What the hell were you doing?” Red asked, stomping into the room.
Cali looked up from her laptop, twisted her pen between her fingers. “I know you’re upset, but she’s upset, too. She’s asking questions and she needs to know the truth.”
“That’s not your truth to tell, Cali,” Red yelled. “Shit, she’s a child.”
“She’s a child that got picked up from her babysitter’s house and brought to a police station in the middle of the night!” she shouted. “Not telling her the truth is stupid at this point.”
He shook his head, muttering a curse under his breath. “Don’t do that.”
“Red, think about it. She’s six years old, not two,” Cali said. “She knows what jail is and knows the concept of getting in trouble. You’re not giving her enough credit. I’m sure she’s heard people talk about jail in school before.”
“Hearing people talk about jail and knowing that your mother is in jail are two separate things,” he argued, pacing the room. “I’ve already uprooted her from her life and brought her to an unfamiliar place, around a bunch of new people. I just don’t think she’s ready to know that yet.”
“But you’re lying to her every day that she asks where her mother is. Kids know. Believe me, they pick up on all kinds of things.” She closed her laptop and sighed. “You’re not good at hiding it because you’re not a fake person. You’re angry with Nia and it shows. If she hasn’t already, eventually, Corrine will catch on.”
“I understand that your childhood was bad, but I don’t want Corrine to have that same experience.”
“I don’t either,” she said. She couldn’t help but care about Corrine. The little girl was like a breath of fresh air in her life. Looking in her eyes, Cali could believe in the good in the world. She wanted it for her.
“I’m her father, Cali,” Red said. “I don’t want to see her hurt.”
“Then don’t hurt her!” she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. “Lying to her is only going to hurt her. She thinks she’s here because you’re babysitting her. She’s waiting for her mother to pick her up. Don’t you think she needs, deserves, to know that her mother is not coming back to get her anytime soon—if ever?”
“Even so, you shouldn’t have told her that.”
“Fine.” She crossed her arms. “It’s not like I set out to tell her. She asked me could she call her mother. What was I supposed to say?”
“Tell your daddy,” he said. “How about that?”
“Red, I don’t want to have this conversation anymore.” Cali was tired, irritated, sad, and angry all at once. “Corrine is your daughter and you do what you think is best. I’m telling you… the sooner you tell the truth, the sooner she’ll be able to get this idea out of her head that her mother is going to be here. My Uncle Cal, he didn’t tell me that my mother was dead. I just mentioned it to him one day and he cried.”
Red averted his gaze, but not before she caught the look that passed over his face when she mentioned her mother and Uncle Cal. Frowning, she asked, “What was that look for?”
“What look?” he asked, avoiding eye contact. He gathered up some papers lying on the desk.
“When I mentioned my mother being dead, you looked like you—”
“I’m frustrated, okay?” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Nia is looking at a ten-year prison sentence, which means I have to be the person that Corrine can count on. That means making hard decisions.”
“I know that, Red.” She approached him, smoothing her hands over his broad shoulders. “I get it. I feel for that little girl.” Hell, she was that little girl. Finding out her mother wasn’t the woman she’d built up in her mind had been devastating. “It’s so hard. Unfortunately, she’s going to have to deal with it.”
“You really haven’t dealt with your mother, Cali,” he said. “Your way of dealing is pretending that she doesn’t mean anything to you and we both know that’s not true.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “My mother has been dead for years. I’ve had plenty of time to let that sink in.”
“Really?” he asked, sarcasm bleeding through his tone.
“This isn’t about me,” she said. “I want you to help your daughter by telling her the truth.”
“Let me handle it in my way, then.”
Raising her hands, she took a step back. “Okay. That’s your daughter. I won’t say anything else.” She sat down, opened her laptop, and pretended to not be hurt by Red’s words. “I have work to do.”
“Cali, I’m sorry.”
“Okay. But I need to get this done,” she told him, squinting at the screen. “So, if you don’t mind…”
Red stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. She took a sip from her warm glass of water and grumbled a curse.
The next morning, Cali checked on a sleeping Uncle Cal and headed to the kitchen. Red and Corrine were sitting at the breakfast bar, eating bowls of cereal.
“Good morning,” she said. “Coffee?”
“Brewing now,” he said, dipping his spoon into his bowl. He’d yet to meet her gaze since she walked in the kitchen. The tension didn’t faze Corrine, though, because she was singing along with the commercials on the television.
“Cali?” Corrine said, her feet dangling over the side of the stool. “Why don’t you eat cereal?”
“Because cereal is for kids.” She grinned at Cali then scowled at Red, who set a spoonful of cereal into his bowl.
“Daddy eats cereal,” Cali said, looking pointedly at Red’s huge bowl of Apple Jacks.
“My point exactly,” Cali murmured. Red glared at her and stabbed at his cereal with his spoon. “Did Syd call this morning?”
“Earlier. We’re going to go over for the afternoon,” he murmured.
Cali poured a cup of coffee into her favorite mug, followed by a healthy shot of hazelnut creamer. “I had planned to visit her as well. Her baby shower is fast approaching and we need to finalize the menu.”
“Are you going to be able to focus on that with everything going on?” he asked.
“I have no choice,” Cali said. “My work doesn’t stop for holidays and illness.”
“Are we going to keep doing this?”
“Doing what?” she asked innocently. She took a sip of her coffee and plopped two pieces of toast into the toaster.
