“We give it better,” I say as I pat him on the back. “I’m starving. Let’s go up, and I’ll order dinner.”
Dinner is fun. Marisa loves the pizza and entertains us all. That kid is young enough that she doesn’t show any battle wounds. She is gonna break this damn cycle. Why? Because her momma is so damn strong and loves her so damn much she is going to make it happen.
Hailey is quiet, very quiet. I can’t even count the amount of times I see her look at the door like she wants to run. I’m not the only one who notices it, either. My brothers and Livi see that shit, too.
Marisa picks the room none of us have ever slept in, the room Hendrix had set up with Momma in mind. A room Momma never once stayed in.
After Hailey gives Marisa a bath, the two of them thank everyone, then go to bed.
Hendrix heads back to the bar to close up, and Jag says he is out to hit up the gym. It’s late; I’m sure he is hitting something, but my guess is that it won’t just be the gym.
“Things sure change in the blink of an eye,” Livi says as she wipes down the coffee table where we all ate.
“She’s a good girl, just needed a break.”
“You’re a good man, Morrison. All of you are. But please do me a favor?”
“Anything, you know that.”
“Don’t let Hailey fall if you aren’t strong enough to hold them both up. And don’t forget about how important that little girl is, if you and her mom do end up together. Remember, she was there by her mom’s side first. And don’t you fall if you don’t think Hailey can return the love that I know you’re capable of giving.”
“Listen, Livi, I’m not even gonna touch that again.” I nudge her playfully.
“Uh-huh. I’m serious, Morrison. You deserve to be happy, too. She is so vulnerable and scared, and you can’t—”
“Liv, I was raised by a woman who was strong enough to stay. I will never put a woman in a position like that. I’m gonna help her gain her freedom. That’s all she wants for herself and that little girl.”
In the morning, I wake up early and walk out of my room to find Hailey just standing there, looking around. I stop and watch her, wanting to know what she’s thinking. In her eyes, I see a lost look. In fact, she looks not only lost, but as if she feels caged.
I don’t want her to get the wrong idea about why I’m watching her.
“Morning,” I say as I walk past her. “Coffee?”
“Um…I…um…”
“You take it black?”
“I need to find a grocery store.”
“Okay. But until then—”
“Do you come here a lot?” she cuts me off. “You have a room. Do you—”
“I stay in Vegas until I make enough to come home for a while. Then I hang with my family. If I wanna work, I work at the bar. Hendrix owns a place down the road.”
“I need to—”
“Whatever you need, we’ll get it.”
“I need a job,” she blurts out.
“Done,” I hear Hendrix say as he comes bounding down the stairs. “Caught one of my girls doing lines when I went to grab the bank bag last night. Shit’s not happening at Caldwell’s. If you’re clean and want a job, it’s yours. Livi or I can train you—”
“She worked—” I interrupt him.
“I have experience,” she cuts me off. “I worked as a cocktail waitress in Vegas, even filled in when the bartenders needed a break.”
“Tap beer and shots at my place,” Hendrix says.
“I can’t start tonight. I need to find child care.” I see her eyes shifting wildly as if she’s trying to figure things out all by her goddamned self. I fucking hate that.
“Trust me to watch her?” I ask.
“As if I have a choice,” she mumbles.
I head toward the bathroom before I say some shit I can’t take back, but I stop when I hear her speak.
“You won’t take her anywhere, will you? You don’t have a car seat, and I don’t know the area.”
“No, we’ll hang here.”
—
For three days she has worked, and in that time we haven’t said more than ten sentences to each other. She and Livi are getting close, which is cool, and Marisa and I have a little routine at night.
Mom leaves and we hit the home gym in the garage. After two minutes on the treadmill, she is sitting on the ground.
Today, she is on my back, laughing as I run. Cutest little shit in the world. She likes grapes, eats the hell out of them things while we watch Sofia the First—not Firs. Then we read.
Hailey is off tonight, and from a distance, I can see a light has returned to her eyes. She jokes around with my brothers and Livi and seems almost comfortable. The only time I heard any friction was when she and Hendrix argued about her paying rent. He told her no; she told him she’d leave.
“Pain in the ass, you know,” he grumbled when she shoved the envelope at him.
And when I bought a car seat—a fucking car seat—for the Escalade, she was pissed.