Passion: A Single Dad Small Town Romance

by Bella Winters

  “What?” She looked at me, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “I’m sorry, chipmunk,” I whispered.

  “Why?” she asked her lower lip quivering. “Why would you do that?”

  “It’s hard to explain right now,” I replied.

  “Try.”

  “Kelly.”

  “No!” she yelled. “You can’t do that! You can’t just tell me I can’t see her again without an explanation. I deserve an explanation!”

  “Sweetie, I don’t have one,” I said. “Not one that will make sense to you.”

  Kelly shook her head at me and covered her face with her hands. “You do that all the time.”

  “Do what?”

  “Think that you’re protecting me by not telling me things, and all that really happens is I get hurt.”

  “Sweetie, what are you talking about?”

  “Like when you got shot,” she said. “You acted like it was nothing, like you weren’t hurting. But I knew you were.”

  I sighed, feeling like she was confusing two completely different things together. “Kelly, of course you knew I was hurting. You helped me through it.”

  She shook her head. “That’s not what I meant,” she said. “I meant even before that. You always came home and told me these crazy stories about your day. You made it sound like you were just doing your job, but I understood what you were telling me. I understood the risks you were taking.”

  “Understood what exactly?”

  “That you want to die,” she sobbed.

  I froze, staring at her in shock as her tears rolled down her face. She looked at me, meeting my gaze, challenging me to deny it. And the funny thing was, I couldn’t.

  “I don’t remember mom, but you do,” she said. “And you carry her with you all the time. I hear you talk to yourself sometimes and say her name. I know you haven’t gotten over her death, and that every risk you take at work is like you’re hoping you’ll get shot or something.”

  Her words cut through me like a knife, and my heart suddenly began to ache. How someone so young could analyze me in a way I never could scared me a little. But she was right. Deep down I knew she was right. I hadn’t let go of Janice. To this day, I thought about her constantly, wishing I could turn back time, find some way to stop the cancer before it metastasized and stole her from us.

  “And you know when you finally stopped?”

  I looked at her and shook my head slowly.

  “When you met Jenni,” she said. “For the first time in my life, I actually felt like you were happy, dad. Really happy, and that made me happy. And now you don’t want us to see her again, and we’re going to go back to Miami, and you’re going to keep doing the things you do. And then, one day, Raul is going to come to me and tell me that you’re dead. Really dead this time. And then what am I supposed to do?”

  I felt my own tears well up, and I quickly wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. "I’m so sorry,” I whispered, my voice cracking as I hugged her close. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”

  Kelly cried in my arms, her face buried in my chest. “Please don’t leave me, daddy,” she stammered. “Please don’t leave me.”

  Tears rolled down my face as we rocked together by the edge of the pond, holding each other as I promised her over and over again that I wouldn’t.

  Chapter 21: Jenni

  I finally stopped crying when I was a few minutes away from my apartment complex, my eyes sore, my body shaking. I felt like I had dried up, like there were no more tears left to shed, and as I pulled into my regular parking space, my breaths came in staccatos that made my head spin.

  Alex’s words still rang in my ears, and it had taken me over an hour to bring myself to pack up and leave. I couldn’t fathom the thought of not seeing him again, of not seeing Kelly, and the world around me seemed to have cracked and broken into a million pieces that would never be brought back together again.

  This was all my fault. If only I had been honest with him from the start. If only I had told him everything, had let him in on the secrets and the past I was not proud of. Maybe I would still be back at the house, cooking dinner and laughing with them. Kelly wouldn’t have driven away, Alex wouldn’t have kicked me out, and I would have gone to sleep knowing that I was welcome in their home.

  That was all gone now. I mentally chastised myself for thinking I was being smart, that I was somehow protecting them. It was true what they said about the path to hell being paved with good intentions, and I had definitely paved my way to my own personal hell. And I would burn here, alone, thinking of what could have been and what I had been stupid enough to throw away.

  I looked out at my apartment complex and felt like a stranger here. It had only been a couple of days, but I had already gotten used to the house, to waking up next to Alex, to talking to Kelly on the rare occasions she could pull herself away from her phone. Now I was back, and although I hadn’t really moved out, it still felt like I was returning to an empty shell.

  At least you still have Casper.

  That thought alone made me gasp. Kelly had fallen in love with him, and I had been looking forward to having him settle in with me at the house. At least he wouldn’t have been surrounded by the misery I was bringing back home with me.

  I climbed out of the car and closed the door, trudging to the trunk and taking my small gym bag out. I leaned against the car, closed my eyes, and tried to stop my head from spinning. The image of Alex yelling at me played across my closed lids and sent shivers up and down my body. I didn’t even get a chance to explain myself to him.

  I opened my eyes, took a deep breath, and made my way towards the complex. Fishing for the keys in my purse, I didn’t notice Heath until I walked right into him.

  “Woah, hey,” he said, holding me steady as I fell back and swayed on my feet. “You okay there, Jenni?”

  I really didn’t want to deal with this now, and was too exhausted to play nice. I didn’t reply and pushed past him, making for the door.

  He grabbed my arm and stopped me. “Knock, knock.”