He eyed her over the rim of his own coffee mug. “You didn’t come to bed last night.”
“I was working and fell asleep on the couch,” she lied. She’d purposefully stayed away from Red, choosing to watch television until the wee hours of the morning instead of climbing into bed with him like nothing had happened.
“Whatever.” He patted his daughter on the top of her head. “Corrine, you want to go get on your boots so we can go?”
“She can’t go out like that,” Cali said, taking in Corrine’s mismatched clothes, unkempt hair, and milk mustache.
Red glanced at Corrine and then back at her. “What’s the problem?”
“Her hair,” she hissed. “Her clothes don’t even match.”
He shrugged. “She picked that outfit herself.”
“I can tell,” she said.
Cali had graciously offered to take Corrine shopping for new clothes, but Red insisted he knew what he was doing. If her ensemble for the day was any indication, she could safely say he was dead wrong and had no clue what he was doing.
“Maybe you should take her to get her hair braided or something,” Cali suggested.
“Syd said she’d do it.”
Cali covered her mouth, unable to hide her smile at Red’s cluelessness. “Syd? She doesn’t know how to do hair.”
“Her hair looks fine,” he said.
“Yeah, but…” Sighing, she placed a hand on Corrine’s back. “Baby, why don’t you run in the bathroom, get a comb and a brush, and hurry back out so I can do your hair.”
“Yay!” Corrine cheered, jumping down from her chair and running out of the kitchen.
“Her hair was fine,” Red repeated.
“I can’t have that beautiful baby walking out of this house looking like that.” Cali traced the rim of her mug with her finger. And she couldn’t explain the need she had to protect Corrine.
“I thought about what you said,” he admitted softly.
“You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. I hate lying, so I don’t want to start that with Corrine. I plan to talk to her soon.”
Pleased that he’d actually taken her thoughts into consideration, she walked up to him. “It’s going to be okay.” She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. “I’ll be here for you.”
He squeezed her ass. “You know what else?”
“What?” she asked.
“I think it’s long past time that we reconnect in other ways.”
He was right. It had been days since they’d made love and it was starting to drive her crazy. Her life had turned into one big ball of uncertainty and she’d barely been able to keep her head above water. Then with Corrine in the house, toys scattered in every nook and cranny, and Uncle Cal, they’d barely had any time alone. She’d been exhausted every night, struggling to keep her eyes open when her head hit the pillow. Most of the time, they shared a simple kiss before she fell asleep. Sometimes she wondered how she’d gone from enjoying her single life to living in a house full of people.
“I agree.” Her head fell back and his tongue swept down her neck. “That sounds good right about now.”
“I say we take a little break for ourselves tonight.”
“Aw man. I’m supposed to have a dinner meeting tonight with a bride.”
He laughed. “We can figure something out for later.”
“Cali, I can’t find it!” Corrine screamed at the top of her lungs.
“I’m coming!” Cali shouted. “I better go see about that and get her hair combed before you leave.” She kissed him. “Hook something up and I’ll be there.”
“I’ll ask Syd to babysit.”
“Syd can’t even walk,” she reminded him.
“True,” he said. “How about we have a date here once she’s asleep?”
“That’s a great idea.” There was no way Red could leave Corrine with just anyone. And she respected that about him. “I’m going to go check on her.”
Cali left Red and went off in search of Corrine. She found her on her knees, her head in the cabinet. There were cleaning containers strewn across the floor. “Wait, baby.” Cali rushed over to her. “You shouldn’t be under here. It’s dangerous.” Replacing all the stuff in the cabinet, she smiled at Corrine, who was watching her intently. “See, here is the comb and brush,” she said, pulling out a small drawer.
Pulling herself to her feet, she sat down on the toilet. “Turn around and we can get you all dolled up.”
“Okay. Cali?”
“Yes, doll,” she said.
“Daddy messed up my hair, didn’t he?”
Cali laughed at the little doll’s candor. “Yes he did. But don’t worry because I’m going to fix it. Then I’m going to make you an appointment to get your hair braided.”
“Yay!” Corrine clapped her little hands.
She went to work on Corrine’s hair, parting it down the middle and starting a French braid. As she worked, Red stood in the doorway watching. “I didn’t know you braided hair,” he said.
“There’s a lot about me you don’t know.” She grinned at him.
“I bet there is.”
Once she finished the last braid, she picked up a small mirror and held it in front of Corrine. “You like it?”
“It’s pretty,” Corrine said, twirling a braid around her finger and examining her hair. “When I grow up, I want to be beautiful, just like you.”
Cali’s heart swelled. Who knew a little girl could bring her to tears with a compliment?
“Daddy says you’re beautiful and it’s true,” Corrine continued.
“He did?” Her eyes met Red’s and she smiled.
“Yep. Are you going to marry him?” Corrine asked. “Because if you are, I want to be a flower girl.”
Cali cleared her throat. “Well, your daddy and I are pretty close.” She pinched her throat. “But I’m not sure about marriage.”
“You sleep in the same bed,” Corrine pointed out. “My friend’s parents are married and sleep in the same bed, so you and Daddy can get married. I saw him kiss you. People only kiss each other when it’s true love.”
Red laughed loudly.
Cali shook her head once again, wondering how such a little girl could often render her speechless. “Let’s go get your boots on.”