I shake my head, and whisper, “I didn’t.”
We just stare at each other, and it feels like time is standing still.
He lifts his arm slowly and cups my cheek in his large hand. Brushing his thumb over the swell of my cheek, his tears start to fall faster.
My eyes are on fire, and my throat is stuffed full of emotions.
“Oh, my God. You’re alive,” he whispers, his voice cracking over the words.
He takes a step forward, and his arms wrap around me.
The moment I bury my face in his chest, it feels like I shatter. If he lets go of me now, my pieces will just crumble to the floor.
A cry forces its way through my throat, and I press harder into my father’s chest so that I can smother the sound.
He holds me so close, his body jerking from his own cries, as he starts to place kisses along the side of my head.
He pulls slightly back, framing my face with both his hands. His eyes hold mine, and I see the sorrow of lost time, but I also see the happiness of now, and the hope of a future together.
“I saw your death certificate, Evie. I didn’t stop until I saw on paper that you were dead, and even afterward, I always had this feeling that you didn’t die. I thought you were my guardian angel watching over me.”
“I thought you didn’t want me,” I whisper.
He pulls me to his chest again, as he says, “I wanted you with every fiber of my being. Not a day has passed that I didn’t think of you and your mom. No matter where I was, you were both there with me.”
We hold each other until I’ve lost all track of time.
Dad pulls back, and taking my hand, he pulls me over to a nearby bench. Once seated, he turns his body to face me and holds my hand in both of his.
A smile starts to warm his face as his eyes keep darting over my face.
“You’re just as beautiful as your mother. When you turned around, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.”
I swallow and straightening my spine, I say, “I met Maggie. She was Mom’s neighbor. She told me what she could, and she gave me some stuff.”
I hold out my right hand so he can see the ring. I haven’t taken it off since I put it on.
“That’s your mother’s ring,” he says, his voice filled with a mixture of amazement and grief.
“I hope it’s okay that I wear it?” I half ask, half say, not sure how he will feel about it.
He nods. “It’s more than okay. I think she would’ve wanted that.”
∞∞∞
When it started to grow dark, Dad suggested we go for dinner. While we walked to the restaurant, I quickly texted Kyle to let him know that I wouldn’t be coming in to work tonight.
Once we’ve placed our orders, Dad reaches across the table and holds my hand. It’s like he’s scared to let go of me for even a minute.
“Have you gotten married?” I ask. I’m a little terrified he has a family and that they won’t accept me.
He shakes his head, giving my hand a squeeze. “After I lost your mother and you… thought that I lost you, I just worked.”
“Are you still in the military?”
I have so many questions. I wish I could ask them all at once, so I don’t forget any of them.
“I actually never joined the military. I joined the navy.”
“Oh,” I say, feeling dumb. I don’t know much about how it works. To me, the military is the military.
His eyes settle on mine, and it feels like he’s trying to look inside the heart of me.
“I’m a Navy SEAL.” He chuckles and shakes his head. “Not that I’ve been a good one seeing as I didn’t find you.”
“You didn’t know,” I whisper, hating what happened to us, but not wanting him to take the blame.
A muscle starts to tick in his jaw, and a wave of anger washes over his face. It’s quick before he regains control over his emotions.
“I’m going to find out what happened. Someone is going to pay for taking you from me.”
His words are filled with so much determination, it sends a shiver racing down my spine.
The waitress brings our food, and only once she’s left, does Dad say, “You didn’t give up.”
I’m surprised by the proud look on his face that I just sit there blinking. No one has ever looked at me like that.
He smiles, and it warms his eyes. “Your mom wouldn’t have given up either.”
Chapter 28
RHETT
“You rang, oh hunky one of mine?” Miss Sebastian says as she walks into my office.
My head snaps up from where I was focusing on a spreadsheet.
“I messaged you a minute ago,” I say. “How did you get here so fast?”
“As always, my timing is perfect… aaaand I had lunch with the girls, and we decided to bring over some food for our men.”
“Where’s mine?” Hearing the word food, my eyes dart to her hands.
Miss Sebastian rolls her eyes as she places a paper bag on my desk.
“You’d swear I never feed you,” she mumbles while making herself comfortable in a chair across from me.
Usually, I’d be tearing at the bag to get to the food, but not today.
Miss Sebastian notices the serious look on my face, which makes her manicured eyebrows dart into her hairline.
“Hold that thought,” she says. She gets up, closes the door and locks it. Her ass hardly touches the chair before she shoots up again, reaches over my desk, and unplugs the phone. Then she proceeds to switch off my cell and her own before she finally slumps back in the chair.
“Now we won’t be disturbed. What’s wrong?”
I’ve never seen her so serious before. It’s actually a little scary.
“Uhm… well… you see – ”
Her eyebrows draw together as she leans across the desk, placing her hand on mine.
“You’re a hot mess, my babykins! Who do I need to kill? Just give me the name, and I’ll take care of them. No one will be able to trace it back to you by the time I’m done.”
I start to laugh, but at the same time, my heart overflows with love for this woman. Since I’ve met her, she’s shot up the ranks to the number one spot in my heart.
