Chapter Text
“Of course. I said we could Daisy. I don’t say anything I don’t mean.”
Well only Carol and Nat will be there at nine. Roy’s picking up Miles and getting there after nine he said and Sara said she has to finish her chores first and she’d try to make it as soon as possible. And Trip can’t come till after his basketball practice.
“Okay so get a bunch of stuff and they can choose. Anything left, I’m sure Hunter will be more than willing to have. Hurry we are almost at the window. Oh and Phil will have his Keurig there as well as all kinds of cold drinks.”
“Okay. Get a couple hotcakes platters, and some egg mcmuffins and hash browns and maybe a couple bagel sandwiches. Can I have one of those big breakfast platters? And a caramel macchiato?”
Melinda nodded as she pulled up to the intercom to order. “Yeah, can I have two big breakfast platters, four hotcake and sausage platters, um – six egg mcmuffins, and four bacon and egg bagels and twelve hash browns. Oh and add two sausage and egg mcmuffins.”
She waited till they repeated it back. “Yep. That’s correct. Oh and get um – you think Nat and Carol would want the macchiatos too?”
Daisy just looked at her.
“Yeah so get three cold caramel macchiatos and a plain hot tea.” She smiled at Daisy and then answered the question from the speaker. “Large.”
The voice told her the total and to pull up at the next window.
“That’s a lot of food Melinda.”
“Well I need to eat. Your friends do too, and some of the adults.
“That’s a lot of money too.”
Melinda pulled up at the next window and paid and then pulled forward. The order was ready quickly, and after piling all the bags and drinks into her car, Melinda pulled away and got on the road. She drove ten minutes to the small housing development and pulled into the driveway of the new house. Phil and Bobbi’s cars were already here and so was a car she didn’t recognize.
They both carried the drinks and bags of food into the house heading to the kitchen. Bobbi was already there drinking a cup of coffee. She smiled at them and her smile grew larger as she noticed the bags in their hands.
Melinda nodded at her. “We have plenty for everyone. Except those cold coffee drinks are only for Daisy and her friends and the large breakfast platters are for me and Daisy.
“Oh I wouldn’t mind an egg mcmuffin.”
Melinda set the bags on the table and tossed her one. Then she got out her and Daisy’s platters and brought them to the table as Daisy set down the carrier of drinks.
Bobbi grinned at her. “Macchiatos huh?”
“Yeah. Caramel.” Daisy took a set of plastic utensils from Melinda as she sipped on her drink. She sighed in contentment. Then she dug into her breakfast eating with gusto. Melinda ate the eggs and biscuit, the hash brown and one pancake while sipping on her tea.
“Oh hey Melinda. Phil bought a bunch of teas for the Keurig if you want one later. Oh and thanks for breakfast. Phil picked up Hunter at six and they stopped for breakfast and I kinda overslept and didn’t eat anything. Was just going to have a granola bar. So I appreciate this. Oh and what happened to you.” She pointed to her cheek under her eye.
“Just a little accident. No big deal.”
“There’s hash browns too Bobbi. A lot of them.” Daisy passed her the bag after taking an extra one, since the platter already had one with it. She glanced at Melinda with a sad face.
Melinda slid the other two pancakes and sausage onto Daisy’s platter. Then she patted her arm. Just then, Phil came in the kitchen followed by Carol and Nat.
Daisy grinned, first at Phil and then at her two new friends. “We have food.”
Nat grinned back and sat down next to Daisy. Daisy passed her a drink and then motioned to Carol to sit too. They were at a long portable folding table with folding chairs all around it.
“We have hotcakes and sausage, egg mcmuffins, sausage mcmuffins, egg and bacon bagels, and lots of hash browns.” Daisy passed the other macchiato to Carol. And caramel macchiatos. Oh and this is Melinda and that’s Bobbi, and you already know Phil.” Daisy looked at Melinda. “That’s Nat and Carol.”
