Mending His Past Read online

  He was going to leave again. He had big plans for his future. She couldn’t ask him to put his entire life on a different path just because she couldn’t seem to let go of the past. He’d resent her one day if she convinced him to set his big-city dreams aside. The very thought of it sent a chill racing down her spine.

  She pulled into a parking spot a good distance from the main entrance of the airport and checked the time. Eddie’s plane had landed a while ago; by now he’d probably already claimed his bags.

  Squeezing her eyes shut, she leaned back on her headrest. She could do this, couldn’t she? Without giving herself another moment to think about it, she flung the door open and hopped out onto the pavement. She was here—she was doing this!

  The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she approached the busy entrance. An airport had never looked so ominous. She gazed up at its cold, unyielding angular facade. It was constructed entirely of metal and glass, poking into the sky almost as if daring any plane to fly low enough to scrape its underbelly on the blade-like edges of its roofline. She’d never seen a more unfriendly building in her life.

  Just as she was about to step into its cavernous interior, someone called out her name. The familiar voice froze her in her tracks.

  “Olivia.”

  She turned to see Eddie walking toward her with a million watt smile on his face. He’d grown a beard in the years since she’d seen him last. It was a good look on him. He ran his palm over his wavy, brown hair. She recognized the pose. It was his signature move, the one he used whenever he wanted to show off his thick hair and his cut biceps at the same time. Her nerves roared to life deep in the pit of her stomach, unsettling her breakfast, when his eyes narrowed just a hint as he turned on the smolder.

  I’m not ready for this!

  Every shallow breath she took caused her head to swim a little more. This wasn’t supposed to be how it went. She was supposed to see him first, and go to him when she was ready. Before she had a chance to gather her composure, Eddie had wrapped his arms around her. “It’s been a long time,” he whispered in her ear.

  Olivia gave him an awkward pat on the back and pulled away. “Hello, Eddie.” Her voice came out stronger than she felt inside. She stood tall and forced a pleasant, but small smile onto her face, remembering that she was here by choice to prove a point. It was time to take care of business.

  She’d be civil. She’d even be kind. But she wasn’t going to let him have the upper-hand—she was going to control the situation. “You must be tired after that long layover in Colorado. We should get going. The truck is this way.” She gestured off to her left.

  “I am pretty beat, but I feel a lot better after seeing you.”

  Her smile tightened, tension building in her temples. “Need any help with your bags?” She glanced behind him at the cart stacked with luggage, her heart sinking. A man traveling with that much luggage could only mean one thing—an extended visit.

  “No, I’ve got it. I’ll just use the cart.”

  Olivia nodded and headed toward the truck with Eddie by her side. “It looks like you packed everything but the kitchen sink.”

  “It’s the whole five-piece set filled to the brim,” he said, patting the chocolate brown bags piled high. “Remember these?”

  Of course she recognized the set of luggage her father had given them for a honeymoon they never ended up taking. She kept walking—it was a long walk, every step burdened with unspoken words.

  Once the bags were stowed in the truck’s bed, they took their seats in the cab.

  She slid her key into the ignition and turned it. The engine came to life and purred like a kitten. She had to remember to thank Levi… and Trent. “So, where are you planning to stay while you’re in town?”

  “I figured I’d stay with family,” he said, avoiding her eyes.

  Heat flared up in her gut. Her lips pinched together as she took a deep breath in through her nose. Compose yourself. “You have family I don’t know about near Liberty Cove?”

  “Come on, Olivia. You’re killing me. You know I’m talking about you and Molly.”

  What kind of a game was he playing? She looked straight ahead, a familiar wave of nausea washing over her. “We haven’t been a family for a long time, Eddie.”

  “We’ll always be family,” he whispered. “No piece of paper can change that.”

  Olivia closed her eyes and continued her deep breathing. This was the first time he’d ever been interested in claiming her and Molly as his family. It scratched against her insides, but she held her tongue.

