“I wanted something different,” she said, proud she sounded like her mom. Strong and confident instead of how she usually felt, scared and alone and ashamed of who she was, of how she looked.
Her dad nodded slowly, looking as if he thought her hair was so disgusting, he could throw up at any minute. “It’s...different, all right.”
Tears stung Bree’s eyes but she blinked them back. She wasn’t a baby anymore. And she’d promised herself she’d no longer cry over things that didn’t matter. Over people who didn’t matter.
“You’re late.” She tried to glare at him, to hold on to his gaze but her face was hot and her stomach felt funny so she stared at the book once again.
“Am I?” He sounded confused, as if he couldn’t tell time. Or maybe he thought she wouldn’t mind waiting forever for him to show up, that time itself should stop because he’d had better things to do than be there when he’d said he would. “I got hung up at the ice rink.”
She looked up to find him standing over her, blocking the sun. She waited for him to say he was sorry he’d kept her waiting but instead he watched her in that way that made her want to yell at him to stop. To apologize for not being the type of kid he wanted.
“You ready to go?” he asked.
Did she have a choice? She stood and he stepped onto a lower stair.
“I’m all sweaty,” he said. “You probably don’t want to get too close to me.”
She didn’t, she assured herself, even as her throat grew tight. She didn’t want to be anywhere near him. She was antsy and mad and felt as though she couldn’t breathe, like if she wasn’t careful, she’d open her mouth and start screaming at him.
And she’d never stop.
“I’m going to tell Pops I’m leaving,” she mumbled, and even though she’d already told her great-grandpa goodbye, she headed back inside.
She needed one more hug.
* * *
THE DOOR SLAMMED SHUT.
Neil rolled his head from side to side. He had no idea what he’d done or said, but some way, somehow, he’d messed up. Bree was pissed at him, had looked at him the same way Maddie had.
As if she’d wish he’d drop dead at her feet if only so she could kick his body a few times.
He watched the door but it didn’t open. He shifted. Climbed onto the porch and looked through the door’s window to see Bree hugging Big Leo, Maddie’s grandfather.
Neil frowned. Maybe hugging wasn’t the right word. More like she was strangling the old guy, holding on to Pops as if she didn’t want to let go.
As if she didn’t want to go with her father.
Before he realized what he was doing, Neil knocked twice on the door then pushed it open far enough to stick his head inside. Hoped like hell Big Leo—who, at five feet two inches, had earned his nickname when Maddie’s brother was named after him—didn’t just chop it off at the shoulders.
“Mr. Montesano,” Neil said with a nod.
Big Leo squeezed Bree then stepped back. But he kept a hand on his great-granddaughter’s shoulder. “Neil.”
“You ready?” Neil asked Bree.
She glanced up at Pops, who gave her a reassuring grin. Her answering smile was small and just this side of brave.
“Go on, now,” Big Leo said softly, giving her a little nudge toward Neil.
One that barely moved her. What’d she do, nail her flip-flops to the floor? And why the hell did his daughter have to be nudged anyway? Used to be, Bree would race over to him the moment she saw him, her face lit with pure joy and a reverence that’d made him nervous.
Because he didn’t deserve that sort of worship. Knew he couldn’t live up to it.
Looked as if Bree finally figured those things out, too.
Bree sighed. Loudly. He got the picture. She didn’t want to go with him, thought he was a loser. She didn’t need to beat him over the head with it.
“I guess I’m ready.” She sent her great-grandfather one more pleading look. “You’ll pick me up in the morning, right?”
“First thing.”
“I thought you’d spend the day at Carl and Gerry’s,” Neil said. His adoptive parents adored Bree.
“She has soccer practice,” Big Leo said, as if Neil should already know that.
He was probably right.
Besides, Neil knew when he was in a battle he couldn’t win. And refusing to participate in