Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“I’m so sorry, Little one.” His heart hurt for her.
She licked her lips and continued. “For a few years I didn’t see my mother at all. In that time, I realized she had been the problem. Life was a bit calmer with just my father around, but we never saw him. He worked two jobs.”
“That’s why you spent so much time at school working with the teacher who helped you learn to love remodeling,” he surmised.
She smiled. “Yes. He changed my life. But then I graduated, and suddenly my mother showed up. She ignored my brothers but thought she should step in and help me become a woman.”
Callen winced. Somehow this story was going to go downhill.
“I was all set to go to school across the country to study architecture, and she thought it was a terrible idea. We fought all the time. She told me women didn’t do that sort of job. It was an ugly summer that ended with my father helping me get to college several days early just to avoid her possibly trying to interfere.”
“That must have been very stressful.”
Jordi nodded. “It was, but at least she stopped bothering me for a while.”
“So you still hear from her?” Based on her last comment, he suspected she must.
“Yeah. My father died about five years ago, and I’m not close to my brothers anymore. I never moved back to that side of the country. But my mother likes to call and text and remind me that I’m ruining my life. That I’m trying to play in a man’s world, that I’ll never succeed because no one will hire a woman to do carpentry jobs. I’ve tried to prove myself to her. I’ve done everything I could to make her see that I’m successful. Why can’t she just love me like regular moms do?” Jordi let out a small sob and a hiccup.
Callen’s breath hitched. How could anyone treat their child that way? It was disturbing. It was obvious Jordi had spent years trying to make her mother see her, and the woman apparently refused to love her daughter for who she was.
Jordi wiped her eyes and pasted on a fake smile. “But she’s wrong. I can be anything I want to be. I’m successful. I just finished my biggest job to date, and I’m proud of myself, and I don’t need her to be.”
Callen pulled her closer against his chest and kissed her temple. “You’re absolutely right, Sunshine. You’ve proven you can be anything you want to be, and I’m so proud of you. So very, very proud.” He could be proud enough of his Little girl every day of her life that it would make up for all the years she’d tried unsuccessfully to make her mother proud.
She threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Daddy.” When she let go, she giggled. “Can you imagine if she found out I was also Little?”
He tried to smile at her. “It’s none of her business. She never needs to know.” The woman was obviously toxic, and Callen would do whatever he could to protect Jordi from her. “How about from now on you come to me when you get messages from your mother. We’ll listen together.”
He wasn’t at all sure what he would do about her mother, but he certainly didn’t want his Little girl fighting battles on her own.
“Okay, Daddy. Thank you.”
“Now, let’s go see about dinner.”
Chapter Fourteen
“What’s that, Daddy?” Jordi asked when they entered the kitchen. She pointed toward the table, noticing the strange yellow seat on one of the chairs.
He shifted his gaze that direction and smiled. “Oh, that’s a new addition. A booster seat. I got it today. Now you can sit up higher at the table, and Daddy can fasten you in so you won’t fall off the chair.”
She stared at him for several seconds and then started giggling. “I’m too old to fall off the chair, Daddy.”
He gave her a mock look of shock. “Too old? That’s nonsense. Little girls sometimes think they’re big enough to do grownup things, but then they fall and get hurt. I would not be a very good Daddy if I left that to chance, would I?”
She sobered, shaking her head. “No, Daddy. It would be like letting me ride in the car without a seatbelt.”
“Exactly.” He led her over to the table, lifted her off the floor, and settled her on the seat. “See? Perfect.”
She had to agree, and when he proceeded to buckle a strap around her waist, she felt even more loved and secure. Maybe the booster seat was babyish and silly, but she was learning she sometimes liked to experience really young age play. It was calming.
Perhaps she was just emotional tonight. For the entire day she’d been on the edge of tears. She’d known why too. She’d been half expecting a call or text from her mother, ruining her big day. It was silly. It wasn’t as if the woman would show up. She’d never been out of the state where Jordi grew up as far as Jordi knew. She just liked to leave mean-spirited messages and texts. Jordi assumed she was a bitter old woman with nothing else to do but drag everyone down with her.