‘Hi’s’ were said all around and the girls picked their food choice and sat eating and drinking with Daisy.
Melinda excused herself to leave the kitchen with Phil. Bobbi stayed and listened with interest to the girl’s banter about classes and teachers. She also helped herself to another sandwich and a hash brown.
“You ate didn’t you Phil?”
“Yeah. Hunter and I stopped at that little diner we stopped at last time we were here. Good of you to bring breakfast for the kids though.”
“No problem. So are the rooms set up?”
“Pretty much. Hunter and Mack and Elena are finishing up taping downstairs. I’m forever grateful Bobbi asked Mack to help. He hardly needs a ladder. Um what happened to you?” He stared at the bruise on her cheek.”
“It’s fine Phil.”
“Hey is Daisy okay? You know I know something happened at the furniture store last night.”
“It did.” The doorbell rang. “I’ll talk to you later. When we won’t be disturbed. Okay?”
He nodded. “Okay. He walked over to the door and opened it. “Dr. Simmons. And uh-um...”
Melinda helped him out. “Fitz. Jemma. So glad to see you both. Come on in. You have breakfast?”
“Yeah. I had toast and jam. Jem had a bagel.”
“Well there’s fast food breakfast in the kitchen if you want to help yourself.”
Fitz grinned.
“I have a couple containers on the counter of blueberry and raspberry muffins too. And there are plenty of granola bars and pop tarts there as well. Help yourself to coffee or tea or a cold drink.” Phil added.
Fitz’s grin grew larger. Jemma smiled at them both. “Thank you.”
Phil was about to close the door when two more people appeared. “Roy. Miles. How are you?”
“Good Mr. C. Did I hear you say there was food in the kitchen?”
“I did Roy. This is Melinda May.”
Roy stuck out his hand. “Ma’am. Daisy talks a lot about you. I’m Roy Harper.”
She took his hand and smiled. “Good to meet you Roy.” She turned to the other boy.
“Miles Morales. We all sit together at lunch.” He also offered her his hand.
“So I’ve heard. Go on into the kitchen. If the food’s cold, Phil has a microwave set up.”
“Thanks.” The boys moved by them toward the kitchen as pointed out by Phil.
He turned to Melinda. “So maybe when we break for lunch, we can have that talk?”
“Sure Phil.”
Everyone had been painting for a couple hours. Phil and Hunter were in charge of pouring paint and cleaning rollers and brushes if needed. Daisy was painting her own bedroom with Nat, and Melinda. Next door painting the spare room were Roy, Miles, with Jane and Don Foster. In the main bathroom were Sara and Carol with Bobbi. Out in the living room Jemma and Fitz were joined by Mack and Elena. Phil wanted all those rooms done with the first coat before lunch. He figured lunch would be around one o’clock. They were just doing the walls as they had decided all the ceilings would be white and would be done after the walls. They had managed to borrow five step ladders, and Mack had brought two larger ladders he’d borrowed from a friend who worked construction.
After they finished the rooms they were in currently, Melinda’s crew was going to go to her room with Bobbi and her crew joining them to work on Melinda’s bedroom and bathroom. The crew in the spare room was going to move to the basement and start with the bedroom. Mack’s crew would continue into the hall and the dining room and then the kitchen. After Melinda’s bedroom was finished the kids, along with Bobbi and Melinda were going to head down to the basement and do the large basement room.
Phil stuck his head into Daisy’s room. “You guys okay? Need anything yet?”
Melinda nodded. “More paint in the tray Phil.” She was on the step ladder and painting the top of a wall while Daisy and Nat were across from her.
He obliged and then opened another can of paint while he was there. “Coming along nicely. You guys are nearly done.”
“Yup. You need to start figuring out how many pizzas to order. And what kinds.”
“Oh. I was just going to get plain cheese and pepperoni.”