  “It’s up to you where I stay,” he said, his dispirited voice waning in its usual lively strength. “But for the record, it’s either your place or the streets for me. I have no money until I land my new job.”

  Olivia shut off the engine and turned in her seat to face Eddie, fire coming alive inside her as years of pent up hurt and frustration surged. “I am not your safety net.” The broken look in his eyes softened the hard edge in her voice. “Why did you come here? Why spend what little money you had left on a ticket to come see the very people you abandoned? I’ve forgiven you, Eddie, but I’m not going to be your doormat.” There! She’d said it.

  He dropped his gaze to the phone he held in his hands and began to scroll.

  Really? He was going to stare at his phone at a time like this?

  “I’m not proud of myself, Olivia. Actually, I’m ashamed of a lot of the decisions I’ve made. You see this?” He held his phone up for her to see. A photo of her and Molly from her first birthday party was on the screen. He must have lifted it from one of her social media accounts, because he’d certainly never asked her for any pictures of their daughter. “This right here is what gets me through the hard times. Whenever I’m down, I pull this up and remember the good times.”

  Olivia’s eyes welled up. “You never had any good times with her,” she whispered.

  “Like I said, I’m not proud of my choices.”

  “That may be, but it still doesn’t explain why you came here.”

  Eddie put his phone on the dashboard and filled his lungs with a deep breath. “I want to meet my daughter… and… I’ve got nowhere else to go.”

  “What do you mean you’ve got nowhere to go?” She was going to have to set her boundaries, and fast! There was no way she could have Eddie staying with her and Molly indefinitely.

  Olivia was shocked by the look of desperation in his eyes when his head shot up to meet her gaze. “I’ve been out of work for so long I lost my condo. I meant it when I said it was either your place or the streets for me.” He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear, allowing his fingers to linger in her curls like he used to.

  She shook her head. “Don’t do that.”

  He pulled his hand back and rested it in his lap. “I took you for granted before, Olivia. But that’s not a mistake I’ll ever make again.”

  She rested her forehead against the steering wheel and released a long breath. “You can’t do this, Eddie. You can’t just drop in on our lives like this. Molly needs stability. You’re not being fair to her and you’re not being fair to me.”

  “I know this seems bad—believe me, I get it. But I’ve got something big in the works.”

  Olivia sat back in her seat and rolled her eyes. “You’ve always had your eye on something bigger and better on the horizon.”

  “This time is different. It’s all lined up. I’m practically guaranteed the job. I’ve got a big interview in just a couple of days. They’ve already scheduled a video conference with the head of the company for Tuesday morning. Pretty much all that’s left to do is hammer out the details of my contract. I just need somewhere to stay until then. As soon as I get the job, they’ll fly me out to L.A. I’ll be bringing in more money than ever before. This is a good thing for us, Olivia.”

  Us? She sucked in a sharp breath when he reached over and laid his hand on top of hers.

  “With this job, I’ll be able to prov
ide a good life for us. I made some terrible choices—I know that. Just give me a chance and I can make it all right.”

  She slid her hand away from his. “What are you saying?”

  He blew a long breath from his pursed lips, looking as if he was trying to gather courage to speak. “This is a lot quicker than I wanted to bring this up. But we’re here now and it’s going to be a little while before I can afford flowers and imported chocolates to give you the apology you deserve.” He leaned on the console separating them and inched closer. She wanted to recoil, but was too stunned to move.

  He thought flowers and chocolate was an appropriate apology for three years of abandonment? For leaving her when she was at her lowest point—when their unborn child’s life was on the line? All of her powers of forgiveness were being pushed to their absolute limit.

  “The years are ticking away,” he said. “Molly’s not a baby anymore and she doesn’t even know me… Olivia, I’m saying that I want to be a family again.”

  Her jaw fell open. Every sound but the blood racing through her ears fell away.

