out, slipping one in each ear, then she holds her hair up, showing them off.
“Very pretty,” Garrett says.
“I love them,” Mia says, hugging me again. She pulls back, taking my hands in hers. “Pink dress!”
“Definitely,” I say, laughing.
“With my hair up,” she says, heading toward the back door. “I’m going to get ready. Tonight’s going to be perfect.”
She disappears into the house. Garrett steps closer to me but only locks his pinkie finger with mine, glancing back at the house. Damn windows!
God, the way he’s looking at me has my panties soaked. “I should go, too,” I say, my mouth dry. “Need to shower and get ready myself.”
His finger tightens around mine. Is it me that has him wrapped around my little finger? Or is it him that has me wrapped around his?
“You look amazing,” he says. “Stay.”
I came straight from the diner. I’m a hot mess minus the hot. “What if I promise to come back without any panties on?”
“Thought you didn’t believe in promises?” he asks with the cutest little smirk.
“This one I’ll keep.”
*
A gust of wind blows, and I hold my dress down. This is why promises are a bad idea. It has to be the windiest night in the history of Eden Valley. My knee-length polka dot dress has been whipping around all night. It’s only a matter of time before I moon all of Mia’s friends.
Looks like there’s not a single person who didn’t show up. Everyone is here to celebrate. The yard looks great with the twinkling white light
s, the music is going, food and drinks are flowing, and most importantly, Mia looks so happy. If only my damn dress would cooperate.
“Problem?” Garrett whispers in my ear from behind me.
“I blame you for this,” I say.
“I’m in charge of the weather?”
“No, you’re in charge of my recent change in libido,” I whisper. “Hence the absence of underwear.” He chuckles, and I glance around at the sea of teenagers dancing like lunatics.
“Wish we could dance,” he says quietly.
“Me, too,” I say. “Like in my diner that night.”
“I left thinking you weren’t interested,” he says.
“And I thought I was making something out of nothing, again.”
His head tilts. “You came to my house, though. What made you do that?” he asks. “You never took that risk before.”
“That was pretty ballsy,” I say, smiling. “Something just felt different that night. I tried to tell myself it was all in my head, but for once I let my heart win.”
“You have no idea how bad I want to kiss you right now,” he says.
I smile. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. I’ve always been a happy person by nature, but this is different. This is more than happy. It’s happy with a side of bliss.
“Dad, can we do the cake?” Mia yells over to us.
He gives her a nod before disappearing into the house. I go to clear a spot on the table, finding Garrett’s dad, who has had the same idea. “Mr. Hollis,” I say, only making brief eye contact.
He takes hold of my hand in that way that only an old, wise person can, settling me. “Thank you for loving my son and my granddaughter,” he says.
My throat closes up. I’ve never said those words to Garrett. I hope to soon. Well, I hope he says them first. No one’s ever thanked me for loving them before, so I’m not sure how to respond. Good thing that he keeps talking. Must be the old lawyer in him—long-winded.
“Warms my heart to finally see Garrett in love again.”
“He said that?” I blurt out.
He laughs. “Let’s just say I have a hunch.”
The backdoor to the house opens as Garrett appears with the three-tiered pink and white cake with eighteen unlit candles on the top. Mia insisted on having eighteen candles and not doing a number eighteen. That, apparently, is cheating.
Garrett places the cake down on the table, and everyone starts to gather around. Garrett stands next to Mia behind the cake, and his father, Edward, off to the side. The rest of the guests, including me, are on the other side of the table.
“Speech,” Penny calls out from the crowd.
Mia giggles and looks up at her dad. “Think it’s your turn to give the speech. Last time mine caused quite a ruckus.”
Everyone laughs, and Garrett shakes his head at her before looking out at everyone. “The day Mia was born . . .” Garrett’s eyes catch mine, and I know he’s never told her the story of her birth. He avoids thinking of Sheena at all costs, so that includes Mia’s birth. I give him an encouraging nod.
He looks at his daughter, who’s eager as ever for the information, and begins to describe the day in perfect detail, everything from the weather to the shirt he was wearing to what he had for breakfast. You’d think some of the memory would have faded with time, but it hasn’t. It’s vivid and clear, and he tells it with such emotion that I feel like I was in the room. Everyone standing in his yard knows how the story takes a sad turn in the days that follow, but right now the only focus is the joy.
“The day Mia was born I fell in love on the spot,” Garrett says. “I was so happy to hear Mia cry. No one told me I’d spend the rest of my life trying to make sure she never cried again.”
“Daddy,” she whispers, and he reaches down, gently wiping a tear from her cheek. “Happy birthday, baby girl!”
She hugs his neck. Her granddad lights the candles as her friends start a very loud, very out of tune version of “Happy Birthday.” Mia glances at her dad then leans over, blowing out her candles to a round of applause.
Garrett grabs a knife, examining the cake, trying to decide where would be the best place to start cutting. Finally, he removes the entire top layer, plops it down on a plate, and hands the whole thing to Mia, who just laughs then gives me a wave. “Devlyn, help please!”