She gave him a dirty look. “Really Phil. I want Hawaiian. Daisy wants the cheeseburger special pizza. Nat wants bacon and extra cheese. You know Bobbi likes that chicken barbeque one. Roy and Miles were here for a little while and they both said they like loaded meat pizza. And you know Hunter will eat a whole pepperoni pizza himself.”
He smiled at her. She looked adorable in her hat and coveralls with a splotch of paint on her nose and more smeared on her forehead. “Yes dear.”
“And don’t patronize me Phillip Jacob. Just get what everyone wants. I want Hawaiian pizza. Write it down.”
Daisy giggled. Nat moved closer to Daisy and leaned down to her. “You sure they aren’t married?”
Phil turned to leave but stopped as Melinda spoke again. “And don’t forget the extras. Bread sticks, garlic knots, and garlic bread.”
“As you wish.” Phil answered as he winked at Daisy. Her grin grew larger.
Everyone was eating lunch. The adults were sitting at the tables and the kids were sitting on the floor leaning against cabinets and walls. Daisy was sitting between Carol and Nat and was on her third piece of cheeseburger pizza. She also had already eaten a breadstick, a piece of garlic bread and two garlic knots.
Roy, who was sitting across from them, spoke to Daisy. “So you’re doing second coats of the place tomorrow right?”
“Yeah. I think that and the ceilings. They wanted them white cause they said it’s brighter and makes the rooms appear bigger.”
“I thought Mr. C said they were going to do the ceilings today too?” Miles added.
“Yeah but Phil doesn’t think they will get them all done. He said something about putting Mack and Hunter on bedroom ceilings today, after we finish the whole first floor.”
“So you’ll need help tomorrow too then?” Roy questioned.
“I guess. But I didn’t expect you guy to give up your whole weekend to paint our house.”
“But we can come tomorrow if we want, right?”
“Sure. You really want to?”
“This is fun. And all the food.” He waved his fourth piece of pizza at her. “Count me in.”
“Yeah me too.” Miles smiled at her.
“Us too, right guys.” Nat spoke up.
“Yup,” Sara replied. “It’s fun. And everyone here is really nice.”
Carol nodded. “Yeah I’ll be here. I still want to ask your mom about the Academy.”
“Oh yeah. You’ll be joining us over in her bedroom after lunch. You can talk to her then.”
“You think she’ll be okay with that?”
“Of course. She’s like really chill.”
At that moment Melinda appeared and bent down to speak to Daisy. “Who’s chill?”
“You are. Didja need something.”
“No. I just wanted to say maybe you want to show your friends the treehouse out back before we get started again.”
Daisy smiled. “Yeah I would. Come on you guys.” She got up and the others followed her. Melinda watched them smiling. She stood up and Phil appeared at her elbow.
“You want to find somewhere to talk?”
“My room.” She led him out of the kitchen.
She closed the door behind her as she followed Phil into the room.
He turned to her and traced hi finger over her bruised cheek. “You want to tell me what happened? Gonna assume the other guy looks worse.”
“The other guy was Daisy.”
The shocked look on his face made her almost laugh. “It was an accident. She was mostly still asleep. She was having a violent nightmare and stupid me stayed too close. She feels all kinds of bad about it so don’t bring it up to her, okay?”
Melinda walked to the wall by the window and sat down leaning into the wall. Phil joined her and waited for her to say more.
“Last night at the store, she almost had another breakdown. Her abandonment issues are still very much alive, and they pop out randomly. Or when she feels threatened or the past rears it’s ugly head. She allows herself to get close, freezes up cause of the fear of losing this, losing me, losing us. So she falls back on her old ways of being not demanding and agreeing with those who hold power over her.”
“But she knows we love her. Right? I mean yeah, we have to have some authority, but we do it with love and compassion. Surely she sees that?”