  “What do you want, Heath?” I asked, sighing in frustration, begging to be left alone so I could fall into bed and sleep for the next few days.

  “I want to make sure you’re alright, for starters,” he said.

  “I’m fine, okay?” I pulled out of his grasp and turned away. “I’m just exhausted and don’t feel like talking right now.”

  He grabbed me again, and I fought the urge to scream at him and claw at his face. “That’s a shame, because I was really looking forward to spending some time with you.”

  “Really, Heath?” My voice rose in anger. “Now? Of all times, you choose now to annoy me the most?”

  “Feisty, aren’t we?” heath chuckled.

  “Let go of me and fuck off, alright,” I said. “Go hang out with Garth or something. DO whatever it is you guys do to pass the time.”

  “Funny you mention Garth,” Heath said. “He actually asked me to pick you up. He wants to see you.”

  “Tell him I don’t want to see him,” I replied.

  Heath stopped my retreat, and when I tried to pull away, his grip tightened. “It wasn’t a request,” he said, his voice dropping dangerously.

  I looked him in the eye and pulled my lips back in a snarl. “Let go of me, or I’ll make sure that hand isn’t good for anything other than wiping your ass.”

  “You know, you always had a lip that would get you in trouble,” Heath replied. “Just come with me, and I’ll make sure I don’t cut it when I slap you to your senses.”

  “Lay a hand on me and I’ll make sure it’s the last time you walk straight.”

  I heard the slap before I felt it, and my cheek stung with the heat of its force. I dropped my bag and lunged for him, aiming for his eyes, but he quickly grabbed my wrists and twisted my arms around my back.

  “Garth said to bring you to him,” Heath hissed in my ear. “He never said how.”

  I threw
my head back, slamming against his face, and he immediately let go of me and staggered back. I turned to run back to my car, but he was quick to recover. He grabbed me by the shoulder, whirled me around and punched me hard in the face. I fell to the ground in a heap, the world around me spinning out of control, and blacked out.

  Chapter 22: Alex

  Jenni’s car was gone by the time we got home, and I could immediately see the look of disappointment on Kelly’s face. She looked at me, and I tried my best to smile.

  “I’ll call her in the morning, I promise,” I said.

  “You can call her now,” Kelly protested.

  “One night, Kelly,” I sighed. “Give me at least that.”

  Kelly looked at me for a few more seconds before she nodded and climbed out of the car. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder as we made our way up the stairs and I pulled out my keys.

  “What are you going to do about the truck?” Kelly asked.

  “It’s safe where it is,” I said. “I’ll figure the rest out in the morning.”

  “Maybe Jenni can drive it back.”

  I chuckled and pressed her close. “Maybe.”

  I opened the front door just as the telephone in the hallway began to ring. Kelly raced forward and answered it, and I knew deep down that she was hoping it would be Jenni.

  “Hello?”

  I watched her with a smile, hanging my coat by the door and stretching, feeling the day finally taking its toll on me. I would sleep like a log tonight, as long as I could keep my head clear and stopped my mind from conjuring up images of Jenni.

  Kelly frowned, looked at me and handed me the receiver. “It’s for you.”

  I frowned, suddenly worried that it might be the hospital calling to give me some bad news about Samuel. I took the phone from Kelly and braced myself.

  “Hello?”

  “Alex, buddy, hey!”

  I clenched the receiver tight, my hand hurting with the effort. Heath’s voice on the other end immediately made my blood boil.

  “You son of a bitch!” I hissed.

  “Hey man, is that any way to greet a friend?” Heath laughed. “Oh, right, yeah, your dad. Listen, sorry about that, but let’s be real. The old man had it coming.”

  “When I get my hands on you,” I threatened, “I’ll make sure I break your bones one by one, slowly.”

  “Yeah, yeah, okay, so you’re still pissed, that’s understandable,” Heath said. “But listen, that’s not why I was calling, although the whole threat to my life thing is kinda amusing.”

  “What do you want, Heath?”

  “I have a message for you, from Garth,” Heath said. “He says to meet him in Little Harlow in an hour, house twenty-three. Just tell the security at the gate who you are, he’ll leave word that you’re coming.”

  “And why would I want to do that?”

  “Because if you don’t, you won’t see Jenni ever again.”

  My heart jumped into my throat, and a cold rushed through me. “What?”

  “Oh, didn’t I mention? Damn, sorry, should’ve led with that. Yeah, well, we have your girl, and if you want to see her again, you’ll do what Garth tells you to do.”

  “What have you done with her, you bastard!”

  “Nothing, man, calm down,” Heath said. “Well, no, that’s a lie. I slapped her around a bit. But hey, she hit me first.” Heath laughed, and my blood boiled. “Sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it?”

  “I’m going to kill you!”

  “See, there you go with the threats again,” Heath chuckled. “Really amusing, buddy, gotta hand it to you. Real comedian. Anyway, one hour, house twenty-three. Got that?”

  I slammed the phone down, making Kelly jump.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, eyes wide as she watched the rage dance across my face.

  “Wait here,” I said.

  I raced down the hallway to my father’s room and opened his closet, reaching into the back of the top shelf where I knew he kept his rifle. I grabbed it and a box of ammunition, and quickly began loading it. Kelly stood shaking in the doorway.

