15
Landon texted me as I was waiting to pick Mikayla up to let me know Adam was willing to meet with me. He shared Adam’s contact information, leaving it up to me to schedule the meeting.
I thanked him, but it didn’t seem like enough. My stomach twisted. I didn’t like being at odds with Landon. It made no sense, but knowing he was upset had me feeling like something was wrong.
Since I had a little time before Mikayla was supposed to be done, I called Adam to set up a meeting. He was more agreeable after learning I knew Landon, confirming we did know each other, and we agreed to meet two days later to talk about the wedding.
Mikayla got in a few seconds after I hung up with Adam. She was bustling with energy and excitement about the upcoming musical.
“It’s so cool. I get to sing, and Amber is dancing. The show is going to be so much fun. You’re going to go, right?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.” I pulled out of the lot and headed toward home.
“Do you think Dad is going to come?”
Fuck. Her soft question speared me. We both knew the answer to her question, but I couldn’t shred her hope. I was sick of being the bad guy. Of shielding her from his shitty behavior. If he didn’t want to show up for her, he needed to be the one who said it. “Why don’t you call and ask him? Make sure he knows the dates. We can share the ticket information with him when we get it if he can make it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, sweetie. Of course. Call him now.” I handed over my phone.
“The guy who was at our apartment yesterday? Was his name Landon?”
My heart lurched. “Yeah, why?”
“He sent you a text. Do you want me to read it?”
“No! I mean, I’ll read it later and text him back.”
“Who is he?”
“He’s a friend. We’re going to Natalie and Omar’s wedding together.”
“Oh. Okay.” She tapped the screen and held the phone to her ear.
I tried not to panic while she called Kyle. I wanted to pull over and read the text from Landon, but I had to focus on Mikayla.
“He didn’t answer,” she breathed.
“Did you want to leave a message?”
“No. He won’t come anyway. Why should I bother?”
Shit. It wasn’t fair to her. Kyle had just as much to do with my getting pregnant as I did. We agreed we would always be there for our daughter. I expected him to hold up his end of things. “I’ll reach out to him again and make sure he has the dates. Maybe he was busy and couldn’t answer the phone.”
She grumbled something that I took as agreement, then crossed her arms and sank in her seat. She was quiet until we got home, then grabbed her stuff and dragged her feet to the door.
Inside, Mikayla went to her room without a word. My heart ached for her. It wasn’t fair to her that her father was a selfish prick who only cared about himself. I stared after my kid, then called her father with the intention of telling him exactly what I thought of him.
“Why do you keep calling me?” Kyle asked as he answered the phone. “I’m busy.”
“Mikayla was calling you,” I said. “She wanted to talk to her father.”
“I have a lot going on. Can you just tell me what she wanted?”
“She’s in the school musical. She wants you to come see her.”
“I don’t think I can.”
