“By implying he can say shit about us in interviews. So I blackmailed him back. Said that if he doesn’t own up to being Lindsay’s dad, he’s gonna have a problem getting a foot in the door at any bank.”
Her eyes bulged, but then a smile edged at the corners of her mouth. “I like how you think.”
I laughed, tugging her closer by the shoulders. “Really?”
“Yeah. I like that you care so much about Anne and Lindsay’s happiness and that you fight for it. But I thought he was calling her?”
“He promptly forgot they existed while they were in France.”
Skye grimaced, drumming her fingers up my arms. “I’m sorry. I think it’s great that you’re insisting he call. A divorce does leave marks, you know?”
Suddenly, she seemed smaller, vulnerable. I put my hands on her waist, pulling her closer, wanting to make it go away but knowing I couldn’t.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” I asked.
She shrugged but nodded. “It’s just that... sometimes, even when I’m happy, I can’t shake off the fear that I can lose it at any moment. We were all affected in our own way by the divorce. Tess the most. She thought I didn’t notice, but I did. I just didn’t know how to comfort her.”
“Fucking hell, you’re amazing. You were hurting, but that didn’t stop you from wanting to care for those around you.”
She shrugged, like it was no big deal, but it sure as hell was. Even tonight, despite having her own issues at the store, she’d put them on the back burner to focus on me. I wanted to return that every way I could. Make her see how important she was becoming to me.
“But I think it’s going to be different for Lindsay,” she said, and something in her tone told me she didn’t want to talk about herself anymore. “She’s got you too, and she’s still seeing her dad.”
“I just hate that he’s hurting them both. I was hoping that the time in France would do them all good.” That Walter would come to his senses and at least be a civil asshole and call his daughter. “It was Anne’s and my happy place as kids.”
“You spent a lot of time there?”
“Just a few weeks in the summer. Two with the grandparents, two with our parents. We looked forward to it the whole year. We practiced speaking the language, ate local produce, made new friends. Our family had a house in a village about two hours from Paris. Now they’ve moved to the south of France.”
“Who speaks French in your family?”
“My grandfather and my father are fluent, whereas Anne and I do okay. We used to speak French with each other when we didn’t want Mom or our grandmother to understand. It drove them nuts. They tried learning the language but said it’s impossible.”
“I agree. We had to choose between Spanish and French at school, and I went for Spanish. Not that I’m any good at that either.”
“France has always been my happy place. I want that for Lindsay too.”
I wanted to show Skye everything that was important to me, just share everything with her. I kissed her cheek up to the shell of her ear.
“J’ai besoin du toi. I need you. I just need you,” I said in both French and English because I wanted her to understand how much she meant to me.
“I love the sound of that,” she whispered. I understood her fear; I just wanted to prove to her that there was no need for that with me.
“Tell me more about your vacations in France,” she urged.
“It was like a time-out from our routine. We were outdoors all the time. Anne spent all day long in this huge swing, reading.”
“Hey, I like swings.”
“I noticed. Why is yours indoors?”
“It almost got blown away in a storm when I had it outside. I’d love a sturdier one in the backyard but just haven’t found one yet.”
I made a mental note about that.
“You know... my house actually reminds me a bit of the one in France. Just the coloring. I figured that out after I moved in.”
Skye looked at me with a huge grin. “Awww, that’s sweet.”