  “I know. I know.” He held up his hands, a pained expression on his face. “I have a lot to make up for, but I’m willing to do the work to prove to you that I’m all in this time. I want to give us a second chance. I don’t want our daughter to grow up in a broken home because her dad didn’t have his head screwed on right. I know I can be successful at work and on the home front.”

  “Eddie—”

  “I’ve changed, Olivia. And once I get through this last rough patch, I’ll be able to provide the life that you and Molly deserve.” He lowered his voice. “I know I hurt you. All I ask is that you don’t say no—not yet. Give me a chance to prove to you who I really am now… for Molly’s sake.”

  An expression flashed across Eddie’s face that reminded her of Molly—it was something about his eyes. She looked deeper in them, searching for the truth. Was he a changed man? She’d always believed in redemption, but had never expected to find it in Eddie. If he had made a change, she owed it to Molly to allow him to prove it. She deserved to know her father.

  She couldn’t believe what she was about to say.

  “Fine. You can try to prove whatever you want. But until you do, I don’t want you to say a word to Molly about who you really are. To her, you’re just my old friend.”

  “Fair enough. I’ll play by any rules you want.”

  Olivia fired up the engine once again, her eyes brimming with tears. How was it possible? The man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with didn’t want anything to do with her. Yet the man she hadn’t even wanted to see when she woke up this morning wanted to get back together. Fate had a cruel sense of humor.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Trent and Molly colored exactly two and a half unicorns and one princess before she began packing her crayons back into their box.

  “Can I play with Sport?” she asked.

  “Of course. I have some of your mama’s things in my truck. You two have fun while I put them in the garage.”

  Molly carried her book and crayons into the house. “Come, Sport. Time to play.”

  The dog’s ears perked up as he trotted over to Molly with his long tail swinging from side to side. Trent couldn’t help but smile. The two of them together generated more cuteness than he’d seen in a lifetime.

  Now that Molly was squared away, Trent turned his attention to the fully loaded bed of his truck. The night before had ended so abruptly that he’d gone home carrying all of Olivia’s unsold goods from the flea market.

  He’d have her wares stowed away in the garage long before she got home—and he’d do it in a way that left her walkways clear to pass. He’d seen the inside of her garage twice before. It was in serious need of some organization, and he was just the guy to whip it into shape.

  Unloading the truck took hardly any time at all. The tricky part was trying to get it all to fit in an already-full, one-car garage. Maybe some of the mess wasn’t completely Olivia’s fault after all. It was hard to put things away when there was nowhere to put them.

  Perspiration beaded on his forehead and trickled down his back. The sun was warming up. He glanced at his watch. His brows shot up when he realized that nearly thirty minutes had passed.

  Molly hadn’t made a peep in all that time. Why did people make such a big deal about babysitting? This was a cake walk.

  As if on cue, Molly opened the door leading into the eat-in kitchen area and poked her head into the garage. The brightest smile Trent had ever seen lit up her face. “Come see.”

  “See what?”

  “He’s a princess now.”

  Trent’s face scrunched as he worked to figure out what she’d just said. Who was a princess?

  “Come. Come. Come.” Molly jumped up and down, excitement lacing her every word.

  Three paces brought Trent to the door. He laid his hand on the knob and stepped inside. He sucked in a sharp breath at the sight that met his eyes, packing every molecule of air into his lungs that he possibly could.

  At some point during this cake walk, a pink glitter bomb had gone off, and Sport was the primary casualty. He lay in the center of the dinner table—ground zero—wearing a pink tutu and a string of plastic beads around his neck. And he was covered in glitter from snout to tail.

  Trent slow-walked, inching closer to the blast radius. Almost as if sensing the carnage around him, Sport didn’t dare move a muscle. He looked at Trent without turning his head, revealing the whites of his eyes. Between Sport and Molly, the dog seemed to be the only one who understood that something bad had gone down.

  “What, what, wh—” Trent had never stuttered in his life, but apparently there was a first time for everything.