“It’s more than that Phil. She thinks she’s not worthy. That if she messes up too bad that we will just throw her away. That our letting her stay with us is conditional on how she behaves. Which means that it happened to her a lot before. That as long as she meets the criteria, she is allowed to stay. It’s heartbreaking. She has unintentionally built this wall around her to avoid getting hurt. On the surface she seems accepting and confident in allowing people in. But deeper she is just covering over her fear and distrust. So she walks forward one step and then takes two back.”
“But you and Daisy have connected so well. Almost like it was effortless. She does trust you.”
“She does. Up here.” Melinda tapped her own head. “But her psyche, her heart, is too afraid of being broken so she protects it. Phil don’t be fooled. Our daughter has been very damaged. She was hit and severely injured by at least one foster caregiver, probably many. She’s been verbally abused by many other adults who were supposed to be taking care of her. She was sexually abused, and we have no clue as to when or how much. How she sees her self-worth is marred by all those things. She’s had to steal and lie and do any other number of questionable things to survive. This path with her we are now on will not be easy. Not for us and not for her. Add to that teenage hormones and a rebellious streak that she has, and it will not be an easy road. Some of the bumps will be small and some will be mountainous.”
“But we’ll never give up on her.”
She smiled. “Never.”
“Why did we give up on each other Mel?”
“You really want to do this now?”
“When if not now? I go over and over it in my mind. I lay in bed going through everything, and how I could have done things differently. I missed you so much that first year after I transferred out. After the divorce was finalized.”
“We just couldn’t help each other Phil.”
“We should have tried harder.”
“It was easier to leave. It’s always easier to leave.”
“And here we are. What made us unable to stay together has now brought us back together.”
“Well yeah. Technically. But we’re not together Phil.”
“We are when it comes to Daisy. That means something.”
“Yes. It means we can act like the responsible adults we are. Phil I...”
“I missed you. All these years. No one else has ever made me feel...”
“Phil. Don’t. Let’s go grab the troops and get started again. We want to get this painting done.” She got up and walked out the door.
Phil watched as she closed herself off, putting up the same walls he was unable to penetrate all those years ago. He watched her leave the room and sadness engulfed him, just like it did every time he thought about how he made the biggest mistake of his life when he walked away from her and allowed her to walk away from him without a fight.
Daisy sat on the stool at Melinda’s eating a bowl of cereal. It was almost midnight and she realized she was hungry after she got out of the shower. She had put on pajamas and grabbed a bowl of frosted flakes while Melinda jumped in the shower mostly to get the paint off her. She shoved the last spoonful in her mouth as Melinda stepped out of her bedroom also wearing pajamas. Hers were Star Wars pajamas. Daisy grinned at her.
“You hungry again?”
“Yeah. Just a little snack before bed.”
Melinda opened the fridge and grabbed two waters. She gave one to Daisy. “Stay hydrated.” She downed half the bottle. “I’m beat. I’m going to bed. Another long day of painting tomorrow. You coming too?”
“Yeah.” Daisy jumped off the stool and put her now empty bowl and spoon in the sink. She followed Melinda into the room, sipping on her water. “So Tai Chi tomorrow? I missed it today.”
“Sure. I’ll make sure we’re up by eight. We’ll do Tai Chi and head to the house and pick up breakfast again.”
“Sounds good.” Daisy moved around Melinda to open the trundle bed.
“You know the bed’s pretty large Daisy. Last night you sleep soundly in it after you drifted off. We could both use a good night’s sleep. If you want.”
Daisy gazed at Melinda. Melinda could see her trepidation and anxiety fighting with her need for security. Her face finally relaxed, and she nodded. “Okay.” Daisy set her water bottle down on the nightstand and climbed in the queen bed and pulled the covers up over herself. Melinda set her bottle down too, turned off the light and climbed in the other side. Both lay awake for a while trying to be still, both a bit unsure, until Daisy shifted and moved closer to Melinda snuggling into her side and wrapping her arm around Melinda’s middle. She felt Melinda’s arm come around her shoulder and she sighed contently. Both fell asleep a few minutes later.
