Page 32 of If I Didn’t Have You

“But when he’s gone, we find other ways to keep the relationship alive.”

“That’s nice,” I smiled. “Talking on the phone is always a good idea.”

“Talking and…other things,” Krista laughed.

“Shut up!”

My eyes widened in shock when I realized what Krista meant. They really were playing a young person’s game. I had never in all my life done something like that. Of course, Ben had never been away from home long enough for us to miss each other that much.

But wasn’t even one night enough? As we left the store, I started to wonder if the spark had gone out long before I realized. Had we put in the effort sooner, would things be different between us?

“Thinking about your Highlanders?” Krista asked as we walked to the car with our bags of books.

I smiled tightly at her. It was times like this that I wished I had a good girlfriend to discuss relationships with. There were just some things a mother didn’t discuss with her daughter.

10

BEN

“Daddy!”

The yelling over the sound of the nail gun barely registered. It had been so quiet around here lately, with only the sound of construction to fill the dead space in my house.

Glancing over my shoulder, I took in Lizzy’s frazzled state as she held Willa in her arms, trying to calm the wriggling toddler.

“Hey, honey.” I set down the nail gun and walked over to my daughter, grinning at the little imp in her arms. “What’s going on?”

“I need you to watch Willa,” she said, practically shoving my granddaughter into my arms.

“Whoa, say what?”

“Momma’s not here, and I have to get to work. We’re still trying to find a new cook at the bar since Roy—” Her words cut off as tears filled her eyes.

If there was one thing I was not good at, it was consoling crying women. It was different when they were kids. That, I could handle, but as an adult…what did they want?

A hug?

A stern talking-to?

Was I supposed to buck them up or commiserate? And how did I go about that?

“At least he went quickly.”

Those were the wrong words. Her eyes narrowed at me dangerously. Yep, I should have gone for the hug.

“I’m sure he would much rather still be cooking behind the bar instead of being gunned down by a crazy person. But yeah, at least he went quickly.”

“Well…yeah,” I answered uncomfortably.

“Seriously, Daddy!

“Honey—”

She slung her bag off her shoulder and shoved it at me angrily. “I just need you to keep her so I can get a few hours in without her screaming at me.”

“But I’m really not qualified to handle this!” I shouted as she turned to leave.

“Daddy, you raised five of us.”