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Chapter 2
"So, how about a baseball game?" Daniel asked his daughter as he watched her eat breakfast, a big sulky look on her face that she had owned since Julia had dropped her off with him.
Gabi looked to her father and didn't wonder where her dark eyes and hair came from. Even her dark skin. Her nose and yes, maybe her mouth, too. But it annoyed her that she only took a few features from her mother when she had barely heard from him since she was fourteen.
"Why did you make me come here?" She asked out of interest.
Daniel considered her. She sure wasn't the sweet little fourteen-year old he remembered. But he liked that. He liked that she was honest and he liked that she was independent. Julia had done a good job.
"Well…the last few years have been…difficult." He explained. "But I hoped you might give me a chance to get to know me again. And I thought your mom might like some support." He added.
She flicked her astute eyes to him, testing him.
"Why didn't you want to see me the last three years?" She asked and he felt her anger deep in his gut.
He licked his lips.
"There's some things that at your age, you just wouldn't understand." He began.
"Oh god, the 'you're too young to understand' speech." She rolled her eyes. "I'm old enough to have sex and to be trusted alone all day, dad." She pointed out. "If you hadn't forgotten me you'd know that not long ago I was attacked. Do you not think I've been hurt, been disappointed? Do you not think I've seen life?" She asked and then sighed, getting up and leaving him at his breakfast table, astounded.
His daughter was having sex?
--
"So, you have a boyfriend then?" He asked conversationally as she sulked on their walk to his work place.
"Wow, you win a prize." She said sarcastically.
"Is it too much to ask that you speak to me like I'm your parent?" He asked sharply.
Her brown eyes darkened and reminded him of his own fiery temper.
"Do you care? At all?" She wondered.
"I'm asking aren't I?" He reasoned.
"Only to tell me I shouldn't be sleeping with him or some shit." She argued.
"Don't swear at me Gabriella Montez!" He commanded and she bit her lower lip.
She rolled her eyes around and walked off, one hand wrapped around her elbow in a little-girl kind of way. It reminded him starkly how much she had grown up.
She stomped into his garage and grabbed her bucket and sponge.
"Wait…" He asked gently, stopping her with a hand to her elbow.
"What?" She asked, meeting his gaze again.
"At least tell me his name, what does he do? How did you meet him?" He begged and he felt sheen of tears cover his eyes at how much he had missed in her young life.
She was seventeen, on the cusp of being an adult. So feisty, fighting for her freedom. And yet so vulnerable, so easily broken if he didn't take care of her.
"His name is Troy. He's a basketball player at East High and I met him through a roller skating competition." She supplied, sighing softly. "Can I please go now?" She asked.
She skated? His baby girl skated? And she was dating a basketball player. He wasn't sure he liked that piece of information but he vowed to find out more.
"Sure. What about the game tonight, do you want to go?" He asked.
"Sure, dad. Why not?" She asked flippantly, putting her shades on and carrying the bucket to the water tap.
God but why did he have to know everything about her life? Gabi fumed silently, practically throwing her sponge at the car before she simmered down and began cleaning, the rhythm of her swipes calming.
She pulled out her phone and put her music on, dancing around the car as she let the beat soak into her whole body.
"Wow, is the dancing included in the price of a car wash?" Tom asked as Gabi opened her eyes in shock, glancing at her dad who had also been watching her shake her thing.
"It's just my way of coping sometimes." She shared, going back to her job.
"Mm, here, I got you a milkshake." He offered her a cup with a straw, sucking on his own identical one.
"What flavour?" She asked curiously, edging over to him.
"Strawberry." He squinted, seeing if he had guessed right.
"Mmm, yummy." She smiled and took the cup from him boldly.
He chuckled at her, smiling at her face.
"What?!" She objected.
"Nothing, you just make me laugh." He assured.
"Great." She pretended to be offended.
"So what did you think of our little town?" He asked, referring to their skating session.
"It's beautiful, it really is. But I miss home, so much." She added.
"Oh right, the Wildcat." He teased.
"I'm sorry; did I talk about him all the time last night?" She wondered.
"Not all the time." He replied. "But I think I know the dude pretty well considering I never met him." He added.
She laughed.
"God, you're not gonna want to hang out with me!" She complained.
"Nah, it's cool. It's cool that you have someone you love." He added, his eyes meeting hers shyly.
"Do you?" She asked in return.
"I did. And she dropped me for the basketball team captain." He said, pressing his lips together.
"You're kidding me? That's a joke, right?" She asked, eyes wide.
His smile escaped.
