11
Taylor
Iwalked into the pharmacy and headed straight for the photo developing center. To be honest, I didn’t even know if they had these anymore in brick and mortar stores considering how everything had gone sodigital.
I walked up to the counter and found a young woman standing behind it wearing a Santa hat and a smile. “Hi,” I said, tugging Maisey into my side. “I was hoping you could help me.” I reached into my messenger bag and pulled out the framed image of Paige’s mom that I had snagged from her nightstand. I was hoping I could get it back upstairs before she would notice it was missing. It was challenging enough grabbing it as we made our way out the door. “Are you able to scan and enlarge printshere?”
Her smile widened and she nodded. “Of course. If you want to remove the image from the frame, I can take care of that foryou.”
“It’s also in rough shape. Can you do anything to restoreit?”
“I’ll have to take a closer look, but I bet I can improve it at least alittle.”
I unlatched the back of the frame, and as I pulled the backing off, Maisey tugged free from my hold, bolting toward another shopper. “Oh my God, Maisey no!” I launched after her. If I lost Paige’s dog, she would never forgiveme.
Lucky for me, Maisey was obsessed with people and she had jumped onto her hind legs, licking the face of the first shopper shefound.
I grabbed her leash, tugging her away. Every muscle in my body went rigid when I saw that the customer Maisey had jumped on was myfather.
He looked just as shocked as I did. His eyes wide. Mouth parted in awe as he stared at me. “Taylor?” His voice was raw and raspier than I remembered. His hair was still full, but greyer than I remember. “Someone told me you were coming home this weekend, but I didn’t believethem.”
I snorted. “Home, huh? Like this place will ever be my homeagain.”
He winced and I immediately felt bad that those were my first words to the man in years. Sure, I had seen him since high school. I wasn’tthatbig of a dick. But it also wasn’t frequent. And it was never here in Maple Grove. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “Force ofhabit.”
He held a box of Russel Stover chocolates in his hand and a poinsettia. His gaze dipped to Maisey. “You got adog?”
I shook my head. “No. It’s—” Well, shit. Just how much of my new situation did I want to reveal to him? “She belongs to a girl I’mseeing.”
His eyes went a fraction wider, but he covered it well. He was a lawyer; he was damn good at hiding his emotions. He leaned down and petted Maisey behind the ears. “She’s…exuberant.”
Dad swallowed, his broad shoulders tight and his back ramrod straight. We were eye to eye, almost the exact same height, and looking at him was like looking into a mirror that could foreshadow my future. “So, are you staying the night? Sticking around forChristmas?”
My throat burned, but I nodded through the discomfort, dropping my gaze to his platinum wedding band. He had remarried five years ago and begged me to come to the wedding. But I didn’t. I was still drowning in my loathing for him and what he did to Mom. I didn’t want to celebrate his new love, his new potential happiness. “I was planning to.” I hated that sense of shame I felt. I’d spent so many years being angry and resentful. Not even trying to move beyond that emotion and for what? For some sense of vitriol over the man? What good had that done for me in twelveyears?
The silence between us was heavy, and when I finally looked up into his eyes again, I could see the pain. “I should have called,” I saidquietly.
His only answer for a long moment was a slow shrug. “It’s okay,Taylor.”
“Sir?” the woman behind the counter called my attention back. “I hope you don’t mind… I took the image out of the frame for you.” She held up the 4x6 print of Paige’s mom and I watched helplessly as my dad’s gaze lifted, connecting with thepicture.
“Why do you have a picture of Vicki?” he asked, walking towardit.
Well, shit. “I’m, um, printing out a better copy for Paige… herdaughter.”
If I thought he looked shocked before… his expression now looked like he’d seen a damn ghost. “Of course I know Paige,” he said. “She’s a sweetgirl.”
“It’ll be ready in about thirty minutes,” the woman behind the counter said and then disappeared into the back, happy to get away from whatever awkward conversation this was. Not that I could blame her. If I could have scurried the fuck away behind a counter, I would have,too.
“Dad,” I said quietly. “Maybe Paige and I could swing by tonight… after the treelighting.”
Did I say he looked like he saw a ghost? Make that a thousand ghosts. His eyes pooled with unshed tears and I tried to ignore the burning sensation in my sinuses aswell.
“Olivia makes this yearly pot roast on Christmas Eve for the wholefamily…”
Shit. I forgot it was Christmas Eve. Of course he had plans. “Hey, it’s okay. Maybe next time I’m intown—”
“No,” he said quickly, cutting me off. “No, I was going to say you should stop by. Even if it’s just quickly. Bring Paige, too, of course. She’s actually been before. With her—withScott.”
She’d been to my dad’s house on Christmas before. With Scott. Because he’sfamily. I swallowed hard and nodded. “I need to check with her. Make sure that’s okay and she doesn’t have her own traditions oranything…”
A smile flickered on Dad’s lips. “It’s still new,huh?”
He had no idea. “Very.”
We stayed silently like that for a few moments longer before Dad cleared his throat and wiped at the corner of his eye. “Thank you, Taylor,” hesaid.
“For what?” I didn’t reallydoanything. If anything, seeing the hurt in his eyes, I’d say we were pretty damn even in terms of how much pain we’d caused eachother.
“For showing me that Christmas miracles stillexist.”