  “He’s a princess now.” Molly stood on one of the chairs and waved her arms toward Sport, presenting her glitter-iffic creation.

  Venturing closer, Trent tried to brush one of the mounds of glitter off of Sport’s thick coat, but immediately recoiled at the shock of touching something cold and wet. He looked at the palm of his hand and found a sticky trail of glitter smeared across it.

  “Molly, what is this wet stuff?”

  “Glue.” Her innocent smile revealed no hostile intent. She was clearly the architect of this shock-and-awe job, but had no idea what she’d done.

  Trent did his best to hide his horror and matched her smile with a forced one of his own. “Why did you put glue on Sport?”

  “So he can be beautiful.”

  “Glue is beautiful?”

  “No!” Molly doubled over with laughter. “You’re funny. Glue makes glitter stay.”

  He reached into his back pocket with his glitter-free hand and pulled his phone out. One text was all it would take and Aunt Kat would be there in ten minutes. He surveyed the room and then looked at his phone once again, his thumb only a hair away from throwing up the white flag.

  Molly leaned over the table, seeming to relish the feeling of the thick layer of glitter as she trailed her hands through it. Had he ever enjoyed himself as much as she was enjoying life right now? He chuckled in spite of himself. Her love for life was contagious. If he wasn’t careful, he’d catch her bug.

  He shoved his phone back into his pocket. This was his beautiful mess—literally—but he’d seen worse. He would clean it up.

  What those two needed was a good dunk in water. Clean the little mess makers, then clean the mess. That was the action plan.

  There was no way he was about to put them in the tub. That would only make more mess to clean up later. There was only one thing to do. The gulf. A quick romp in the waves, and they’d both be as good as new.

  “Who wants to go to the beach?”

  Sport scrambled to his feet, still on the table, while Molly jumped up and down on the chair she stood on, squealing with delight. Trent rushed to her side and scooped her up just as the chair tipped and crashed to the floor.

  Before Trent had a chance to recover, Sport shook his coat.r />
  “No, Sport. No!” It was too late. A sparkling cloud of glitter billowed into the air, destined to settle on every surface in the room that wasn’t already covered in the stuff.

  A knock on the front door sent Sport flying off the table and running into the living room to see who was outside. Trent ran a hand down his face, groaning at the trail of glitter the dog left behind.

  Unwilling to turn Molly loose, he carried her to the front door. I don’t need two glitter bugs running wild through the living room. He recognized a familiar silhouette through the lacy curtains hanging over the glass panels of Olivia’s front door as he approached. It was Levi. Trent rolled his eyes. He could do without Levi’s ribbing today. He put on a brave front and opened the door only to be confronted by his old friend’s triumphant grin.

  “I knew that wasn’t the same truck I worked on yesterday,” Levi said. “What are you doing here?” He raised his brows, unable to contain the wide smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes.

  “Morning, Levi. I was going to ask you the same thing.” Trent stepped onto to porch, followed by Sport and put Molly down.

  “I lost one of my sockets in the dark last night. I only knocked to let you know I’d be poking around out here in the bushes looking for it.” Levi’s eyes bounced between the three of them as an ornery grin spread across his face. “That’s one tough attack dog you got there.”

  Trent glanced at Sport, who still wore a light pink tutu that matched Molly’s perfectly.

  “He’s not a dog. He’s a princess,” Molly said.

  Trent bit his bottom lip to keep from smiling at her indignation. He knelt on one knee to look her in the eye while speaking. “Levi doesn’t know anything about princesses. You better take Sport into the yard to play for a minute while I set this guy straight.”

  “Okay.” She tromped down the stairs and ran into the front yard with the dog bouncing after her.

  “Where’s your ballet skirt, man? Don’t you feel left out?” Levi teased.

  “Very funny. Shouldn’t you be crawling around on your hands and knees about now, searching for your precious socket?”