  “Dad?”

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart,” I said. “I’m just going to go have a chat with the man who bat your grandfather.”

  “Dad, you’re not a cop here,” she said. “Can’t you get in trouble with that?”

  “Don’t worry, I don’t intend to use it,” I lied. “It’s just to scare them a little.”

  “Them? You said you were going to meet one person. Who’s them?”

  “He may have a few friends with him.”

  Kelly came up to me and put a hand on my arm. “You’re scaring me.”

  I reached down and hugged her, kissing the top of her head. “I’m going to be okay, I promise. No death wish here.”

  “That gun sure makes it seem otherwise,” Kelly protested.

  “Like I said, it’s just to scare them,” I assured her, hoping I sounded convincing enough to calm her down. “Now, come one, we have to go.”

  I pushed her down the hall and towards the front door, already picturing myself blowing the top of Heaths head off with the rifle.

  “Where am I supposed to go?” Kelly asked.

  “I’m going to take you to the hospital,” I replied, pulling on my coat. “You stay with your grandfather until I come back to pick you up.”

  “Will they let me stay with him?” Kelly asked, clearly flustered. “Won’t they say refuse, you know, visiting hours and all that?”

  “Don’t worry, your dad’s very convincing,” I replied, urging her out of the house and closing the door behind us. “Besides, your grandfather’s a hero now. They’ll make an exception.”

  “I don’t like this,” Kelly protested as we made our way down the steps and to the car. I waved at her to hurry up and get in, and quickly started the car, shifting into reverse. “Dad, seriously, I don’t.”

  “You’re going to have to trust me, chipmunk,” I said.

  “You usually say that when you’re going to do something stupid,” she said. I could see the tears well up in her eyes again. “I thought you said you weren’t going to do that anymore. You promised me.”

  I stopped the car, shifted it into neutral and held Kelly with both hands. “Listen,” I said. “You want me to be honest with you, right?”

  Kelly nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek.

  “Some really bad people have Jenni, and I need to go make sure she’s okay,” I explained. “Do you understand that?”

  She nodded. “But why don’t you call the police.”

  I hesitated, hating to wreck the perfect image of the law that I had worked so hard to make her believe in. There were some things about her being a child that I wanted her to hang onto for as long as possible, even if she knew what happened to little girls who were left alone by the side of the road. “Because the police aren’t going to do anything this time.”

  “What?” she asked, frowning in confusion. “Why?”

  “When I get back, I’ll tell you all about it,” I assured her. “Now, can we go?”

  She nodded.

  I shifted the car into drive and pressed down on the gas, hoping that when I finally got to Little Harlow, I would have calmed down enough to not just shoot everyone and kill them all.

  Chapter 23: Jenni

  The restraints cut into my wrists as I wrestled against them, twisting and turning my hands around in hope that somehow, they would just magically break loose. The more I struggled, though, the more the skin burned, and I had to stop my efforts while fighting back tears that were being brought on by the pain.

  The single lamp that lit the living room cast shadows across the walls and left an eerie glow against the walls. From my position on the couch, I could barely see past the door into the hallway where Heath was humming a tune to himself while fiddling around with the drawers. I had no idea what he could be looking for, but his attitude made one thing clear.

  He was bored.

  Use that. Fin
d a way out.

  I had no idea how, though. I knew that Alex would show up pretty soon, and I cranked my head as I tried to look out the window at the abandoned house across the street. I had no idea what Garth had in store for him, but it couldn’t be good. Garth was losing it, bit by bit, believing he was untouchable to the point where he probably thought that he could kill a man and not face the consequences of that. He wasn’t delusional, though, just given false security by a Sheriff who was as competent as a fish out of water.

  To me, that meant he was reckless, and I doubted Alex knew just how much. There was no telling what would happen when the two of them collided. All I knew was one of them was not going to make it out of this alive, and right now, Garth had home advantage.

  You have to warn him.

  The question was how.

  Heath began to whistle joyfully as he strolled back into the living room, holding what looked like a journal in his hands. He was flipping through the pages, eyes wide, his pitch going higher as he scanned the journal’s contacts.

  “Hey, Jenni, you know what this is?” he asked, waving the journal at me.

  I didn’t answer.

  “You remember how Garth said he could remember every single contact he had, just pull out their numbers from some kind of super storage in his head?” Heath smacked the journal and smiled. “Well, that was a load of crap.”

  You don’t say? There was a lot of that oozing out of Garth, that this didn’t seem like much of a surprise.

  Heath opened the journal again. “Every single name and number, in alphabetical order, and Garth didn’t even code the damn thing.” He looked up at me and smiled. “You know, I could take this and make it on my own without him, if I didn’t love the guy so much. Pretty stupid to leave it lying around where anyone could find it.”

  “You seemed to be looking real hard for that,” I commented.

  Heath laughed and plopped down on the couch. “Gotta watch my boy’s back, you know?” He continued scanning the journal. “I mean, we got a bunch of guys coming and going through here, some that can’t be trusted. This isn’t something you’d want them to get their hands on. There’s no telling what they could do with it.”