“You don’t have to kill anyone,” I say, giving her a grateful smile. “I need… ahh…” I pinch my eyes closed, hoping I won’t regret this. “I need your help with a woman.”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Fuck, my ears are going to bleed.
“OhmyGodI’mgonnadie.”
Oh shit.
“Mychunkofhunkfinallyfoundawoman.”
Here we go. I sit back as Miss Sebastian fires the questions at me one after the other.
“Who is she?”
“Do I know her?”
“What’s her name?”
Her words run together as she’s overtaken with excitement, and I’m already regretting asking her.
Silence fills the office as she sits and bounces on her chair, with a smile so broad I swear if she didn’t have ears it would wrap right around her head.
“It’s Evie Cole. I –”
“AhhhhhhhohmyGodIknewyoustilllovedher!”
I slump back in my chair and close my eyes. This was a huge mistake.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me! I can see them moving even if you close them,” Miss Sebastian snaps at me.
I start to laugh because nothing escapes her attention.
When I look at her, the smile is still plastered all over her face.
“What do you need me to do?”
Finally, we get to the reason I sent her a message, asking if I could come over for coffee after work.
“I fucked up.”
I’ve never seen a smile vanish that fast before.
“What did you do?” Miss Sebastian pulls a face as if I’m about to throw shit at her.
“I didn’t trust Evie.” Confusion makes her eyes blink rapidly, so I quickly give her the short version. “I have some issues
I’m dealing with. I don’t trust easily.”
Miss Sebastian's eyebrows pop up again, and I let out a heavy sigh.
“Of course I trust you. You know, it’s very distracting to have a conversation with your facial expressions.”
“You trust me with your little black heart. It’s all that matters. Carry on. You didn’t trust Evie because like my other chunk of hunks, you were too wrapped up in your asshole-ish selves to see a good thing when it was slapping you all right in the face.”
“That about sums it up. Good, we’re on the same page. I don’t know how to worm myself back into Evie’s life.”
“Babykins, I’ve seen your ding-dong when you had that godawful stomach bug. In my professional opinion, which counts for a hell of a lot, seeing as I see a fair amount of ding dongs on a daily basis, your ding-dong cannot be compared to a worm.”
She sucks in a breath of air after getting all of that out.
“Miss Sebastian, can you try and focus? We’re not talking about dicks now. We’re talking about me finding a way to get back into Evie’s life.”
“Well, that’s easy-peasy. Just pick up the damn phone and talk to the woman.” She gives me an incredulous look as if she can’t believe I haven’t thought of something so simple.
“I need to do something bigger than a call. Something that says I’m sorry for being a bastard.”
Miss Sebastian thinks about it for a while.
“My babykins,” she says, giving me a look filled with pity, “I’m afraid you only have two choices. You either call the woman, or you go see her in person. I, personally, would prefer you see her face to face. Doing anything else at this point will be a waste of your time, and honestly, plain creepy. You’re going to have to start slow and work your way back into her good graces the old-fashion way.”
I let out a heavy sigh. I’m scared to death that the second Evie hears my voice she makes a run for it.
Miss Sebastian switches on her phone, and I watch her type something. It gives me time to think about what she just said. Do I call Evie, or do I just show up at her place?
Miss Sebastian suddenly smiles triumphantly. The next second she puts the phone to her ear.
“Hi, Evie?” Her smile widens as my heart stops. “This is Miss Sebastian. I’m a friend of… oh, Willow mentioned me. That’s wonderful. Was it all good things?”
My mouth opens, but only a strangled sound comes out.
“Aww… that’s so sweet of my angel-girl. Anyhow, I’m also a close friend of Rhett Daniels. Oh, but not so close that we bow-chika-wow-wow. I’m happily married. But then, if I weren’t, I’d definitely consider it. You’ve seen the man. He’s seriously fine looking.”
“WHAT THE FUCK,” I mouth the words at her. I can’t believe she just said that to Evie.
“Moving along, from what I understand, his assholishness far outweighed his sexiness, and he owes you an apology. Would you mind meeting with him?”
Miss Sebastian glances down at her nails, frowns and then has a closer look at her hands.
“Ah-ha.”
“Mmmm.”
“Oh.”
“Ugh.”
What the hell was the ugh for? I lean down, my head almost touching the desk as I try to catch her eyes.
“I agree with you, girl.”
She starts to nod.
“I don’t blame you.”
I dart up, and over the desk, grabbing the phone from Miss Sebastian.
I put the phone to my ear. “Evie?”
There’s total silence on the other side of the call. I look at the screen, and when I see that there is no call, I don’t know if I should hug Miss Sebastian or strangle her bedazzled ass.
Miss Sebastian stands up, takes her phone back and shoves it in her bag. She looks at me with the sweetest smile, and cheerfully says, “Either you call Evie now, or the conversation you just heard will be happening for real.”
She comes around the desk and places her hand on my arm. Standing on her toes, she presses a kiss to my cheek.
“I love you, Rhett. I want to see you find your own happiness. I’ve gotten Evie’s number and address from Willow, and I’ve forwarded it to you. Talk to Evie. Delaying it further won’t make it any better.”