It was a little after one o’clock and Daisy and her friends were out back in the treehouse. They were waiting for Hunter and Bobbi to come back with burgers and fries from Five Guys. There were a few less people painting today, Trip who had shown the previous day after lunch, was with his family today like he was every Sunday, Jane and Don had friends visiting for the day, and Elena was working. Fortunately, the second coat was easier to apply, and they had already finished all the bedrooms and two bathrooms, the downstairs bedroom and bathroom, and the hallway. Mack and Hunter along with Roy and Miles were going to do the ceilings in the bedrooms after the walls dried and everyone else was going to work on the living room, dining room and Kitchen. Izzy and Victoria were going to arrive by two o’clock to help.
Melinda watched the kids goofing around in the treehouse and backyard on the tire swing and grinned. She’d gotten to know some of Daisy’s new friends a little yesterday and found she liked them all. Carol had asked a lot of questions about the Air Force Academy and seemed to be enamored with her. Daisy must have told her a lot about her. She smiled. That was heartwarming to know her kid talked about her to others. She watched as Daisy climbed down the treehouse and ran over to the swing. After Skye had been born, Melinda had known from day one that she’d been wrapped around her daughter’s little finger. She’d known she was going to be the soft one, the lenient mom who spoiled her kid rotten.
This morning she’d woken up with Daisy safely and snuggly in her arms and had one of the best nights of sleep in a long time without the inducement of alcohol. In fact, Melinda realized with surprise that in the last weeks since Daisy had found them, she had consumed very little alcohol. She felt better too, not sluggish, and her focus was better since she’d been teaching Tai Chi to Daisy.
She felt Phil’s presence before he made his way over to her. He looked out the window as well standing next to her. “She looks so happy.”
“She does. She picked a good bunch of kids to be friends with.”
“Actually I think they picked her. Well Nat did anyway.”
“Either way, I’m glad. Carol asked a billion questions about the Air Force and the Academy. I told her I’d help her see about getting her junior pilot license. She’s on the track team and volleyball team and gets very good grades. Told her the pilot license would give her an advantage. She also asked about Martial Arts instruction. So, we’re going to check out dojos next weekend. She wanted me to help her find a good one. Maybe even sign Daisy up for some lessons if she wants.”
“I thought you were teaching her self-defense?”
“I am. I will continue to. But getting more instruction with a group won’t hurt. It’ll give her people to spar with at least.”
“Yeah, good point. Sparring with you can be pretty intimidating.”
Melinda smiled. She turned to him and asked, “We’re not going to get all the painting done. And the construction crew to lay the rugs will be here tomorrow.”
“Yeah. That’s why I want to get the whole first floor done. So we will pull everyone to do that. The basement can be finished this week. In fact, I’m taking off tomorrow to be here when the construction crew comes, so I’ll work on it tomorrow. Mack said he could come by tomorrow night with Hunter and between us he thinks we can finish it all by Tuesday night.”
“Did you hear him earlier yesterday at lunch when he apologized to Daisy for causing her panic attack at the station?”
“I did. She was surprised and at a loss for words. I don’t think very many people have ever apologized to her before.”
“Yeah. I think she was touched that he even cared. I’m glad she is seeing a different side to people, and hopefully she can begin to trust more.”
“It’s crazy isn’t it, Mel. What she’s been though and how we are not at all equipped to handle it. When she was born, we were worried about such small things. Like if the house was really childproofed enough for her level of activity. Whether we had set enough boundaries without stifling her creativity and independence. How much candy we’d let her have at Halloween and Easter.”
“How late you’d let her stay up telling her your adventure stories.”
“She loved those stories. I always made you the hero. Well me and you. She’d grin whenever you would save the day. And she walked so early. What - ten months old and she’s darting around the place. Good thing we were in shape.”
“Talking away at a mile a minute. That time we went to the zoo. Remember how much she loved it. She kept insisting we should buy her an otter.”
