Hendrix - Kelsey Clayton Page 0,10
its place. “What? Because I left you behind, that meant I didn't deserve to know about my child?”
“And how the fuck did you expect me to tell you?” she sneers. “I had to find out from Mason that you were gone. You left me a literal note on a pillow and then changed your number so I couldn't reach you.”
The small detail at the end sticks out and I rack my brain to remember everything that happened during my transition to the pros. When I realize what she's talking about, I shake my head.
“I didn't change my number because of you,” I tell her. “You saw what it was like for me. Everyone and their mother was hitting me up for cash. As if signing that contract instantly turned me into a fucking ATM.”
“Yeah, well, I had no way of getting in touch with you.”
I scoff. “That's bullshit, and you know it!”
“Mommy?” a little voice sounds from behind me.
The look on Saige's face softens as she looks past me. I turn around to see the little girl from the pictures. My little girl. She's wearing a pink nightgown covered in butterflies. Her brown hair matches her mother's, but her eyes are all me.
“I had a nightmare and then I heard yelling.”
Saige walks over and scoops the little girl up in her arms. “Come on, Brenna. I'll tuck you back in.”
Brenna.
“Will you check for monsters?”
Saige chuckles. “Don't I always?”
As they disappear back upstairs, the heaviness of the situation feels like a weight inside my stomach. I should have been the one checking for monsters all these years. She shouldn't be looking at me like a stranger.
I know I said the mere idea of having kids makes me want to run for the hills, but after seeing the innocence in her eyes, I can't imagine going anywhere. Not now. Not after this.
It takes a few minutes for Saige to come back down, but when she does, she looks everywhere but at me. I glance at where she came from to make sure she wasn’t followed by her little mini-me.
“She okay?” I question.
Nodding, she goes into the kitchen and grabs a bottle of water. “Just your typical five-year-old who believes in scary things that hide under your bed.”
The corners of my mouth raise. “Reminds me of someone else I know.”
It's a reference to the time Mason hid underneath my bed to scare me, but ended up nearly making Saige piss herself instead. I can tell she knows exactly what I'm talking about by the way her face drops, but that's not the response I was expecting.
“Don't do that.”
“Do what?”
She's clearly in a taking no shit mood. “Reminisce about the past like it's full of happy memories.”
The whole situation is tense. Both of us have a reason to be angry, and neither one of us seems to be willing to give an inch. We go quiet for a minute before we both try to speak at one time.
“I want to be involved in her life.”
“I think it’s time for you to go,” she says, and then realizes what I just said. “Wait, what?”
I square my shoulders and stand tall. “She's my daughter. I want to know her. I want her to know me.”
Saige's grip on her water bottle tightens. “Colby, you don't know the first thing about being a parent.”
“Yeah?” I bark back. “I wonder why that is.”
She winces at my tone. “If you keep yelling at me, she isn't going to want to know you.”
I roll my eyes. “Haven't you made enough choices for her, and me for that matter, over the last five years?”
She laughs dryly. “Excuse me for not jumping at the chance to let someone who never grew up jump right into my daughter's life.”
“Our daughter.” I correct her. “Or are you forgetting that there's another parent in this mix?”
“You didn't want to be tied down with a halfway relationship with a nineteen-year-old, Colby.” She grips the counter and leans forward. “Do you know what a child is? Being tied down in ways you couldn't begin to imagine. For life.”
This conversation is clearly going nowhere. We're both angry and rightfully so. If I stay, we'll only yell more, and I don't want Brenna getting a bad first impression of me. The acknowledgment that it is a first impression stings.
“This isn't over,” I tell her and turn on my heels.
Saige says nothing as I walk out the door. As it shuts behind me and I hear the lock click, I press