I wrap my arms around her and press a kiss to the top of her head.
“You’re scary when you’re serious,” I whisper.
She pulls back and places her hand on my chest. I cover hers with mine and give it a squeeze.
“I’m only serious when it comes to someone I love and you, my babykins, have always had a special place in my heart.”
I give her another hug before she leaves.
Chapter 29
EVIE
I drop the spoon and dive for my phone as it starts to ring, thinking that it’s Dad, and he’s calling to cancel our dinner plans.
“Hi,” I say, sounding a little out of breath.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Kyle says.
Hearing Kyle’s voice instead, I quickly turn back to the stove and continue to stir the pasta sauce.
“Oh, hey,” I say, stirring a little faster so it won’t make clots as it thickens.
“Who’s there?” he asks sharply.
“No one. I’m making dinner. You caught me while I was busy with the sauce.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me, Evie!” He shouts, scaring me. I almost drop the phone.
I’m shocked out of my mind that Kyle just shouted at me. He’s never spoken to me like that. Sure we’ve had our moments over the past month because I haven’t been spending as much time with him as I used to, but I thought he understood that it was important to me to spend time with my dad.
“Who the fuck is there? Are you fucking someone else? I swear if I catch you with another –”
“No one is here, Kyle,” I say. “I’m making dinner for my dad. He’s coming over. I told you this when we spoke earlier.”
“You fucking bitch. I knew it. You tell whoever’s there that you’re mine,” he hisses.
Before I can think of something to reply he cuts the call, leaving me staring at the ruined sauce.
I remove the pot from the stove and start the whole process over while my mind reels.
What just happened? That couldn’t have been Kyle. He’s always sweet and gentle with me.
I manage to make the sauce without it ruining, and when everything is ready, I go sit on the couch and stare blankly at the floor.
How could I have been so wrong about Kyle?
A knock on my door pulls me out of my confused thoughts, and I get up. Opening the door, I smile when I see Dad.
“You made it,” I say as I move forward to hug him.
We’ve spent almost every day together since we found each other a month ago. With Dad still working as an active Navy SEAL, we’re making the most of our time together before he gets sent away.
Hugging me tightly, he presses a kiss to the top of my head.
“What smells so good?” he asks as we walk into the living room.
“The other day you mentioned that you loved pasta, so I made some for dinner.”
A broad smile spreads across his face, and it feels so good to know that I’m responsible for it.
“If it’s half as good as your mom’s, I’ll have to spend an extra hour at the gym tomorrow.”
I prepare two plates for us and hand Dad his as we sit down on the couch.
I’m just about to apologize that I don’t have a table we can sit at, when Dad says, “I know it’s soon, but I want you to think about moving into my apartment. I’m away quite often, and the place just stands empty.”
My lips part and I can’t make the words come out.
A sad look makes me keep quiet, as he continues, “I didn’t have a chance to raise you, Evie. I missed out on so many important parts of your life. I’d like a chance to make up for that. I’d like a chance to be your father. I want to take care of my little girl. I can’t let you live here. It’s not safe. I worry
every time I have to leave you here.”
“Daddy,” I whisper as I place my hand on his arm. When he watches me with so much intensity, as if my following words might either make or break him, I smile. “Of course I will. That way I can make sure you eat a decent meal every day.”
Surprise flashes over his face. “You will? Did you just agree to let me take care of you?”
I nod as I start to laugh. “Yes, Dad.” My laughter fades away, and my bottom lip starts to tremble as I say, “Mostly I want to be a family. You don’t have to take care of me. I just want to feel what it’s like to have a family home.”
He moves our plates so fast to the coffee table and wraps me in his arms, that a breath rushes from me.
“I’m going to give you all of that and so much more. I’m going to make it up to you, Evie. I promise.”
I nod as I curl deeper into his embrace. I close my eyes, and for the millionth time, I send up a prayer of thanks that I found my dad.
We pick up our plates, and each takes a bite of food. I observe Dad’s face to see if he likes it.
As he chews, his eyes slowly drift close, and a look of pure appreciation fills his face. He swallows, and a moment later he opens his eyes. They’re shining with tears when he whispers, “It tastes exactly the same as your mom’s.” He smiles as he teases, “I’m so damn grateful you don’t cook like me. I burn everything in sight.”
When we’ve finished our meals, I make us some coffee.
After sitting down again, Dad asks, “Can we go walk around at a mall tomorrow? I want to see what kind of things you like.”
I let out a little burst of laughter. “I’m not a huge fan of shopping.”
“Not?” The surprise on his face is quite funny. “Your mom loved to shop. What do you like to do?”
“There is one thing I’ve always wanted to do,” I say, biting my bottom lip.
“What’s that?”
“Jump out of a plane.”
His mouth drops open. It seems I’ve just shocked my dad.
Then he grins at me, looking all proud.
“Finally, you got something from me besides your eyes.”
My eyes widen with excitement. “Does that mean you’ll take me?”
Shameless (An Enemies To Lovers Novel Book 5) Page 13
