No Commitment (Capital Kingsmen #1) - Lisa Suzanne Page 0,77
get that. We can do everything we can to protect her, but the fact is that there will be paparazzi who are relentless in trying to get her photo. There will be issues with privacy. It’s just the nature of the business.
She had a man offering her everything she thought she needed that I couldn’t give her at the time. She took him up on it.
It was the wrong decision, but I’ve had almost two weeks now to come to grips with the truth.
Dani and Luna have been back in Wisconsin for almost a week.
I want them here.
I need them here.
I hate being away from them. Both of them.
And so, once Tommy, Brett, and I finish reminiscing about our favorite times in this house together and they head off to search for new places to live, I call Dani.
I don’t text her. I want to hear her voice.
“Hey,” she answers softly, tentatively.
“Hey.”
A beat of awkward silence passes between us as I try to work out the question that I’ve wanted to ask her for a few days now. “Have you, um, made any decisions about moving back to California?”
“Yeah. We’re coming,” she says, and her words cause a well of relief inside me. “I’m going to stay with my sister until I find a place for us.”
“Don’t stay with your sister. Stay with me.”
“Oh, that’s a nice offer, but I can’t. You’ve got Tommy and Brett...” she trails off. “It’s just not the best place for a baby.”
“I just told them to move out.”
“Oh,” she says, and that single syllable is full of surprise. “Wow. You did?”
“Yeah,” I murmur. “I want more time with Luna.” And you. I can’t bring myself to say it. I’m not there yet even though I feel it.
“We um...” She pauses, and I wait for her to finish. “We filed the divorce papers. Jointly. Uncontested. And I filed the paperwork to start the process of updating Luna’s birth certificate.”
A strange set of emotions plow into me. My chest hurts at the same time it balloons with possibilities.
I’m sad for Ford. I’m sad for Luna and for Dani too. I’m sure none of this is easy on any of them, and it’s not easy on me, either. But the four of us are working to correct the missteps of the past—things I didn’t even know I was a part of—and the prospects of the future fill me with an overwhelming optimism.
“Before you say yes or no, just think about it,” I tell her. “Okay?”
“Okay. I will.”
“When are you moving here?” I ask.
“We’re packing now. I’m going to rent one of those little trailers and pack up our stuff, and I’m planning to hit the road on Monday. We should be there by Thursday. It’ll be a long few days in the car with a toddler but I’ve been bracing myself and filling the tablet with Bubble Guppies and Cocomelon.”
I hear the stress in her voice. There are times I feel like I know nothing about this woman, and there are times I can read her like my favorite book. “I’ll arrange movers to get what you need out here, and I’ll book you and Luna a flight.”
“No, no. You don’t have to do all that.” Her protests are weak. I see right through them, and it’s not because I know her so well. I’m not really sure I know her at all. It’s because of the desperation in her voice. The feeling like I somehow know what she needs even though she has no idea how to ask for it. She can’t ask for it—not after everything that’s happened.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t give it to her.
“I know I don’t have to. But she’s my daughter. You’re her mother. I want to.”
She ends the protests there. We say our goodbyes, and as soon as we hang up, I book the things I just told her I’d book.
And then it’s time to call in some help.
CHAPTER 38
DANIELLE
Diana’s waiting with Gracie when Luna and I get down to baggage claim. She hugs us both, and the embrace from my sister feels warm and comfortable, like I’m back home again.
Because I am.
It’s been an emotional few days. While relocating to California is the right move for us, it was still hard leaving Ford. Seeing a grown man with tears in his eyes as he dropped us at the airport nearly broke me, but I held it together for Luna. I hate not knowing when we’ll see him again.