“Yeah. Then she pouted for days when we told her people didn’t have otters as pets. And trying to keep socks and shoes on that kid. I think she delighted in our exasperation every time she’d fling them around the house or outside, giggling like a lunatic.”
“Mama no shoobs, she’d say. Always in the car. Little houdini could take them off even strapped in her car seat. And socks. I found socks everywhere. Under the couch. Behind the fridge. Stuck in the bookcase. In the toilet.”
“About the only things she liked was those little boots Maria bought her. Remember how they looked just like yours? She’d prance around after you in her little dark jeans and black T-shirt and boots. She looked so much like you Mel when she did that.”
They both turned quickly at the sound of the gasp. Daisy was standing in the doorway listening and apparently had been for some time. Neither had noticed Daisy had looked up at them from outside and seeing them smiling at her had made her way into the house and to Melinda’s room. The door had been left open by Phil and Daisy stood there listening to the two talk. When she had realized they were talking about the little girl she used to be, she continued to eavesdrop. She found their recollection of her antics as a toddler amusing. But that last remark was a memory, at least she thought maybe it was.
Melinda walked toward Daisy, worried their reminiscing was upsetting her. Instead, Daisy’s face exploded in a grin. “Oh my god, I remember that. I remember those boots. They were black and shiny, with this little heal. And at the ankle they had a buckle thing across the top, and above that the stretchy top part went a little above my ankle.” Daisy was engulfed in her memory. “I would follow you around the – the - the porch – there was a big porch around the house – and you’d pick me up and hold me on that porch swing.” Daisy looked at her with her eyes widened. “Is that real.”
Melinda nodded. “We had a wrap-around porch and a porch swing on the front part. You used to like how the boots sounded when you walked across the wooden porch.”
Daisy stared off in the distance trying to keep the newfound memory in her head. “I remember. It’s kind of just a flash but I can clearly see those boots. And that porch with the swing. Unless it was just in some pictures and I’m just wishing.”
“No. I don’t think so. You haven’t watched any of the videos yet, have you?” Phil answered her.
Daisy shook her head. “No. I looked through your wedding album. And those pictures you gave me when we first met. And the pictures in William’s album of Melinda as a kid.”
“Then I don’t see how it could not be a memory. We’ve never mentioned those boots before. Right Mel?”
She shook her head. “I kept them.”
“You kept them?” Daisy was clearly touched. “Can I see them?”
“They’re at my parent’s house along with a few other things I kept. In a box. I haven’t thought about it for years.”
“Like what?”
Melinda gave her a sad smile. “The little hat they put on you right after you were born. A Star Wars onesie.” She grinned. “Phil bought it for you. I – other things. I haven’t looked through it since I moved out here.”
“Maybe they could bring it with them when they come back?”
Melinda nodded. “They can. We – um – we all could look though it together.”
“Yeah. I’d like that. Maybe after we move in here and things calm down, maybe we could watch those videos. Maybe.”
“Sure Daisy. When you’re ready. You let us know, okay?” Phil gave her a smile.
The three stood silently all lost in their thoughts, and not sure what more to say.
Hunter poked his head in the room. “So am I interrupting something. Cause everyone’s done eating and me and Mack were gonna paint the ceiling in here.”
Phil looked at him and shook his head. “No we’re good. You guys need to get to it then.”
“And we need to get that dining room done Daisy,” Melinda said. Daisy nodded and the three filed out of the room, passing Mack in the small hallway.
Phil was pleased with the progress they’d made over the weekend. They had managed to get the entire upstairs finished, two coats of paint on every wall and ceiling. They had also finished the bathroom downstairs including the ceiling. The wall in his downstairs bedroom had two coats of paint but the ceiling still needed to be done. The rests of the basement – the large living area only had one coat of paint on the wall and the ceiling needed to be done. The place looked fantastic and would look even better once the new rugs and flooring were put down. The contractor had given him a time frame of seven to ten days to finish all the work. That put them close to the weekend before Thanksgiving. He had asked the furniture delivery date to be that Friday before and would add the other furniture to the order this week.
