“I want to be with you, Beau,” I mouthed, my voice barely audible. I had to say it out loud. I had to see if it felt just as real on the outside as it did on the inside.
I hailed a cab back to my apartment, itching to get out of my dress and heels. Pulling my phone out of my clutch, I saw I had a missed call and a text message.
From Harrison.
YOU GOT THE PROMOTION.
Chapter Thirty
“Thank y’all so much. Really. Thank you. You’ve been wonderful.” I tipped my hat to the roaring crowd and ran offstage, following security back to my dressing room.
That was it. My last show. Ever.
It felt good.
It felt exactly how I thought it would.
I tasted freedom in all her glory.
Maybe I was an ungrateful bastard for looking fame and fortune in the eye and walking away, but not a single part of me thought I was making the wrong decision.
Security unlocked my dressing room. The second I shut the door, my heart thundered in my chest. Dressed in a gauzy white dress with long dark waves cascading down her shoulders was my Dakota.
“You came.” I removed my hat and set it aside as she stood up and walked my way. She hadn’t smiled yet, but I was confident that I could change that in two seconds flat. My hand cupped the side of her face as I Ieaned in to taste her sweet lips.
“Wait.” She stopped me. “Before you kiss me – before you say anything. There’s something I have to tell you.”
Staring her square in the face, I lifted my brows. There wasn’t much she could say to me to change how I felt, but I’d entertain her anyway. “All right then.”
“I got the promotion,” she said.
“Congratulations, Coco.”
She still didn’t smile.
“You going to take the job?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “They want me to start this fall, but I have to decide by the end of the week.”
“Does it feel the way you thought it would?”
Her full lips formed a straight line as she stared down at the ground. “It feels amazing and horrible all at the same time.”
“And why might that be?”
“Because I want this job. I want this promotion.” She lifted her gaze to meet mine. “And I want you too.”
My heart beat in my chest as a wave of relief washed over me. “God, Dakota, you scared the hell out of me. If this is our biggest problem, then we’ve got nothing to worry about. We’ll figure out a way to make this-”
“Stop.”
Apparently there was more.
“That’s not all.” Her eyes fell to the side as she swallowed and sucked in a long breath. “I have to tell you something, and it might change the way you look at me.”
“All right.” I braced myself, studying the way she worried her bottom lip. “I’m ready.”
“Ten years ago, I gave birth to a little girl. Our little girl.”
“Dakota, I know.”
Chapter Thirty-One
5 years ago
Five long years on the road made coming home sweeter than ever and yet bittersweet all at the same time.
“Mama, meet Daisy,” I said as I brought home my newest catch.
Daisy popped a big old smile on her face and leaned in to give Mama a hug, and for the first time ever, Mama smiled at this new stranger who’d walked into her house like she owned the place.
“Glad to have you, Daisy,” Mama said. “Won’t you come on into the kitchen for some iced tea?”
“You’re too kind, Mrs. Mason,” Daisy said, turning to flash me a wink as she followed my mother into the next room. Daisy was butterflies and meadows, rainbows and puppies. She didn’t much care what other people thought of her, and she had a perpetual smile across her face most days.
I popped my head into the kitchen. “I’m going to run into town and pick up a few things at the co-op for Dad. I’ll be back soon.”
“Go on ahead, baby,” Daisy called out before turning back toward Mama and rambling on about something funny she claimed I did the day before.
I hopped into one of Daddy’s trucks and headed into town, stopping at the gas station for fuel on my way back home. Leaning against the truck as the gas click-click-clicked into my thirsty pick-up, I spotted a man with white blond hair walking out of the gas station doors holding the hand of a dark-haired little girl of maybe four or five.
“Sam,” I called out.
He turned my way, his face turning a shade lighter than it already was before he offered a nod. He hoisted the little girl up into the backseat of his silver Volvo and walked over to me.
“How’s it going?” he said, squinting and smiling.
“Good,” I said, peering over his shoulder and into the car. “You and Rebecca have a little one?”
Sam dug his boot into the gravel, his eyes drawing slowly up the length of me until we locked gazes. His hands found their way into the pockets of his pressed khakis as he licked his thin lips.
I didn’t know Sam that well, but I knew what a man with secrets looked like, and Sam had that look oozing from his every pore.
The gas nozzle clicked off with a metallic thud.
“Need to get something off your chest, Sam?” I asked, eyeing the little girl once again. Through the tint of the front windshield, I could hardly see her face, but those round blue eyes were unmistakable. Not to mention Rebecca was a redhead. For her and Sam to produce such a striking little beauty would’ve been a genetic miracle.
He pulled his lanky shoulders back and lifted his head. “Look, Beau. First off, I just wanted to say I had no idea. I thought you knew. I thought you were on board.”
“With…?”
“The adoption.”
His words slammed into me, nearly knocking me off my feet.
“That’s...my daughter?” I stared back toward the car, looking at the oblivious little darling who was equal parts me and Dakota. It was as if someone had taken a cleaver and whacked a big chunk out of my heart. My hand combed the underside of my chin letting my whiskers scratch against the softness of my palm as I wrapped my head around it all.
My blood began to boil as anger settled beneath the surface of my skin. With each sharp breath that passed my lips I grew more furious with the situation, but mostly with myself.
“She’s very loved and she’s very well cared for, Beau,” Sam said, his voice trembling as if he thought I’d whisk her away. I had every right to, but I wasn’t that kind of man. “She’s bright and sweet and kind. She has a good life with Rebecca and me.”
I combed my fingers through the side of my head, tugging on the ends of my hair as if I could possibly inflict enough physical pain to numb the emotional pain that was coursing through my body like a raging river.
“She never told me,” I said, my voice winding down into nothing more than a whisper. I’d recalled being drunkenly told by my “handlers” that some girl from back home was trying to call me, but it was only a few times early on. I’d always figured she was just trying to rekindle our relationship, and I was in no position to be dating anyone on the road. All those times I’d ignored her, I thought I was doing both of us a favor. “I didn’t know, Sam. I swear I didn’t know.”