All He Has Left(57)

Jake smiled. “You’ll see.”

About that time, Dani walked up to them from the opposite direction. She wore a burnt-orange UT hoodie, black leggings, and running shoes.

“Piper, you remember Special Agent Nolan?” Jake said.

Piper nodded. “Hi, Agent Nolan.”

“Hi, Piper. You can call me Dani, OK?”

“Oh, OK, sure. So you’re the big surprise guest?”

Dani glanced at Jake, who shrugged and grinned.

“I guess so,” Dani said. “Surprise.”

Piper rolled her eyes in a playful way. “Come on, Dad. I saw this coming from a mile away. You hate talking on the phone. But you’ve been on it nonstop for months.”

“Guilty as charged.” Jake laughed. “I just wanted you to have a chance to get to know each other better. Is that cool?”

Piper looked back and forth between Jake and Dani. She was thirteen. She obviously knew what was going on here. Jake wasn’t sure how Piper was going to react. It was probably a lot for her to think about her father bringing a new woman into his life. She’d been through so much. He certainly didn’t want to do anything that might disrupt her recovery or their newly reestablished father-daughter relationship. This was the first test.

His daughter smiled. “OK, cool.”

Piper turned to run off toward a grassy area.

But Jake stopped her. “Hey, Piper!”

She looked back at him.

“You and me?” Jake asked.

She grinned ear to ear. “Always.”

Then she began practicing her tumbling in the grass.

“Well, that was easy,” Dani said to Jake.

“I’m glad. I really didn’t want this to stop.”

He smiled at her. She smiled back. While they had agreed to take things slow, Jake had to admit it already felt like they were right back in their twenties. They just fit—they always had. While he certainly didn’t regret the direction he’d taken back then because it ultimately led to having Piper, Jake was excited about a second chance with Dani. The past year had been so dark. But the future was looking very bright.

“Hey, guess what?” Dani said. “We finally got him.”

“Who?”

“Logan Gervais.”

“No kidding?”

“New York grabbed him first thing this morning.”

“That’s great news.”

Logan Gervais had disappeared off the map immediately after things had unraveled in Austin three months ago. But Jake knew the FBI had been in full-on hunting mode. He had to admit he felt relieved to know the dangerous man was in custody. Maybe the nightmares about him would finally stop.

Jake took a deep breath. He thought about Sarah. At some point, he knew he had to move forward and truly start over. She would want that for him, and she would want that for their daughter. So he said a final goodbye in his heart. And then he reached out his hand toward Dani. She hesitated a moment but then placed her fingers in his. And they began walking toward Piper together.