Room for Just a Little Bit More (7 page)

“Honey, you have nothing to apologize for. I made peace with your father walking out years ago.” She cupped Kacie’s damp cheeks in her hands. “If you want to call him, meet up, and start a relationship, you have my blessing. If you want to throw that letter in the garbage and pretend you never got it, you have my blessing on that too. I support anything you decide.”

“I know.” She sniffed, staring down at the counter. “But he
is
my dad. What if he’s realized he made a colossal mistake and wants to try and fix things?”

Fred’s face twisted silently when Kacie used the word
dad
. He was being respectful and keeping quiet, but I knew that had to be a punch in the gut for him. His eyes caught mine and I pressed my lips together in a tight, sympathetic smile.

“You don’t owe him anything. This is solely up to you. It’s about what
you
want to do,” Sophia responded.

“I wish I knew what I wanted, Mom. It’s been so long since he’s been gone, I don’t even know what it feels like to have a dad anymore. I don’t think I can pass this up.”

“What if he’s, ya know, contacting you for the wrong reasons?” I mumbled slowly. The words were barely out of my mouth and I already regretted them.

Kacie looked up at me with the most beautiful red-rimmed eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. His timing is a little convenient, don’t ya think?”

“You don’t even know him,” she shot back.

“I just want you to be careful, Kacie. You don’t know him either.” I didn’t mean to lecture her, but I’d seen people do things like this before. Unfortunately, even my own extended family had crawled out of the woodwork a time or two when they needed something.

She got up from the island and sighed as she walked over and plopped on the couch with the girls, pulling them to her side as she covered the three of them with a throw blanket.

“She mad at me?” I whispered to Sophia.

Sophia glanced past me to Kacie and shrugged. “I don’t think so. I think you probably told her what she was already thinking and she didn’t like it.”

“You think so?”

“I meant it when I told her that I’d made peace with him leaving me, but that didn’t mean my anger toward Don walking out on
her
ever went away. He could’ve still taken her on weekends and been involved in her life. I would’ve encouraged it.” She nervously spun her wedding ring. “It was a struggle at times, but I really concentrated on never saying anything bad about him to her or around her. Still, I think even with me keeping my mouth shut, she knew he wasn’t a good man. I’m sure this letter is a big red flag for her, but she’s so desperate to mend fences, she’s just not seeing it.”

“You okay?” I looked up at Fred, who was sitting next to Sophia.

He nodded quickly, taken aback by my question. “I’m fine.”

“I know that was hard to hear—that part about wanting a dad. I think she’s just stressed right now. She didn’t mean it,” I offered, trying to justify Kacie’s choice of words.

“It’s the truth. I’m not her dad and I can’t take it personally that she wants to get to know him.” He reached up and swiped at his eye, clearing his throat. “Doesn’t change the way I feel about her.”

A small smile crept across Sophia’s face as she squeezed Fred’s bicep and rested her head on his shoulder.

I turned around to peek at the couch. The girls were reciting the movie word for word. Kacie stared off into space, clearly distracted. I turned back to Fred and Sophia, tilting my head quickly toward the family room. “We have our cake tasting tomorrow. I hope she’s talking to me by then. I’m as excited about that as she was about dress shopping.”

Sophia chuckled and shook her head. “Oh, Brody, you’re too much.”

“Too much what?” Kacie came up behind me and hugged my waist.

I put my hands over hers and squeezed back. “I was just telling your mom how I’m skipping breakfast in the morning so I can eat as much Oreo cake as I want at Pearl’s tomorrow.”

Kacie gasped and flew around to the front of me, a huge grin displayed on her face. “Oh my God! I forgot we have our cake tasting tomorrow.”

“Yep.” I bent down and kissed her adorable crinkled nose. “I’ve already decided I’m voting for the Oreo one, but I’m still going along for all the free samples.”

“Mom,”—Kacie turned around to face Sophia—“I totally forgot. Are you able to watch the girls tomorrow?”

“We could always ask Uncle V?” I joked.

“No.” Fred frowned.

“Yes, I’m free.” Sophia kissed Fred’s forehead, right on the pink and white Hello Kitty. “Just bring me back some free samples, okay?”

I never thought I’d say this, but I couldn’t get to work fast enough. The last couple months of wedding planning had been so hectic that the chaos of the hospital actually calmed me. Plus, I’d accepted a position in the Labor & Delivery unit, and this job definitely came with some perks. Something about holding a brand new, minutes-old baby as his tiny pink body squirmed in my arms, and watching him open his eyes for the first time ever, just made all the problems outside of those four walls seem trivial.

It’d been two weeks since I received the letter from my dad, and I still hadn’t decided what to do with it. Every time I made up my mind, within a couple hours I would talk myself out of it. Brody’s words kept ringing in my ear. He was right—I didn’t know my dad at all. But what if…
what if
this was my shot at having a real relationship with my dad?

“Different department but the same glazed over look on your face.”

I knew that voice instantly, even before the wadded-up glove hit me in the side of the head. Turning to my right, Darla’s smiling face greeted me.

“Hey! Long time, no see.” I rushed over and threw my arms around her neck. “I’ve missed your face.”

She hugged me back quickly. “All right, enough, enough. You know feelings make me ill.”

Refusing to let go, I giggled against her. “Nope. Not done yet. Deal with it.” I really did miss working with her every day, more than I’d realized until that moment. After another minute, I released her.

