***
We spent all day down in the studio, fine-tuning the demo we were sending the label and coming up with a new and calmer game plan. The Devil’s Share had been going ninety to nothing for ten years straight. It was starting to catch up with all of us. I’d gone upstairs long enough to eat lunch with Bryan and Landry. They’d spent the morning coloring and playing board games and had plans for the park after lunch. I was so damn lucky to have B here to help me with my kid. My kid. Holy hell. If someone would have told me four days ago that I was going to be a dad? I would have grabbed a bottle of whiskey and locked myself in my closet. But loving Landry, wanting what was best for her? It just came natural. I’d called my parents and left them a voicemail asking them to call me as soon as they got home. They had a granddaughter they needed to meet.
“Okay, Buttercup, it’s time for lights out.” Bryan had read her a few more chapters in their book and was now in our bathroom getting ready for our night out, and I was tucking Landry into bed. I wanted to do something nice for Bryan, something to show her how grateful I was to have her support. Of course Dylan had finagled her way into our plans. She said she hadn’t gotten to spend any time with her sister since she’d been here. So Dylan and Smith were tagging along.
“Are you and B leaving?” Landry was surrounded by pillows and stuffed animals with her beautiful dark hair in a pile on the top of her head. She looked so much like Bryan and Dylan with her hair like that. Our mini hot mess, that’s what Smith called her tonight at dinner.
“We are going to go out for a little bit, but Lex and Dash are right downstairs. Okay?” I was nervous to leave her. I didn’t want her to feel alone or scared.
“You’re coming back, right?”
Yep. That’s what I was afraid of. “Of course we’re coming back, we’ll always, always come back.” I tapped the end of her nose. “I told you, it’s you and me now.”
“And B.”
I smiled. “And B.”
“Are you taking her on a date?” She giggled. “Because you think she’s pretty.”
I leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Good night.”
“Good night…Jacks.”
I hadn’t told Landry yet that she was my daughter, biologically. Last night she was too tired and I was in the studio all day today. But she needed to know her mom had been honest about one thing at least. “You’re my daughter, Buttercup. Your mom didn’t lie about that.”
Her eyes got wide. “Really?”
“Really, really.” I brushed some hair off her forehead. “Diane came by yesterday while you were sleeping and told me.”
She was quiet for so long, I wasn’t sure she was going to say anything else on the subject. But then, “Do you want to keep me?”
How many times in this life was she going to make me tear up? Was this normal? I felt like Lexi. “Yes. Do you want to keep me?” I figured it was only fair to let her have a choice as well.
She nodded.
I clapped my hands once. “Well that settles it then, doesn’t it? We’ll keep each other. And we’ll keep hanging out with all the crazy people who live in this house and keep playing with Dagger and keep going to the beach.”
She smiled, full of light. “Like a family.”
“Like a family.”
Her voice cracked. “What if my mom comes back?”
Did she know that her mom could still get custody? “Well, if your mom comes back, then she comes back. We’ll figure it out. I’m still not going anywhere.”
I turned off her lamp and headed downstairs with a pep in my step. I had Landry; I had B; I had the band; I had it all.
***
I figured it was useless to try to rush Bryan. I’d just get Smith to make me a drink while I waited. Lexi and Dash were posted up on the couch, a large bowl of popcorn between them. “Lex, should you be eating that much salt?”
She stuck her tongue out at me and Dash answered for her. “Dylan only buys the low sodium kind.”
Smith was in the dining room, standing at the vintage bar cart the house came furnished with. I smiled when he handed me a whiskey on the rocks. “You read my mind, man.” I took a sip and closed my eyes as I swallowed. It’d been forever since I’d had a good drink. Those shots with Luke didn’t count.
“Landry asleep?”
“Probably. She’s usually out as soon as I turn off the light.”