“ALL RIGHT YOU two, knock it off.” I glare at Evangeline and Landon with their tongues practically down each other’s throats. What the hell happened to no kissing? No one listens to me anymore. “Come on, Vangie, it’s time to go.”
“I can’t believe it’s over, Daddy,” she sobs. “This has been the best week of my life. I’m never going to see him again.” Is this the same kid who just seven days ago thought having to go on this trip was the worst thing to ever happen to her?
“You’ll live,” I grumble. “Take care, boys…Gina.” I wave and pull my crying girls over to the customs counter so we can be on our way.
The ride home is pure misery. Evangeline has somehow decided it’s my fault that the week has come to an end and is shooting me daggers from the passenger side of my truck. Willow is crying for her Gigi and Tyle, and for some reason unbeknownst to me, there’s a hollow feeling in my gut that just grows larger the farther we drive away.
“Well, this is depressing,” I grumble as I turn into the driveway of our house. Evangeline is still crying into her hands. Willow has managed to cry herself to sleep, but every few seconds lets out a sniffle.
“You don’t even care!” she shouts, throwing the door open. “I’m going to Savana’s.”
“That’s fine, but you owe me a clean room before you leave. Remember? Best daddy everrrrr!” I tease, trying to cheer her up.
Apparently, I know less than nothing about teenaged girls, because my attempt at humor only seems to further irritate her.
“I wish Mom was still alive,” she wails, jumping out of my truck and slamming the door.
I climb out after her, intercepting my daughter in the driveway before she runs inside to lock herself in her room. “That was a joke, Evangeline. I never expected you to actually clean your room.”
She sniffles, and I can feel her body tremble from where I’m holding her arm. “I really like him, Daddy.” What’s left of my heart shrivels up. My little girl has an honest-to-God broken heart, and I’m making fun of her over it.
Goddamn it. These girls need their mother. I don’t have what it takes to raise females. I’m going to screw them up so bad. “I’m sorry, princess.” I pull her in for a hug, kissing the top of her head. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
“You think, maybe one day we can meet up for lunch or at a park or something?” she asks. My baby looks so hopeful that I can’t crush her with the truth, that we just live too far apart.
“I’m sure we can work something out eventually, honey.”
“Thanks, Daddy,” she says, throwing her arms around my neck.
“Sure thing. Go on inside and unpack and make sure it’s okay with Savana’s mom for you to come over. I’m gonna go get Willow out of the truck.”
§
“How was the trip?” My brother and business partner Victor asks, after we get Willow and his six-year-old son, Maddox to bed. He only has Maddox every other weekend—the product of a one-night stand. Often times they end up crashing at my place instead of his bachelor pad.
I scrub a hand over my face, leaning back in my recliner, and sigh. What a loaded question. “It was…interesting, to say the least. The girls ended up having a good time though, so that’s all that matters.”
“Let me guess? You stayed in the room the whole time wallowing in your misery. Dude…I can’t believe you went on a cruise with free babysitting and didn’t get trashed and fool around a little. Everyone knows singles go there to hook up.”
My God, he makes my head hurt. “I took my girls on a family vacation, Victor. It wasn’t about me.”
“It’s never about you, Jeff.”
Yeah, well. It’s always about him. I don’t say what I’m thinking, though. I’m not in the mood for a fight tonight. Instead, I proceed to fill him in on my series of unfortunate events, ending with the rapist dolphin.
My brother cracks up. “They say dolphins are sensitive creatures. He could probably sense how badly you needed to get laid. Even the fucking fish felt sorry for you, bruh.”
For some reason I choose to keep what happened with Tink and me to myself. It’s not like I’ll ever see her again, but I don’t want to cheapen what happened between us by bragging about it to this numbskull. Huh. Guess somewhere along the way she grew on me a little.
“Jeff. Yoohoo, Jeff,” my brother calls, snapping his fingers in front of my face.
“Yeah?”
“Where were you, man?”
I shake my head, bringing myself back to the present. “Just spaced for a sec. What’s up?”
“Why don’t you call that chick? The one you’ve been fucking…Go over to her place and bang one out? I got these kids under control.”
I can’t help but to laugh. “I bet you do…they’re passed out.”
He shrugs. “Then you know you can trust me.” He tips his hat like he’s doing me some great service then takes a long pull from his beer. “Don’t say I never did anything for ya.”
The thought of hooking up with anyone else right now makes me physically ill. It’s probably just because I’ve had more sex in the last week than the past three years. “I’m good, Vic. I’m really not in the mood.”
His mouth falls open in mock shock. “Not in the mood for fucking? How do we share the same DNA, little brother?”