He had discussed what to get for the living room and dining room with Melinda, and she had pretty much left it up to him to pick out what he thought would be best. They decided that dragging Daisy back to the furniture store was not wise right now and Melinda said she trusted his judgement. So he would be going back to the store one night this week to do just that.
Phil poured himself a glass of Haig. He was very tired, but his mind was racing with some of the revelations about Daisy revealed this weekend. He sat on his lounge chair and set the glass down, pulling a photo album onto his lap and opening it. He turned the page to the picture he was looking for. He stared at for a long time. Melinda had on her ‘uniform’, what she preferred to wear when she went on covert ops. Black boots, black jeans, a black T-shirt, and her black leather jacket. His eyes moved lower looking at the little toddler leaning against her mother’s legs, dressed just like her. Black jeans, a black t-shirt with those little black boots. She also had on a tiny black leather jacket. Her grin was wide, and she was absolutely adorable. He stared at the photo grinning from ear to ear.
It had been Halloween and Skye had insisted she dress like her mama. They had tried to talk her out of it, offering Disney princess outfits and a supergirl costume, as well as a Princess Leia one. She wanted nothing to do with anything except to look like her mama. They looked high and low for boots and a jacket, with no success. Finally, about to admit defeat, Maria had shown up at their house the day before Halloween with both the little boots and jacket. To say that he and Melinda were grateful was an understatement. Skye had insisted mama dress up too like her, and that mama take her out trick or treating. Dada had to come along because he was gonna pull the wagon. He laughed at the memory. He’d worn his suit that he wore on missions and Skye loved it. He had snapped the photo he was now looking at before they’d gone out. He looked at the photo above it, the one he was also in. Skye was grinning in that one too holding the hands of both her parents.
He popped both pictures out of the album and set them on the coffee table. Then he downed the rest of his drink and got up heading to bed. He pushed the jealousy away. It wasn’t Melinda’s fault that their daughter was connecting with her more then she was with him. It wasn’t Daisy’s fault that men in her past had hurt her. It wasn’t Mel’s fault either. He loved how open she was being with Skye, um Daisy, even with him. She had closed him out completely all those years ago. Now at least, they could get along well for Daisy’s sake. Maybe they could regain that close friendship they used to have before they even dated. Or more. He chided himself for going there. She had obviously moved on from him. She’d married Andrew and from what he understood, had remained on friendly terms with her second ex-husband. According to Maria, it was the incident seven years ago with the FBI team in New York that had caused their breakup. The incident that caused her to give up field work, and that caused her to become closed off to everyone, even Maria. He just hoped maybe this new chance with Daisy might turn into a new chance with Melinda too. There he went again. He needed to stop thinking about her in any way other than as his child’s mother.
He changed into his pajamas and sat on his bed looking again at the two photos he had brought along into his bedroom. She was so beautiful in the photo. So carefree. Melinda was still beautiful. Age had apparently decided to skip by her. Unlike him. He ran his fingers through his receding hairline and then glance in the mirror on the dresser. She could have had any man she wanted, and she had picked him. He let his memories saunter through his mind, grinning as he remembered how free- spirited she always had been. Tradition did not seem to be in her vocabulary, as she always wanted to push the status quo, from joining the Air Force, to flying jets, to wining trophies in co-ed divisions in martial arts beating men twice her size, to driving that motorcycle she’d insisted on buying. She was the only women he’d ever dated who had talked him into letting her drive Lola.
He looked back in the mirror. Get it together man, he told himself. She’s not interested. And pining for her in a house you both live in is not a good idea. This, this whole venture, this was for Daisy. For their daughter. So that she could have a home and be with both her real parents. The last thing Daisy needed was to see any pressure about relationships or weirdness from either of them about the living situation. He put down the photos on his dresser, intending to take them over to Melinda’s tomorrow night, and then he crawled into bed.