Page 23 of Redeem My Heart

“Which one of them sent you?” I ask.

He chuckles. “More or less all of them.” He lowers himself onto the sofa next to me.

That’s the thing about having a tiny house, when you have company, you practically have to sit on top of each other.

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not particularly. I fucked up. As usual. That’s the gist of it.”

“Dane, how are you feeling since she walked out?”

“Like the sun stopped shining and I’ll never take a full breath again.”

“Do you know what that is?” he asks.

“I’m guessing guilt and shame for the way I hurt her.”

He reaches up and smacks me on the back of my head.

“Ow,” I say, rubbing the spot. “What was that for?”

“Don’t be an idiot. You are in love with that woman. That’s what you’re feeling.” He taps on my chest. “And it can be fixed.”

I clench my jaw hoping the tears won’t come.

“Son, you’ve been on your own in many ways longer than the other three. You’re a doer, I get it. But it doesn’t mean that’s all you can do. You do have the capacity to love and be loved just as much as anyone does.”

I shake my head, ignoring the fact that I’m crying like a goddamn baby in front of my father. “I’m not as strong as you are. I couldn’t lose a wife like you did.”

“Strength has nothing to do with it. You do what you have to do. Every day. That’s how you survive.” He subconsciously reaches for his left hand to twist the ring he took off just last year. “When your mother died, I thought I’d die with her. But I knew she’d kick my ass if I didn’t take care of you kids. Some days it was enough to say that y’all were home and fed.” He chuckles. “My bar was low.”

“But you’ve never wanted to date again or anything.”

“No, I had my happy ending. Now I get to sit back and watch you kids do it, and hopefully y’all will give me more grandkids than Taylor. She’s my pride and joy, but we could use more babies in this family.” He reaches over and squeezes my shoulder. “You should be a part of that. Don’t walk away from the best thing that’s ever happened to you because you’re afraid.”

Then he stands. “I’ll get out of your hair now. Let me know when the wedding is.” Then he leaves.

My dad, casually dropping wisdom like it’s nothing.

He’s not wrong. I am afraid. Scared to death of what would happen if I lost her. Not like this way, but in the permanent way. Losing my mom was hard. But watching my dad grieve her nearly tore me apart. I made a vow to myself back then that I’d never put myself in that position.

That was a child’s vow. I’m a man now, and I’d rather have one hour of bliss with Shelby Coleman next to me than to live the next forty years watching her build a life with another man.

I clean my face and then pick up my phone. I push the call button.

“What do you want?”

“Luna, hear me out. I fucked up.”

“No shit. What are you going to do about it?”

“I’m guessing groveling will be involved.”

She chuckles. “Then it sounds like we’re off to a great start.”

“Where is she?”

“Oh, she’s with Eric. Over at Ace’s.”