Maybe This Time (9 page)

I look at him
but don’t reply, taking another swig of vodka instead.

Who knew I was
so classy? Apparently Reid brings out the best in me.

“I’m taking
her out, Reid, she deserves a night out,” Ryan says as he puts on
his shoes.

Reid paces up
and down, looking agitated. “Let it go, Reid. You need to let it
go,” Ryan says softly, a flash of sadness and regret crossing his
expression.

“I can’t,”
Reid states flatly.

“Reid?” I look
up at the door to see
her
walk in. The blonde from the bar.
I didn’t even glance her way when I saw her in the kitchen, so I
didn’t recognize her, but it’s definitely her. Shortish blonde
hair, big brown eyes, a lot of makeup.

I hate
her.

“Ryan,” I say,
my tone impatient.

“I’m done,” he
says, pushing his wallet into his snug fitting jeans.

“I’m surprised
you can even fit that in there,” I tell him, pursing my lips. I
look anywhere but at Reid, because if I look at him, I’m gonna lose
it.

Ryan grins,
turning around and doing a little ass shake. I force a giggle and
then head towards the door, side stepping both Reid and his
mysterious blonde. When I walk past, Reid gently takes hold of my
arm. “Beauty,” he says softly, his voice pleading.

Pleading for
what?

“Let’s go,
Ryan,” I say, walking to the front door, not looking behind me.

Could today
get any more awkward? I’m sitting at my dad’s dinner table, eating
with him and his girlfriend. I feel like I’m a kid again, pissed at
not having his attention.

“How’s
everything, Summer?” dad asks, seemingly interested.

“Fine.” I take
a sip of my soda.

“Do you need
any money?” he asks kindly.

“No, thank
you.” I pull out my phone and see a text message from an unknown
number.

“Okay, I know
you’re stubborn, but you know anything I have is yours,” he says,
his gaze never leaving me.

“Except your
time, of course,” I say without thinking. Jack looks surprised, and
it annoys me further.

“I didn’t
think you wanted to spend any time with me. I had to pretty much
beg you just to get you here for dinner,” he says, the sadness in
his tone making me feel guilty. My dad is pretty scary looking.
Tall, built, bearded and tattooed. But he's a real softy,
especially with me. He’s never yelled at me or anything like that,
although from what I’ve been told, it’s only me he treats like
that. I think it’s from the guilt of never being there for me.

“Yeah, and
when I do show up you don’t even want one on one time with me,
instead you have your girl here who I don’t even like,” I say in
all honesty. I emphasise the girl part. When my dad looks shocked,
I sigh dramatically.

How can he be
so obtuse?

“Tina, leave
me alone with my daughter,” he says, his tone picking up strength
when he addresses her.

“You can’t be
serious,” she whines, glaring at me.

“Now,” he says
calmly, and she stands up to leave, making a big show of it. When
she finally goes into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her, he
looks straight at me, his gaze softening.

I feel like he
is looking right through me right now.

“I knew you
weren’t fond of her, I thought it was just because of her age,” he
says.

“She’s a
bitch. She thinks I’m going to come between the two of you,” I tell
him.

“She said
that?” he growls, starting to look angry. I shrug, not wanting to
get into it.

“That’s cos
she knows nothing is more important to me than you and Xander. I
know I haven’t always been there for you, but not because I didn’t
want to be. Your mother told me I could only see you once a year,
Summer. And I wasn’t exactly in the position to ask for full
custody. I didn’t want to take you away from her anyway. I didn’t
want to pull you from the life you knew. I wanted you with me,
trust me, but I didn’t want to be selfish. After all was said and
done, she was a good mother to you, so I took what I could. God, I
used to wait until your birthday so I could see you. See how much
you'd grown, how beautiful you were getting,” he says, his voice
wistful.

“Really?” I
whisper, my voice breaking.

“Of course,
Summer, you were my little girl. You
are
my little girl.
There's nothing I won’t do for you.”

“She said you
didn’t care about me, you just left me to be with your new family,”
I say softly, my voice wavering. He slams his fist down on the
table, making me jump.

“She lied,
Summer,” he growls, his face contorting in anger.

