death. “I want you, Maddie. You and Bree. I want us to be a family for real. Forever.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
MADDIE WENT WHITE and shrank away from him, but he kept ahold of her hands.
Not exactly the reaction Neil had been hoping for.
“Whoa. Back up, there. Aren’t you returning to Seattle?”
“I have to.”
“And what are we supposed to do? Throw away our lives here to follow you?”
“You were willing to do that before,” he pointed out, scared he was losing something big and important.
She tugged, and he had no recourse but to let go of her hands. “I was sixteen. I was willing to do whatever it took to stay with you.”
“Obviously.”
She blushed but didn’t retreat. “How dare you?” she asked harshly. “You don’t say something like that now, tonight of all nights. And what if Bree hears you? What’s she supposed to think?”
“She’s supposed to think that her parents are getting back together and that they’ll be a family now.”
“We’re not a family. You have your life and career in Seattle and I have mine here. Bree has friends here, her entire family.”
“I could ask for a trade,” he said, considering it for the first time and realizing it was not only a viable option, but also a good one. “To one of the East Conference teams, maybe even the Pens—they’ve had interest in me before.”
“No. God, I don’t want you to do that. I don’t want you to rearrange your life for me.”
He had to get her to see reason. To forgive him. To give him another chance. “I was wrong. I wasn’t the person, the man, you needed me to be back then. Let me prove to you that I’m that man now.”
“You’re manipulating me and the situation. Look, Bree and I were doing just fine without you, we’ve done fine all these years without you and we don’t need you in our lives. More importantly, we don’t want you in our lives.”
Neil was crushed but he had to try, one more time. “Maddie, I love you,” he told her, finally giving her the words he’d always withheld. The words he’d never been able to say to anyone, not when he hadn’t known the true meaning of them. But he knew now. “I’ve always loved you. Please don’t do this. Please give us a second chance.”
“I can’t,” she whispered.
Neil knew what it was. Payback. Maddie’s way of getting back at him for what happened before. Her way of showing him she was still in control.
It was Maddie’s way or no way.
He’d been such an idiot to fall for her again, to let her under his skin when he needed to focus on what was important. His career. His daughter. Everything else was secondary. Security came first and had to be the most important thing. He knew that but he’d gotten so wrapped up in her, in how he felt when he was with her, how much more he wanted.
Wanting more sucked. It was smarter to only want what he could have, what he could achieve on his own.
“I’ll tell Bree I’m leaving,” he said, unable to hide the anger and pain in his voice. Hated that it hurt, knowing that Maddie hadn’t truly forgiven him, that she couldn’t let go of their past.
Not even for their future.
* * *
BREE WAITED UNTIL her dad had quietly shut the door behind him, kept still until after his headlights had flashed across Aunt Fay’s living room.
He was gone.
He’d given her a kiss, told her he’d call her later and walked away.
Because her mom didn’t want him.
Maddie came tiptoeing into the room and Bree sat up.
“God, Bree,” her mom said, holding her hand over her heart. “You scared me.”
“You made him leave,” Bree cried, hating that she sounded like some little kid, that tears clogged her throat and blurred her vision. But she welcomed the anger burning through her. She was mad at her mom. Mad at her aunt Fay. So mad she didn’t even care if either of them stopped loving her for it.
“It’s not quite as simple as that,” her mom said, sounding tired and looking sad. But Bree wasn’t going to try to fix things. Not this time. This time, her mom needed to be the one doing the fixing.
She’d heard everything. Hard not to, her parents hadn’t exactly been quiet. Her dad wanted to stay, wanted to be with them. And her mom had pushed him away.
“It is simple. He wants us to be a family, his family, but