Chapter 23

Brody hated it when Ally was sick. His daughter was full of life most days, so when she wasn't, it hurt him deep inside. He wanted to take away her pain, but all he could do was love her and tell her she'd be okay. Which he knew she would, but there was always that niggling worry deep inside that he or the doctor had missed something.

He slept for a few hours and woke to a fretful kid running a temperature, which Dr. Hannah had assured him would pass. After dosing her with her medicine again, he'd put on her favorite show and resettled on the bed beside her.

His phone buzzed, and he spent the next ten minutes assuring his family all was well. Brody then scrolled through his phone and found Phoebe's old number, which he'd never deleted and wasn't sure why. Did she still have this number, or had she changed it?

Only one way to find out.

Brody: Hey, it's Brody. Is this still your number, Phoebe?

The dots appeared, and he hoped he hadn't just texted some random person .

Phoebe: Yes, it's me. How is Ally?

He'd lost his head as soon as he'd kissed and touched her. When she'd put her hands on him, Brody had ignited, and never, not once in the years since Phoebe had left him, had he felt like that with another woman.

Brody: She has a fever, and doc thinks it's a virus. Right now, we're watching a show about kids behaving badly in school that Ally will not be watching when she's well ever again.

Phoebe: Sick times mean they get to do what they want, Daddy. You just need to suck that up. But the teacher in me is not looking forward to Ally's next day in my class.

He snorted at that. She'd been so buttoned up tight since her return to Lyntacky. Cool facade in place, he'd forgotten how funny she could be.

Brody: My kid is an angel!

Phoebe: I haven't heard that one before. Eye roll emoji.

He looked at his phone for long seconds and then typed the words.

Brody: Are you all right, Phoebe?

Phoebe: Thumbs-up emoji.

Brody hated the thumbs-up emoji because it told him nothing. You could be having the worst day of your life and still send a thumbs-up emoji, and no one would know.

Brody: We made love, and then there's the scar. A thumbs-up emoji tells me nothing about how you're feeling or what you're thinking.

Nothing came for at least five minutes, and then the dots appeared as she started writing something.

Phoebe: Don't make more of this than there needs to be, Brody. I just came home, you have Ally, and our lives are full. Let's just forget this happened.

Is she messing with me now? Forget that mind-blowing sex happened? Why did her words piss him off so much? Wasn't he the no commitment kind of guy too? But this was Phoebe, and everything had always been different with her. Putting his phone back on the nightstand, he got up to make himself coffee. Texting anything in his current mood was a bad idea. He was mature enough to understand that, at least.

Grabbing his laptop, Brody decided to do some work while Ally watched TV and dozed. An hour later, with Phoebe still firmly in his head, he typed her name into the search bar. The blood in his veins ran cold when he read the first headline.

Teacher Suffers Knife Attack

Ten minutes later, when he'd read everything he could find, Brody felt sick to his stomach.

Phoebe had been involved in a violent assault at the school she'd been teaching at. A man had entered her classroom and stabbed her while she'd been protecting a student.

She could have died, and he'd had no idea what she was going through or that she'd been rushed to hospital in a critical condition. Closing his laptop, he stared at the wall.

"Christ, Phoebe." The whisper came out in a rush. How the hell did you cope?

Brody knew exactly how she'd coped. He'd seen the changes in her. Her withdrawal, the loss of the girl who had loved life with her whole heart. He'd put it down to age and the changes New York had made in her, but it hadn't been that, not completely. What happened in that classroom had to have impacted everything about her and the way she lived her life.

Phoebe had been his girl, and he'd never really taken the time to look past himself and what he wanted to see how special she'd been until it was too late.

A cough had him rising, and he went to Ally. He put thoughts of Phoebe away for now, but he'd be making time for that talk as soon as he could, and she would listen.

For three days, he looked after his shivering, puking kid but woke on the morning of the fourth day and saw by the light that it was daytime. Looking at his watch, he noted they'd both been asleep for hours undisturbed.

Rolling to his side, he looked down at Ally.