Stepping up, Garrett passes me the knife. I swear that simple act is enough to let everyone know we are sleeping together. Garrett hands me a plate, and I slide a piece of cake onto it. Over and over again, we continue. I don’t look at him. We don’t speak, yet I feel completely transparent.
When everyone has cake and has left the table, Garrett hands me a piece. “What do you think Mia wished for?” I ask.
“I don’t know what she wished for,” he says, “but I wished that for her next birthday, you’ll be standing with us.”
My breath catches. I wish that, too. I inch a little closer, but his eyes leave mine. Something has his attention and whatever it is, his blue eyes are dark, cold. Mia walks over to us, her eyes locked over my shoulder, but her eyes look intrigued, hopeful. She touches Garrett’s elbow.
“Daddy, who’s that?” she whispers.
I go to look over my shoulder, but Garrett grabs my hand. “Take Mia and go inside.”
“What is it?”
Mia takes a few steps away from us. “She looks like me.”
“Now Devlyn,” Garrett barks. “Take Mia inside!”
Turning around, my body immediately freezes. It can’t be! The woman is walking right toward her, a wooden box with a red bow tied around it in her hands.
“Is that my mother?” Mia asks, without taking her eyes off Sheena.
“Damn it!” Garrett mutters, glancing around at all the party guests, who’ve gone quiet, preparing to watch the train wreck. The music stops, too. Garrett grabs Mia by the shoulders. “Inside.”
“But . . .” She looks back at her father. She’s a complete daddy’s girl, but she also knows when not to mess with him. His own father steps to his side, some sort of united front. Sheena’s eyes narrow at Edward Hollis, no love lost between them.
“Go inside with Devlyn,” he orders Mia again, but my legs aren’t working. “Devlyn!” he says my name like it’s some kind of warning.
I wrap one arm around Mia, attempting to shelter her, then walk her toward the house. My legs feel like I’m wearing concrete shoes. Mia stops several times, looking back at her mother, but each time, I encourage her forward. I open the door, she goes inside, and then it’s my turn to take a look back.
Sheena steps to Garrett.
This is Garrett’s nightmare, I know that.
What he doesn’t know is that it’s mine, too.
*
Letters to Mia
Eighteenth Birthday
Dear Mia,
I realize these birthday letters have been more for me than you. A way for me to feel close to you on the day you were born. I suppose your biggest question has to be—Why’d I leave?
I’m going to do the best I can to explain. Now that you’re a little older, perhaps you can imagine what it was like for me.
This is the letter I’ve avoided writing. Our goodbye letter.
When you’re in the middle of the scariest thing that could ever happen to you, other things don’t seem as daunting, like a teenage girl traveling alone from New York to small town Georgia, but that’s what I did.
I was pregnant.
I hadn’t told your father. In fact, I’d avoided writing or talking to Garrett for a month. He probably thought I hated him. It took me two solid weeks before I told my parents. They were happy I hadn’t told Garrett. Their solution was simple. My school had a fall break in October. I’d have an abortion, rest, then go back to school without missing a beat. Except my baby’s heartbeat.
I told them I would do it. I promised them, but as the day got closer, I just couldn’t, not without telling Garrett. So I ran away. I can’t tell you how I did it. It’s a
blur. And I can’t tell you much at all about how I got back to Eden Valley.
All I know is that it was dark when I arrived back on his doorstep. He answered the door in his shorts and t-shirt. Tears streaming down my face, I told him I’d run away, and that I was pregnant.
To his credit, he didn’t pass out. He didn’t curse. He had to be scared out of his mind, but he pulled me into his arms and held me until I stopped shaking.
I told him my parents insisted I have an abortion, and then I glanced up at him, trying to gauge if that’s what he wanted, too. I explained I just couldn’t do it without talking to him.
God, did we talk—all night. I’d shown up out of the blue. There was no hiding this from his parents. They yelled like my parents. They cried like my parents. Unlike my parents, they told Garrett how much they loved him.
He told me how much he loved me, how he wanted to keep you.
I told him I wanted to keep you, too. At the time, I didn’t know I was lying. I wanted it to be true.
His parents helped us. His mom took me to appointments. I stayed with them. I went to school there. They promised to help Garrett and I finish school. They even tried to help me with my parents, but my parents wanted none of it.
It wasn’t easy. Nothing about those months was easy. Kids at school stared at me. I had no friends other than Garrett. I know it wasn’t easy on him, either. The town’s golden boy, the mayor’s son, knocked up some girl. For a long time, the only person that talked to us at school was Devlyn. She’d sit with us at lunch, walk the halls by our sides. Garrett told me her parents warned her to keep her distance, but she never did. Still, she was Garrett’s friend, not mine.
We were going to finish out our junior year, have you, then his mom was going to watch you our senior year. That was the plan. No one was insisting we get married, even though Garrett asked me if I wanted to. It was sweet he asked, but I felt too overwhelmed to even consider it.
So a week past my due date, you were born. Garrett picked out your name. I thought it was all wrong. Mia means “wished for child,” and you were anything but.
All My Life Page 15