“Ugh.” She huffed. “I thought I was gonna have to have you surgically removed.” She ironed out her scrubs with her hands.

I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms. “How have you been? How are things downstairs?”

“They’re okay.” She rolled her eyes, grabbing the bag of chips off the counter.

“Those aren’t mine.”

“Like I give a shit.” She growled, shoving a chip in her mouth.

A happy sigh left my mouth. “I really have missed you. And your attitude.”

We’d only seen each other a handful of times since I moved upstairs. Between different floors and opposite schedules, we barely even bumped into each other anymore, except for the one time last month she hid behind my car in the parking garage. Just as I got to my car and opened the door, she jumped out and scared me so bad that I literally peed my pants.

“Seriously.” She glared at me mid-chew with a pile of chips in her mouth. “Knock it off. What happened to you? You got engaged and now you’re Suzy Sunshine?”

“Pretty much.” I laughed. “You gonna come to my wedding?”

“Depends when it is. My social calendar’s pretty full,” she answered dryly.

“You’re such a brat. We both know you wouldn’t pass up the chance to see Viper in a tux.”

“Please.” She threw her head back and laughed. “His clothes just get in the way.”

I looked at my watch. “Aren’t you getting off late?”

“Yeah, we were swamped down there this morning, but it’s calm now. Huge construction accident brought six guys in with minor to moderate injuries.” The chip bag crinkled as she shoved her hand in again. “I was really hoping one of them had a leg injury so I could take their pants off, but no dice.”

“How can you possibly be walking around horny when you’re together with Viper, the walking hard-on?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said anything about us being together?”

“Then what are you?”

A Cheshire grin slowly crept across her face as she rolled her top lip in between her teeth. “We are simply two grown, consenting individuals, who happen to enjoy each other’s genitalia… and tongues.”

“Uh… I think I came up here at the wrong time.” Zach had rounded the corner, but stopped suddenly, throwing his hands up in front of him.

Darla and I looked at each other for a split second before bursting into laughter.

“You’re fine. Come on over,” I tried to say in between giggles as I sat down on my chair behind the nurse’s station.

“What’s up with you?” Darla asked Zach, turning on the charm. “Haven’t seen you much lately,”

He ran his hands through his dirty blonde hair and let out a heavy sigh. “I know. I’ve been working so hard on trying to get this dependency program moving over in the East Building. I’ve been begging for sponsors, trying to secure funding. The hospital is behind it, but there’s a lot of politics involved, so I’m trying to do as much as I can on my own. In between that I’m trying to see the girls as often as I can. Oh, and there’s that working thing that actually pays my bills.” He laughed. “I try to do that as much as I can too.”

“I’m proud of you.” I smiled. “Once you get this thing up and running, it’s gonna be great.”

“Thanks. It’ll be small to start, but baby steps, right?” He tapped his hands nervously on the counter. “I actually wanted to talk to you about the girls, if you have a second?”

“Yep.” I took a quick peek at the monitors. “I only have two mommies and they’re both sleeping.”

“Before you start,” Darla jumped in before Zach could talk, “I’m gonna head out.” She blew me a kiss. “We’ll catch up soon.”

I blew her a kiss back and swiveled my chair to face Zach head-on. “What’s up?”

“Funny you should say that, actually. My sister is up, from Kentucky. She just had a baby a couple months ago.”

“Awww. Tell her I said congrats.”

“I will.” He nodded, his eyes darting all over the place. “Anyway, her and her husband came up with the baby and they’re going to be here this weekend. I was wondering if I could have the girls overnight?”

I was happy with the place Zach and I were in. Over the last year, he’d visited with the girls a couple dozen times, always at my house or he’d just take them out for the day. I hadn’t been comfortable with him taking them to his apartment overnight, and up until this point, he’d let me drag it out, but I knew I couldn’t dodge it forever.

Swallowing the selfish lump that had formed in my throat, I put on my most sincere fake smile and tried to sound as upbeat as possible. “Sure.”

He tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow at me. “Thanks for that.”

“No problem.”

“No, not for letting me have them. Thanks for trying to sound happy about it.”

Cringing, I covered my face. “I’m sorry. Was I that obvious?”

“Kinda.” He laughed. “But I get it. It’s okay.”

I dropped my hands into my lap and looked up at him, feeling horrible. “It’s not you. I’m just not used to being away from them.”

“I know. I understand. If you’re not comfortable with it, Kacie, we can just skip it.”

“No,” I insisted. “You’ve been a constant part of their lives for almost a year. It’s time. I need to get over my issues.”

His face flushed as he dropped his gaze to the ground. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Excuse me,” a man’s voice called out. “My wife just woke up and said the contractions are getting really bad. She wanted me to ask if you can check her?”

“Absolutely.” I stood up and walked out from behind the desk area, whispering at Zach as I walked by. “We’ll talk later, okay? But let’s plan on that.”

He nodded and thanked me again.

Fast forward to Friday night and I was a nervous wreck. I’d packed, unpacked, then repacked the girls’ bags four times just to make sure they had everything.

“Kacie, they’re only going for two nights,” Brody teased as he watched me rifle through the bags and pull everything out for the fifth time.

“I know, but I want them to be comfortable and have their stuffed animals and—”

“Babe. They’re good.” He walked over and took Lucy’s pajamas out of my hand, gently tucking them back into her Princess Sofia duffel bag. “I know this is tough for you, but in the long run, as much as I hate to admit it, it’s probably best for them,” he said. I could see the tension in his jaw.