I exhale
deeply, leaning my chin on my palm. “You cheated on her.”

Jack
noticeably flinches. “I did. My relationship with her wasn’t
working, but it had nothing to do with you. You were the only
reason I stayed with her. You were my little princess, Summer, and
she used you as a weapon against me.”

“She told me
the best thing a father can do for his daughter was love her
mother,” I say, my tone now emotionless. When I see a tear drop
down my father’s cheek, my own tears flow.

“I messed up,
but I never stopped loving you, Summer.” I get up from my chair and
walk over to him, throwing my arms around him and burying my face
in his neck. I cry as he keeps apologizing over and over again,
making me cry further.

“I hate seeing
you cry,” he says gruffly, wiping my tears with his thumb.

“I’m
sorry.”

“Don’t be
sorry, baby girl. I want you in my life, I want to show you how
much I love you. You make an old man proud.”

“I want that,
too,” I admit. “And you’re not that old.”

He kisses me
on my cheek.

“I’ve missed
out on so much. Your mother sent me pictures and kept me updated,
but I missed out on being there for you. I regret that we can’t get
that time back, but we have now. You’ve made me so happy by coming
here, Summer.”

When the sobs
subside, my father and I talk, for what feels like the first time.
We listen to each other, and we get to know each other.

And it’s
perfect.

“Xander tells
me you have eyes for Reid.” He doesn't look too happy about it.

“I had eyes
for Reid.” My heart hurts at the mere mention of him.

“He’s a
complicated kid, but a good one,” my dad says, watching me
carefully.

“He doesn’t
want me,” I say, feeling sorry for myself.

“You are the
most beautiful girl in the world, of course he wants you,” he says,
sounding defensive on my behalf.

“You have to
think that, I’m your only daughter,” I say, my lip twitching.

“Doesn’t mean
it’s not the truth. I’ve known Reid for years, you know that? I was
friends with his parents, before...”

“Before his
mother died?” I add when he doesn’t continue.

“Right. He’s
got a good heart, he loves his brothers more than anything,” he
says.

“Brothers?”

“Yeah, he had
another brother. Younger. Reece. He passed away two years back,” he
says sadly.

“What?” I
whisper. Reid lost his mother, and his baby brother? And his dad’s
in jail?

Shit. That’s a
lot of heart ache right there.

I scrub my
face with my hand.

“You care
about him a lot, don’t you?” my dad asks, running his fingers
through his beard.

“It doesn’t
matter.”

“It does,” he
huffs.

“He needs to
be willing to fight for me, dad, but he doesn’t want to,” I say,
shrugging.

“I think he’s
doing enough fighting for other people, Sum, maybe he needs someone
to fight for him,” he says, a knowing look entering his eyes.

“You’re
supposed to be on my side,” I complain, rolling my eyes.

“I’m always on
your side, but if you had to pick a man, you could do a lot worse
than Reid Knox.”

“Is that so?”
I mutter.

“Don’t get me
wrong, he hurts you, and he’s dead,” he says, an evil glint
entering his eyes.

I sigh. “I
don’t know what’s gonna happen with us, to be honest.”

“So, you don’t
like Tina, huh?” he asks, changing the subject.

I shake my
head.

I never see
Tina again.

I try to
school my features, contain my surprise when I see Reid at the bar
when I walk in. Guess he couldn’t avoid me anymore. I nod my head
at him in welcome, and put my bag in the office. When I don’t see
Ryan or Tag, I groan out loud. Looks like it’s just Reid and me
tonight. Well, hell. It’s been a week since I saw Reid at his
apartment, but he hasn’t been far from my mind. When I got asked
out on a date last night at work, I actually said yes. I need to
move on, and I miss having Reid around.

“How have you
been?” I ask him, noticing the dark circles under his eyes. He
looks tired.

“Okay, you?”
he asks me, throwing down the tea towel he was wiping the glasses
with.

“I’m okay, I
miss you, though,” I blurt out, needing to be honest with him.

His face
softens. “God, I miss you, too,” he says quietly. So quietly I
almost didn’t hear it.

“Can we just
be friends? Stop avoiding each other?” I ask him, putting myself
out on a limb.

