Down Too Deep (Dirty Deeds, #4)(2)

Movement caught my eye as my mother entered the room from the kitchen, balancing my daughter on her hip. Dad straightened up as Mom wiped at her nose with a tissue. She’d been crying. I could still see the tears in her eyes.

“This is a joke,” I said to my father. “I need more time.”

“You should’ve hired help already, Nathan.”

“And you expect me to find someone in six days? What am I supposed to do with her?” I tipped my head in Marley’s direction. She was resting her head on my mother’s shoulder. She looked nearly asleep. “I still have to work. It’s my restaurant, Dad. Who’s going to watch her?”

My father shrugged like he didn’t give a fuck about my problems anymore and folded his arms across his chest. “You’re a parent, son. Sometimes you just gotta figure it out as you go along. We don’t always have the answers.”

“You’re not even going to help me out until I find a sitter or something?”

“Vacation’s already booked. We won’t be here.”

My leg began to bounce.

I stared up at him, waiting for sympathy to call his bluff and back down his demand, but he was unyielding. Panic tightened the wall of my chest. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“I don’t know how to do this,” I whispered.

Not even that unusual admission changed his demeanor. He remained eerily still. My mother was another story. She immediately shuffled closer, most likely wanting to comfort me or give in and call this off. Her thirty-year-old son was breaking down for the first time in front of her, but she didn’t make it two steps before Dad held her back with his hand raised, keeping his eyes on me.

“You’ll figure it out,” he said.

“Dad, please…” I was willing to beg. I would’ve done anything in that moment to have their help a little longer.

How could I do this by myself?

“Nathan.” My father bent down and squeezed my shoulder. “You will figure it out.” He spoke with confidence. He was certain, not doubting me at all, and I wanted that to ease my mind, if only a little, but it couldn’t.

I knew I’d fail at this.

After goodbyes were said, I paced my house from end to end, trying to calm Marley, who began screaming the second the door latched shut.

My daughter wanted my parents, not me. She barely knew me.

Her cries were deafening. She squirmed in my arms and pushed against my chest with more strength than a two-year-old should have. Her tears wet my neck and soaked into my shirt.

I kept walking. I didn’t know what else to do. She was typically already asleep by the time I got home at night. I didn’t know what soothed her.

My parents ignored my calls. You’ll figure it out. Guess that advice was going into effect immediately. I was on my own with this.

I lapped the family room thirty-eight times that night. An hour later, the house was finally quiet.

After laying Marley in her crib, I collapsed on my bed, fully dressed. I didn’t even bother taking off my shoes.

“Wake up, Nathan.”

I opened my eyes and turned my head on the pillow. The bedroom was dark.

I was alone.





Chapter Two





JENNA




Which animal do you think I should get on my face, Mama? A butterfly or a cat?”

Olivia, my daughter, studied her sun-kissed cheeks in the mirror above the sink as she washed her hands in the Whitecaps women’s restroom.

We were here for the Memorial Day carnival the restaurant was hosting, and Olivia had made it known how badly she wanted her face painted the second we arrived. Especially after she discovered Sydney was running that booth. Olivia adored my brother’s girlfriend.

“I think you’d look beautiful with either one,” I answered, handing her a paper towel when she finished up and walked over to me. “Which one did you want first? That’s probably the one you want the most.”

“A butterfly.”

“Then ask Syd for a butterfly.”

“But what if I change my mind and she’s already painted a wing? I’ll be doomed if that happens. Cats don’t have wings.” Face reddening in distress, Olivia huffed and shook her head like this decision was eating her up inside. Her bright blue glasses slid down her nose.

I fixed them for her, smiling. “Do both, then.”

Her eyes widened in hope-filled wonder. “I can do that?”

“Why not? You have two cheeks, don’t you?”

She thought on this plan, her gaze briefly drifting to the floor. Then she nodded quickly, looking up at me. “I totally have two cheeks. I can be a cat butterfly! I bet nobody else will think of that. I’ll be the only one and everyone will think I’m so cool, right?”

“Oh, absolutely. You’ll be the coolest girl here.”

Olivia pumped her fists into the air, hooting and hollering as she bounced on her toes. “This is the best idea ever!”

I followed her out the door, both of us giggling. When I noticed my son and Olivia’s twin brother, Oliver, was nowhere to be seen inside the restaurant, I assumed he really did need to use the restroom, even though he’d assured me he hadn’t.

“Oliver?” I called out, holding the men’s room door open.