“Whatever. I don’t want to hear it. Fine. You were working, but what about later? When you were back. You didn’t want anything to do with me. You moved away, leaving Phoenix for this crappy town.”
His confusion deepened. “I continued to show up every weekend until you left for college. I tried to see you a few times in San Diego, and you were always busy. You told me to stop bugging you. Why would you care that I left Phoenix?”
She didn’t have an answer for that. Or any of it.
“If you wanted to see me, you only had to tell me,” he said quietly. “I would have been there.”
“I didn’t,” she said, pointing to the doorway. “I have to unpack and I’d like to be alone.”
He hesitated. For a second she thought maybe he was just going to grab her and hug her. Longing swept through her. She needed a familiar Dad hug that would ease the ache in her heart and let her think everything was going to be okay. But instead of pulling her close, he simply walked out of the room and shut the door. The tears returned as she realized nothing had changed. Her dad was willing to be there for her when it was easy but the second it got hard, he walked away.
* * *
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN his house and Wynn’s had never seemed so long, Garrick thought as he led the way, Joylyn trailing behind him. He was confused, angry, hurt and a dozen other emotions he couldn’t name. Most of the time he didn’t care that he was a typical guy with a limited vocabulary to describe his emotional life, but every decade or so he thought maybe women were smarter with their ability to understand what they were feeling. Although given how badly things were going with his daughter, maybe ignorance was the safer path.
Since he’d delivered her luggage, she’d ignored him, keeping to her room and refusing his offers of food. When he’d knocked on her closed door to mention dinner with Wynn and Hunter, she’d surprised him by agreeing to join him. His first thought had been disappointment that he wasn’t going to escape her for a few hours. That had led to guilt and other feelings he couldn’t name and here he was, walking up Wynn’s porch and hoping she could make some sense of the situation.
Wynn opened the door seconds after he knocked. Relief swept through him as he stared into her beautiful eyes.
Help me, he mouthed.
She smiled but didn’t say anything as she turned her attention to Joylyn.
“How are you feeling?” she asked. “Achy?”
Joylyn nodded. “The drive was really hard.”
“I’ll bet. Did you take a walk this afternoon? The movement might help.”
“I didn’t think about that.” Joylyn shot him a glare. “I had other stuff on my mind.”
He wanted to protest he hadn’t done anything wrong, but knew there was no point. Rather than say anything, he walked into the house and greeted Hunter.
“This is my daughter, Joylyn. Joylyn, this is Hunter.”
“Hey,” Hunter said, staring at her belly. “You’re going to have a baby. No one told me that.”
“He’s due on Christmas Day.”
Hunter’s whole face lit up. “That’s great. A Christmas baby! That happens all the time in the movies, so it’s kind of a thing. And, you know, Baby Jesus.”
Joylyn laughed. “Baby Jesus is a lot to live up to.”
Wynn touched Joylyn’s arm. “We’re going to barbecue chicken and steak. I have several salads to choose from, so you should find something that tastes good and sits well in your stomach. There’s plenty of time. Would you like to take a walk now? Just a short one? Hunter will go with you.”
Joylyn glanced at the teen. “You sure?”
Hunter nodded. “I wouldn’t want you getting lost. Plus Mom said you have brothers around my age. We’ll figure out something to talk about.”
“A walk would be nice,” she said, and they headed for the door.
When they were gone, Garrick followed Wynn into the kitchen and collapsed on one of the island stools. “You’re amazing.”
Her gaze was sympathetic. “That bad?”
“Worse. She hates me. She practically said it. She blames me for not seeing her when she was in high school. I pointed out that I showed up every week and she slammed the door in my face, but that doesn’t seem to count for anything. I called Alisha.”
Wynn got a beer out of the refrigerator and handed it to him. “What did she say?”
He took a couple