“Friends?” he
repeats, a strange look flashing in his eyes.

“Sure, I mean.
It has to be better than this, right?” I gesture with my hand
between us. I hate the constant avoiding of each other and the
awkwardness and him feeling so distant.

He nods once,
but doesn’t look too happy about it. “Where's Ryan?” I ask. Ryan
has become one of my best friends. He looks out for me, and we
always have fun together.

“He’s out with
his new girl of the week,” Reid answers, watching my face
carefully. I know what he’s looking for, any signs of jealousy. He
isn’t going to find any though, cos Ryan and I are friends and
nothing more.

“She’s a
babe,” I say with a smirk, thinking back on last night when I met
her for the first time. The chick was a knock out. I ended up
high-fiving Ryan in congratulations, because he did well for
himself.

“Are we okay?”
Reid asks suddenly, his mood shifting.

“Sure,” I say,
the side of my lip quirking. What else can I say?

“I haven’t
seen you at the gym,” he says. God, his eyes are so blue. Are they
bluer than Ryan’s? They seem so.

“I went once
more with Xander but that’s about it. I think I’m gonna stick to
doing Zumba at home.” I start stacking glasses.

“I’m gonna
pretend I know what that is,” he says.

“It’s like a
dance workout thing.”

His eyebrows
rise. “Sounds hot.”

I smile, my
eyes scanning the empty bar. “Never seen the place so dead.”

“It gets like
this now and again.” He lifts his shoulder in a shrug.

“What do you
want me to do?” I ask. The place looks clean enough to me.

“You can wipe
down a few of the tables,” he says. I nod, getting out the spray
and towels and wiping down all the tables thoroughly. I pull out
the vacuum and get to work, making sure the floor is spotless, too.
When I can’t find anything else to do, I go and stand next to Reid,
who is going through receipts at the cash register. He looks up at
me, his expression unguarded.

“I know I’m an
asshole, Sum. God, you are so beautiful. I just, I need some time.
Can you give me that?” he asks, his eyes so intense.

“I don’t get
what you want from me, Reid,” I reply, not looking away.

“I want you,
but I can’t have you,” he says, his expression now veiled.

“You can have
me, I’m right here! You’re the one pulling away, playing hot and
cold with me.” I really want to understand, but he's not giving me
much.

“It’s not the
right time, I can’t get involved with anyone right now.” He slams
the cash register shut.

“Exactly, so
we can be friends. You can fuck whoever you want, and I can do the
same,” I say, gauging his reaction.

He doesn’t
look pleased. “Are you trying to tell me you’re fucking someone?”
he growls, and I see a flash of pain and regret before he masks his
expression.

“What I’m
saying is that it isn’t any of your business,” I say, my gentle
tone softening the blow of my harsh words.

“Who?” he
grates out, his jaw clenched.

“No one!” I
huff, sighing in relief when a customer walks in. However, when I
see its Reid’s blonde my temper gets the best of me.

“Who is this
bitch?” I ask Reid, saying it loud enough for her to hear.

“Don’t talk to
her like that, Summer,” he snaps, walking over to the girl and
talking to her in hushed tones.

What the
hell?

I walk into
the office and start sorting through papers, not wanting to see
Reid act tender towards another woman. Why is she always
around?

It takes about
half an hour until Reid approaches me. “Summer, we’ve got
customers.”

Without saying
a word, I put the papers down and head out the front, serving a
couple of girls who had just turned legal.

“What can I
get you?” I ask a cute dark haired guy. He looks to be about my
age, with a lanky frame and bright blue eyes.

“I'll have a
beer,” he says, grinning.

“What
kind?”

“How about you
pick one for me,” he says, leaning against the bar. I pick out the
girliest beer I can find, and hand it to him. He chuckles, shaking
his head at me, handing over the money.

“What’s your
name?” he asks.

“Summer,
you?”

“Harlen, nice
to meet you.” He eyes me, taking a small sip of beer.

“You,
too.”

“I haven’t
seen you here before,” he says.

“I’m kind of a
new recruit,” I tell him, pushing my hair behind my ear.

“Can I take
you out?” he blurts out, flushing. I find myself leaning forward a
little, endeared by his shy expression.