"Hi, Daddy," she said, sleepy eyed.

"Hey, baby, how you doing?" He placed his hand on her forehead. Huffin licked her cheek, making her giggle.

"He didn't leave your side."

She hugged the wriggling little body close.

"I'm really hungry."

"I bet. You want a shower first while I make you something? Because you really smell."

She managed a smile, but not the usual full-wattage one she gave, then nodded, so he went to turn it on and get her clean clothes.

Once they were both clean and dressed, he settled her on the sofa in the living area.

Their home had three bedrooms and an open-plan kitchen and living area facing the garden. There were trees beyond, plus his shed, which now had memories of Phoebe whenever he stepped inside.

He wasn't sure what to do about that woman, but Brody knew he had to do something. The last few days hadn't yielded any clarity, only more questions.

Wandering into the kitchen, he stabbed buttons on the coffee maker.

Last year they'd done a much-needed renovation on Brody and Ally's home. His family told him it was time, and as they were supplying the labor, he didn't argue .

Zoe, of course, had a lot to say about that. They'd painted the walls "simply white," which Ally had picked and just looked like plain old white to Brody. One had a half wall of wood paneling, which was "blustery gray" that Zoe said was the perfect complement for "simply white." As he'd been ready to run screaming from the house after days of color charts and discussions, he would have even agreed to that hideous orange in the McAllister cottage.

Once it was done, he realized just how long overdue the renovation had been, because when he'd moved in here, he'd been the sole person in charge of a toddler. Okay, not sole person, he had family, but he was her only parent, so paint colors weren't high on his priority list, and he'd gone for white throughout.

His furniture was comfortable, and there was a nook with a big window where their table sat surrounded by chairs. Brody and Ally took their meals there.

The walls held pictures drawn by his kid, and scattered around the place was plenty of girl paraphernalia. They kept the place clean, but neither of them were particularly organized.

He began to scramble eggs and make toast. He then made her a banana smoothie. Ally ate like it was her last meal when he placed the food before her on a tray.

"Dad?"

"Ally."

"What is my mom's name?"

He didn't show the surprise on his face. "Melanie."

"Didn't she want me?"

"I told you she left to go back to her home because she missed it, Ally. I don't think she could handle having a baby, and she knew I could."

She smiled. "I'm glad I stayed here with you. "

"Me too, kiddo." He ruffled her hair. "Why the questions?"

She shrugged her slim shoulders. "Some of the kids at school were asking me about her."

"They're not giving you a hard time, are they?" He'd be talking to her teacher, who just happened to be the woman he couldn't stop thinking about, if they were.

"No, and I can handle myself."

"Ally—"

"Is it safe in here?" Dan called out, and then he appeared in the doorway with Zoe. His sister carried a large container, and Dan, a grocery bag.

"We're here to spend time with the patient. I have games." Dan raised his bag.

"And I have home baking from Uncle Ryder. He would have come, but he's at the cafe getting ready for the opening," Zoe said.

"You head on out now, bro, and do stuff," Dan said, pointing to Brody.

"Stuff?" Brody asked with a yawn.

"You two probably need a break from each other. We'll take it from here," Zoe said. "Go." She made shooing motions with her hands.

"I do need to get some supplies. I won't be long."

"Go, and we can take care of one small girl-child. If need be, we'll lock her in a room until you get back," Dan said. Ally snuffled and then yawned.

"She's pretty tired."

"Good, so am I. We can nap while Zoe looks after us," Dan added. "Now go. We've got this, Brody."

"I know you do, and thanks."

"I'm not looking after you," Zoe said, kissing Brody's cheek and then hugging him. "My niece, however, is getting a full pampering. "

My family , he thought, leaving the house five minutes later. They were the best there was and always had his back—even if sometimes keeping anything a secret or having some peace was like Jed Knox actually hitting a home run at any time in his life.

Driving into town minutes later, he headed to get some groceries. The long legs of Phoebe stopped him. He watched as she walked into the Do-Si-Do Diner and then pulled into a parking space outside.