HARDCORE: Storm MC(227)

“Here, though?” She looked skeptical.



Jamie cleared her throat. “This is where I come in. This is what I was thinking about.”



It was news to me. “What were you thinking?”



“I was wondering if it was a good idea for Gigi to live at your house. It’s probably pretty small. Not ready for a little girl to live in it. Far away from school.”



“Yeah. All those things.” I watched her. She had something she was dying to say.



“Well, maybe you could…I don’t know…come live with me.” Her voice was very small, almost a whisper.



“What?” Gigi’s eyes got very big.



“Only if you wanted to, like your dad said. It’s up to you.” She looked at me. “You too, Dad.”



I smirked. “Nothing like being put on the spot, you know?”



“Jeez, Lance. I didn’t mean to do that. I thought we talked about things last night.”



“Yeah, well, we didn’t talk about moving in together.”



“So you don’t want to?”



“I didn’t say I didn’t want to, but it would’ve been good if we could talk about this alone before we talked about it with other people.”



She cracked a smile, and looked at Gigi. “I think that’s a yes,” she said.



“I want to! I want to! Can we?” My daughter looked up at me. So did Jamie. Fuck. I was screwed for the rest of my life between the two of them.



“Yeah. We can. We’ll live in Jamie’s house.”





Epilogue I



Jamie





“Mom! I can’t find my other shoe!”



“Gigi, I swear. I keep asking you to keep them together.” I ran up the stairs, ready to give my little girl a good talking-to.



Only she wasn’t looking for her shoe. She and Lance stood in front of me with a little cake—how they sneaked a cake into her bedroom, I had no idea. If there was anything I’d learned in the year we’d been together, it was how crafty he could be when needed.



“Happy anniversary!” they both cried out, beaming.



“Anniversary?” I looked from one of them to the other. Gosh, they looked so much alike. It was still startling.



“It’s the one-year anniversary of when you said we could all live together. Remember?” Gigi grinned.



“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it’s been a year already! Where does the time go?” I shook my head. “I’m usually so good at things like this, too. I always keep dates in mind.”



They didn’t know I remembered. Lance didn’t know I had my own surprise for him either.



“Come on! Cake for breakfast.” Lance winked at Gigi, who clapped her hands.



“Hang on,” I said warningly. They looked at me with such an identical expression of disappointment, I had to give in. “Okay, fine. A small piece. Then we have to go—we’re going to be late as it is.”



“There’s plenty of time before school starts.” Lance hurried Gigi downstairs, the two of them whispering about how great it was that they’d surprised me. I smiled at their retreating figures. They were so alike in so many ways.



We enjoyed our cake—small slices, at my request—before Gigi took a piece of fruit to the car with her in an attempt to balance things out. I kissed Lance goodbye for the day before driving to school with Gigi.



“Did we really surprise you?” she asked from the back seat.



“Totally. I have no idea how you sneaked a cake in on me. You’re sneaky people, you and your father.” We pulled out of the driveway, leaving Riverview Terrace. It was a beautiful day—far different from the day one year before, when I’d come close to losing her.



There was a sort of perverse feeling to celebrating that day. Yes, I told Lance later that night that I wanted him and Gigi to move in with me, but it still felt like we celebrated a near-tragedy. I guessed it was better than being solemn and wondering “what if.” I’d done enough wondering in the past year to carry me through the rest of my life.



She didn’t seem to care, or even to remember that it was also a year since the kidnapping. We’d had our rough patches in the weeks after that. Nightmares, crying for seemingly no reason. But she’d bounced back in time, and we’d lived happily together.



It had been more of an adjustment for Lance than it had been for her. I laughed quietly to myself when I remembered how out-of-place he’d looked on his bike, cruising around the community. How my neighbors had looked at him in surprise when he’d walked Gigi to the park and played with her. They hadn’t expected a tough-looking guy like him to be so silly with his little girl, or so committed to her happiness. Once they figured out he was the real deal, they’d been much more accepting. He’d managed to come around on them, too, and by the time a year passed, they were all pretty good friends.