I loved my new puppy. I’d wanted one my whole life, and now I had the cutest one ever made. I didn’t want Dagger to be jealous though so I made sure to let him get on the couch with us to watch cartoons. Jacks and B were still asleep when I woke up, but Crash was awake and wagging his tail. So I scooped him up and we came downstairs and got some yogurt (the good kind that Lexi hides in the back of the fridge) and I took him outside to potty. Now he, Dagger, and I were watching cartoons. I was going to be sad when Dagger lived in a different house than me; I bet Crash would be sad too. He liked to climb all over him and bite his ears.
There was a knock at the front door. I didn’t know what to do. I was pretty sure Jacks and B wouldn’t want me to open the door by myself. I looked over at Dagger. I wasn’t really alone; Lexi said that Dagger was a good guard dog. That’s why I was allowed to play in the backyard by myself. I stood and took him by the collar toward the front door. The person knocked again. Maybe it was Ms. Diane. It was time for another check. I’d left Crash on the couch and I could hear him whining because he couldn’t get down on his own. They knocked again. Man, they must really need something. As soon as I reached out to put my hand on the doorknob, Dagger started to growl deep in his throat. The sound vibrated through my body.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Bryan
“Did you hear that?”
“Hmmm? What?”
I sat up. “I think someone is knocking on the door.”
Jacks opened his eyes, looking toward the hall. “Why would they knock on our door? It’s open.”
I threw my legs over the side of the bed. “Not our door, the front door.” I stuck my head in Landry’s room. “She’s already up. And Crash is gone. Hope she took him to the backyard to pee.” Maybe that was her knocking, maybe she went out front and got locked out. Jacks must have thought the same thing because he was now suddenly awake and following me downstairs.
We reached the entryway to see Landry and Dagger standing in front of the closed front door. Dagger was growling and Landry was petting him, trying to calm him down. “Hey, sweet girl, was that someone knocking?”
She turned when she saw us. “Yes. I didn’t know if I was allowed to open it, so I brought Dagger with me to be safe…but then he started growling.”
Jacks and I looked at each other; we both knew who it was. We were too happy. Landry had calmed down and stopped looking over her shoulder. Of course Amelia would show back up. Jacks kneeled down in front of her. “That’s probably your mom.”
Landry’s lip started to quiver. When she looked at me, I got down next to her too. “If you don’t want to see her, then I can take you upstairs. It’s up to you.” I could feel Jacks looking at me like I’d lost my mind. He thought we needed to fight harder. But I’d realized we needed to fight smarter.
She put her hand in mine, straightening her spine. In that moment I saw what Jacks saw; she did look a lot like me. “I’m okay. I want to stay.”
I nodded and opened the door. This was the first time I’d really gotten a good look at her. You could tell that at one point she’d been very pretty. But time had not been good to her. She smiled a little when she saw Landry.
“Hi, baby.”
Landry scooted closer to me. “Hi.”
Jacks stood on the other side of her, his hand on her shoulder. “What are you doing here, Amelia? I told you that the next time I’d have no choice but to call the police.”
She nodded, not taking her eyes off Landry. “I know. I just needed to see her, make sure that she was okay. Are you okay, baby? Are you… Are they…”
Amelia was at a loss for words. Once I started letting myself think of Landry as my daughter, once she called me Momma…I’d seen things from Amelia’s perspective. She wasn’t a good parent. Landry spent more than most of her life in the back of that woman’s mind. But she was still a mom. She still had fears; she still worried; she still needed to know that Landry was okay. That was why she’d come back. That was the only reason. “It’s okay, sweet girl. We’re right here. You can talk to your mom.”
I felt her little hand squeeze mine. “I’m okay, Mom. I really like it here and I really want to stay. Please don’t make me choose. I don’t want to make you sad…” She was crying now.
I could tell the moment all fight left Amelia’s body. Her shoulders sagged and her eyes filled with tears. I was right. She just needed to know her kid was safe and happy. She needed permission to let go, just like I’d needed permission to hold on tighter. She nodded, her tears spilling out. “Please, I—”
“Emily?” All the knocking and growling had woken up the rest of the house and Smith was now standing in the doorway. “What in the flying fuck are you doing here?”
Chapter Twenty-nine
Jacks
What? How did Smith know who Landry’s mom was? “Emily? Her name is Amelia. You know her?”
Smith nodded. “Yeah, we grew up— Oh my God.” He shook his head, like he didn’t want to believe what was happening. “You’re Landry’s mother. It wasn’t Jared’s baby, it was Jacks’s.”
I was starting to get a headache. “What? When did anyone say that Jared had a kid?” Jared was Smith’s drug-addicted cousin, our former drummer. This was getting weird. Landry didn’t need to hear all of this.
Bryan must have felt the same way. “Come on, sweet girl. Crash is barking like a madman. He probably needs to go potty. Let’s let Uncle Smith and your mom talk for a bit.”