he wanted to shield me from her crazy, but I was strong enough to face her if I needed to. However, I was smart enough not to argue with Holden.
“Can we leave?”
“Yeah, baby. Let’s get you home.”
“Faith—”
“I’ll take you home, get you settled, and go get Faith.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Kennedy had watched Faith a few times while I worked, Macy had picked her up for a play date with Rory, I’d dropped her off with Evie for guitar lessons, McKenna had invited her over to play with her pony and goat, Silver and Weston had even taken her to lunch. But no one had ever picked my daughter up from school. No one. Not ever. Not for as long as she was alive and started to go to daycare. I dropped off and picked up every single day.
When I cleared my throat and Holden held my eyes. When he smiled, I knew, he knew, I was feeling something big. So when he pressed his lips against my forehead, he let them linger for a long while before he murmured, “My Leigh-Leigh.”
“Mom!” Faith shouted and I rushed from the kitchen to the enormous foyer and found Faith tugging off her coat.
“Don’t you drop that on the floor.”
My daughter’s eyes got wide and she turned to hang up her coat.
“How’d you know?” Holden chuckled.
“She had that look like she was going to drop her bag and coat and leave them there for me to pick up.”
Holden nodded and I shrugged. What could I say? I knew my kid.
“Guess what?” Faith happily chirped and I glanced at Holden.
We needed to talk to Beth again. Faith was still not talking about what happened. She’d shared what she shared then clammed up about it. I was scared the longer this went on, the harder the crash would be. Now she was back to happy-go-lucky, everything-was-perfect-in-her-world as long as Holden was close. That worried me, too. She didn’t want him out of her sight while she wasn’t at school. Last night, she’d even tried to get him to read her a bedtime story. Luckily, since I’d been actively trying to avoid alone time with him, I’d bribed her by telling her I would read her three chapters instead of her normal two.
“What?” I returned.
“Holden said we could get a puppy.”
Faith did a cute little girl jump and twirled around as she continued imparting her news. “He said we could get a Tank. That’s a…what’s it called again?”
“German Shepherd,” Holden helpfully supplied and smiled.
I felt it, the bubble of irritation rising, and the closer it got to the surface, the more danger there was of it bursting.
“Faith, we talked about this.” My words were for my daughter but I hadn’t taken my gaze from Holden’s.
There was no way for him to miss the laser beams I was shooting in his direction, yet he opened his mouth and spoke. The better option would’ve been for him to remain silent.
“Faith told me you couldn’t have a dog because you live in an apartment. Since you won’t be living there anymore—”
“I won’t?”
“Leigh-Leigh—”
“No.” I put my hand up to halt him and changed course since I knew he’d fight me tooth and nail about going back to the scene of the crime. “Are you going to come over and train this puppy?”
“Yes.”
“Really. And you’re gonna walk it, and pick up puppy poop, and feed it, and buy its food, and the bed and toys and the hundred other things that come with owning a dog?”
“Yes.”
I let out a long-suffering sigh knowing he’d gladly come over and do all of those things.
“You can’t make decisions without discussing them with me.”
Holden’s body locked and his face fell.
“Damn, Leigh-Leigh, I didn’t mean to…you’re right. I should’ve talked to you first. Faith mentioned how much she loved Tank and Axel and there’s another litter from the same parents. I got ahead of myself.”
Shit. Why’d he have to go and apologize and admit he was wrong? That took the wind out of my sails and made my blood pressure lower.
Maybe a puppy wouldn’t be so bad. Faith had been asking for years if she could get a pet. And I bet if Tank or Axel had been at my side when Chad knocked, the dog would’ve torn him apart before he’d had the chance to knock me out and take my child.
Okay, so maybe a dog was a really great idea.
“We’ll go look at the puppy when they’re—”
“Yippy!” Faith shouted and twirled.