"Yeah, actually that was a joke! But seriously, the girl I like, she wouldn't even look at me." He lifted his brows, rocking back on his feet.
"Ah-ha!" She exclaimed, jumping up.
"What?" He eyed her fearfully.
"Summer project!" She said excitedly.
"What is?" He frowned, afraid of the excitable girl before him.
"Getting you your dream girl." She smiled confidently.
"Ohhhhh no…." He protested quickly.
"Oh yes. If I have to be stuck here all summer, I am so gonna do something worthwhile with my time." She said.
"I'm not a charity case." He objected.
"I know." She answered, frowning bemusedly.
"Then why help me? I told you she doesn't like me, just leave it at that." He said cagily, turning to go.
"Tom, wait!" Gabi called and he ignored her, leaving her stumped.
"You attract a lot of attention huh?" Daniel asked drily.
Gabi lifted her eyes to him, hiding her smile.
"I guess I do." She agreed, going back to her bucket and sponge.
--
"Wooo-eeee, you can clean my car any day!" Came a redneck kind of voice and Gabi turned, arching her brow.
It was about time an asshole showed up. Her life seemed to be empty of them right now.
"It's ten dollars for the outside and twenty to hoover it out as well." She supplied coolly.
"Can I watch?" The tall, brash idiot asked, his keen hazel eyes zeroing in on her bust.
She smiled wanly. "Only if you want to lose an eye." She returned.
Daniel walked down the forecourt, hearing Gabi's comment and secretly thinking, good for her.
"Can I help you, Brett?" He asked, standing by his daughter protectively.
"Yeah, just admiring your new hired help." He grinned.
"That's my daughter you're perving over." He stated flatly, wiping his hands as his dark eyes met Brett's and held them, silently warning him.
"Your daughter?" Brett looked nervous. "Oh, I'll be damned. I do apologise, little lady." Brett said to Gabi.
"My boyfriend would beat your ass…" She muttered as she turned and went inside the shed.
"I don't wanna see you anywhere near her." Daniel stated with a squint.
Brett merely smiled, walking off.
--
"He takes care of you, this basketball guy?" Daniel asked as he shared a hotdog with Gabi at the baseball game.
"His name is Troy, dad." She supplied.
"Fine, Troy. He takes care of you?" He asked again, insistent, trying to keep his temper.
"He does." She answered.
"He…he protects you, right?" He asked awkwardly and she rolled her eyes up fearfully as she bit into her hotdog. "You know, uses a condom?" He asked and Gabi closed her eyes, just about dying of shame.
"You really just go right for the big conversations, don't you?" She asked back, kind of feeling sorry for him.
It couldn't be easy for him, she supposed. He had a seventeen year old daughter that he knew nothing about. He was probably worried she was going to get pregnant or something.
"I try." He shrugged, trying to lighten the mood, then, "You do use protection though, don't you, just tell me that much?" He begged.
She laughed. She couldn't help the giggle that overtook her. He looked so damn nervous, like it was his whole life that she was protected during sex.
"We do." She agreed, blushing even as her face twisted.
"I'm sorry, I had to ask…." He apologised, relaxing visibly.
"Mom doesn't ask me this stuff." She accused. "She trusts me."
"Oh." He said, looking at his hotdog, not eating it, then flicking his eyes over his petite daughter, her wavy hair cast over her tiny shoulders. "I'm sorry if you think I didn't trust you. I do. I just…I just don't know this guy, that's all." He explained.
"Well you would do, if you bothered to visit." She threw back and he understood why she hurt. He understood why she didn't want to share details about her life because she was protecting herself from being hurt again. He could see that this Troy meant a lot to her because she clammed up every time he mentioned his name, like she was afraid he was going to cast judgement against him.
"You're right. I should have visited." He agreed, slowly nodding, finally taking a bite of his sausage and bun, now cool from his hesitation.
"He's actually a really cool guy. He really cares about me. He gave me this ring…" She said and held up her hand for him to see, desperate to prove his worth.
He nodded, his brows lifting.
"A promise ring." He recognised.
She nodded, pressing her lips together.
"You must miss him, huh, baby girl?" He asked, his affectionate nickname naturally falling from his lips.
She nodded again, her brown eyes raising to his, questioning.
"I missed you." He said, answering her question, his tears appearing again.
"Troy's team won the basketball championship you know…" She began and he smiled as she launched into a description of Troy and his team and how they connected.
He smiled down on her, the words streaming into his ears as he thought how proud he was of her, how much he hated himself for not being there.
That would change, he promised himself.