“You know, I’m not so sure about that.”
I stared at her curiously. We had kind of skirted the issue of me being shot and having disappeared for a week afterward. I knew it still bothered her, but I thought it was more that she worried about me.
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying that you’re too reckless. I understand that you were under attack, but you hound me about safety every chance you get, yet you don’t seem to actually care about yourself. It’s not just you and me anymore. We have a daughter and I need to know that you’ll be more careful, that you’ll make sure you’re around to see her grow up.”
“You know I can’t promise that. Why is this an issue all the sudden? You knew what kind of job I had and now it’s a problem?”
“You had never been hurt like that before,” she said quietly. “The problem is, when we were first together, I always worried about you not being able to commit. Now you have, but I’m not sure that you’re committed to us more than your job. Is it always going to come first?”
“What do you want me to say, Lucy? Do you want me to leave my team? Am I supposed to say that I can’t go on a job because Rylee’s not sleeping well?”
She rolled her eyes at me, groaning in frustration. “This is the problem. You’re not even trying to see it from my point of view. I’m not asking you to give up your job or skip out on a job, but I want to know that Rylee and I still count.”
“Of course you do.”
“Really? So, after Rylee was born and you kept running off to help all the guys because you had to get Reed Security up and started again, that wasn’t an attempt for you to run off and pretend that you didn’t have responsibilities at home?”
“This is ridiculous,” I huffed. “It’s like you want me to choose sides or something. If I don’t go to work, I don’t collect a paycheck. Besides, we invested in the company. I’m part owner now. I need to be there as much as everyone else.”
“Even when that means staying almost every night until we’re both in bed? Hunter, I barely see you anymore.”
“That’s not true. I see you every morning and last Sunday, we spent the whole day together.”
“That was two Sundays ago. You don’t even realize how long you’re gone. And now, you want to take over planning the party and-”
“Wait, I thought you would be happy about that.”
“Because you’re planning a party for someone else’s kid? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that you want to help, but you’re only doing this because you know what you can do to make this a guys’ party. There’ll probably be bombs and all kinds of stuff that’s all Reed Security. It’ll be fun for you and that’s why you want to do it.”
“Geez, I’m sorry I want to have fun. It’s not like I have fun around here anymore. All you do is bitch at me.”
I should have known better. I mean, one thing I try to never do is bring up the fact that she’s a nag. But it’s not just her. All women nag. It’s just not something any wise man ever draws attention to. Apparently, I was not a wise man, and had I actually been spending time around her, I would have remembered that. But she was right, I had been staying away from the house because I had wanted to avoid having to do the shitty things that come with having a new baby.
“You can take Rylee with you today,” she said after a minute of burning holes in my body with her eyes. “I’m going to have a girls’ day since you’ve taken over planning the party. Maybe having a kid with you will help you with ideas. Hell, maybe it’ll even give you a small taste of what I go through every day.”
She turned and walked away and I looked down at my daughter. “Well, I guess it’s just you and me today.”
“Oh, and Hunter?” I looked up at Lucy peeking around the corner. “She’s got diarrhea today.”
Phoenix Rising Page 6