Epoch (Transcend Duet #2)(46)

I nod. “I’ve got more love than one man deserves right here.” I glance down at Morgan. It will be hard, maybe even impossible, to love like she means after losing Daisy and Jenna.

“It was very nice to meet you, Swayze.”

She smiles at Claudia and Dennis. “Can I ask what you say to her … when you’re upstairs talking to her? I lost my father. I’m just curious since it seems to help you.”

Dennis gives his wife a gentle smile as he grabs her hand.

She draws in a slow breath. “Well, it’s been a bit of everything. A few months after she died, I decided to just pick up from where she would have been at the time. We discussed school, driving, boys, college.” She laughs. “I think I even discussed birth control with her. And Nate …”

Claudia’s focus shifts to me for a few seconds. “I told her all about you. How much you grieved her death. I told her about you not going to prom or homecoming dances and that I knew it was because you couldn’t go with her.”

Fuck. This kind of hurts. I didn’t go. I didn’t live in many ways for years … until I met Jenna.

“I told her you decided to go to college instead of playing hockey. I had to break the news to her of your engagement.” She winks. “She was jealous, but she understood.”

Swayze laughs. I meet her gaze and smile.

“And more than anything, I’ve given her advice on navigating this world, in case she gets a second chance. Crazy right?”

“A second chance?” Swayze squints.

“Swayze, can you please grab the diaper bag?” I lift the carrier.

“What do you mean a—”

“Swayze, the diaper bag. We really should get going.”

Claudia flicks her wrist. “I’m just being silly. I know there’s probably no such thing as reincarnation, but it’s comforting to think that her soul moved on. Our little girl had a beautiful soul.”

“Funny you mention that—”

“Swayze!”

Everyone snaps their attention to me.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my voice. I just remembered I have a podcast to record tonight and I’m suddenly feeling anxious that I’m not going to get it done if I don’t get Morgan home and put her to bed soon.”

“Of course.” Claudia walks us to the door. “I can’t thank you enough for bringing her by. I’m a little embarrassed we didn’t make the first effort months ago.”

“Nice to see you, Nate. And good to meet you, Swayze.”

“Thanks, Dennis. It was nice to see you again too.”

“Yes, tha—”

“Have a nice evening.” I shove Swayze out the door in front of me.

“What is your deal?” She swerves to stay on the sidewalk as I nudge her forward with the infant carrier.

“I had one request—don’t be creepy.”

“I wasn’t being creepy. Dude! She brought it up like she’s open to the idea. What if she knew?”

“Shh!” I jerk my head toward her door. “Get in.” I latch the infant carrier and hop into the driver’s seat before Swayze decides to run back inside yelling, “It’s me! Your baby girl.”

“If I’m creepy, then you, Professor, are a paranoid whack job. And oh my god … good job waiting this long to mention you named your daughter Morgan. Whack. Job.” She folds her arms over her chest and snaps her head into a resolute nod.

“Swayze, you can’t play dead daughter reunion when you have nothing to offer them but visions. You can’t love them like Daisy loved them. You have a new life, a new family. It’s not okay to drop the I’m-Daisy-reincarnated bomb on them and then skip off like you didn’t just blow their minds.”

“I have a little more grace and tact than that, but thanks for the vote of confidence.”

As we turn onto the main road a few minutes later, I shoot her a sidelong glance. “Okay. What were you going to say to them?”

Her eye twitches, jaw clenched.

“I was protecting them, not dismissing you.”

She whips her head toward me. “You were totally dismissing me like a child. I know when I’m being reprimanded publicly. My parents used to do it when I’d get fed up with them treating me like a child.”

I snicker. “So if they said something about you acting like a child, your answer was to act out even more like a child?”

Her nose wrinkles as she speaks with a mocking voice. “Swayze, do you need to go potty? Swayze, did you wash your hands with soap? Swayze, let me help you tie your shoe better. Swayze, you’re scratching your head a lot, let me check you for lice.”

“And did you have lice?”

“That’s not the point. I’m just tired of people telling me what to do or what to think. That’s why I want to do the hypnosis. I want my feelings and opinions about that life to be my own.”

I scratch my head. “We’ve hugged a lot lately. That’s all it takes for those pesky little parasites to jump onto someone else. Have you always been such a hugger?”

“Oh my gosh! Would you please focus? I didn’t have lice.” She looks out her window and mutters, “That often.”

“Eww …”

Swayze blows a stray hair away from her face. “Shut up. There were like ten identical red hats in the lost and found at school. I just picked the wrong one.” On a sigh, she angles her body toward me. “But seriously, do you know how it could change their lives if they knew that Daisy did get a second chance?”