“What are you going to do with her? I mean, let’s say you never find Rae. Let’s go worst-case scenario. She went off on a binge and OD’d. It happens when people relapse.”
“Right.”
“So what are you going to do? She can’t grow up here, obviously.”
He eyed me up and down. “You said you’re her teacher?”
“Yes.”
“And you care so much?”
“She’s sort of my special student.” I couldn’t help admitting it.
“I guess she’s lucky to have somebody who gives a shit about her.” He sounded grudging in his praise, but I would take it. I got the impression he didn’t give praise freely.
“I do. I want what’s best for her.”
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing. I’m not putting her in any foster home.” He sounded adamant.
“What makes you say that?”
“I grew up in one.” His grim tone told me everything I needed to know. I knew better than to press the subject.
We stood side-by-side, watching Gigi play. It warmed my heart to see her looking happy. How bizarre, a little girl looking happy in a place like that. Beer signs on the walls in bright, glaring neon. A bar along one side of the room. A pool table, a pinball machine—all right, she might like a pinball machine. Dart boards. Sofas, chairs, a big-screen TV. I thought I saw a video game system on a shelf. All right, she’d like that, too.
Still, it was a very adult place. The people I watched walking to and fro, from one room to another, were tough, scary-looking men. They weren’t the type to mess around with. They were dangerous. And a seven-year-old was in their midst.
I couldn’t let things go on that way.
I turned to Lance, reminding myself to be determined. “I want to take her home with me.”
His eyes went wide when he turned to me. “What?”
“I mean, come on. She doesn’t need to be here. I’m sure you don’t want her here—why would you? You have your…business to take care of. You need to let her go with me so that she can be in a more wholesome environment.”
He blinked once, twice, then burst out laughing. “A wholesome environment? Where the hell did you come from? I didn’t know they made them like you anymore.”
My cheeks burned. “I mean it, though,” I insisted. He wasn’t going to get me to back down. “She belongs in a home with somebody who cares about her. I know her, I care about her. We have a good relationship. She’s comfortable with me—you saw the way she ran to me earlier. You have nothing to worry about.”
He looked me up and down, like he was considering my offer. I had hope for a minute there. I stared intensely, hoping to convince him with the strength of my conviction.
My heart sank when he shook his head. “No way. It won’t happen. She needs to stay here.”
“But why? It makes no sense!”
“She’s my daughter, and I’ll decide what makes sense for her.”
I sighed in exasperation. It was like talking to a brick wall.
Chapter Four
Lance
She was tough. I had to give her that. No way she was backing down so easily. I sort of admired her—she cared about the kid. People who cared about kids had my respect. I had known enough people who didn’t give a shit about kids to know good people from bad people.
No way I’d give her the kid, though. She was mine. There were things a parent didn’t do.
She put her hands on her hips, and her green eyes burned into me. She wasn’t just tough. She was gorgeous.
“What do you plan to do with her, then?” she asked me, spitting the words out.
“Oh, I don’t know. Virgin sacrifice?” Her eyes went even wider, then narrowed. I snorted. “Come on. Relax. She’s my kid. I’m not taking her around on the back of my bike; she’s not sitting on meetings. Hell, the guys are even watching their language around her.” I snickered, looking out over the room. “The toughest sons of bitches you’ll ever meet, but put a kid in the room and they don’t know what to do with themselves. It’s actually pretty funny. It’s worth having her around just to see what she does to them.”
“Cute.” Jamie wrinkled her nose, sarcastic. “Keep her here as a science project. Great idea, Dad.”
“Oh, relax, okay? Jesus. You’re not the one who had her dropped her off on the outside with a note telling you she was your kid. I didn’t know she existed until Monday morning. I had to find something funny. Otherwise I would have gone crazy before now.” I wasn’t lying. At first, I had no idea what the hell to do with the kid. It was Erica and Traci who really took care of things. They fixed up a room for her upstairs, with her own private bathroom. They were the ones who bought the board games and toys for her. They even went over her school work with her, since her books were in the backpack with a few bits of clothes and stuff—the girls took Gigi to the store to buy new clothes and everything. They were a lifesaver.