Page 129 of Older

“What are you certain about?” I swallowed, my fingers curling into his T-shirt.

Reed continued to massage his palm up and down my spine as his eyes glassed over with sentiment. His lashes fluttered, and he exhaled through his nose, whispering back, “I’m certain it’s going to hurt like hell when this is over.”

CHAPTER 25

Tara stole one of my french fries as we sat across from each other in a diner booth while mid-June sunshine streamed in from the adjacent window. It brightened her smile and lit her up, highlighting the truth I’d been struggling to digest over the last two weeks: my little girl was now a high school graduate.

She was a legal adult; a grown woman.

It felt impossible…but here we were.

I leaned forward, both of my forearms pressed to the tabletop, and tilted my head. I studied her through the melancholy. There was a dreary cloud coasting over my head, because I knew that these moments together were going to be fewer and further between.

And paired with my new extracurricular activities, these moments may diminish to fleeting glimpses, overshadowed by the weight of my secrets.

Tara munched on a fry, swallowing it down before her eyebrows dipped. “What? You’re looking at me like I traded faces with a baboon.”

I frowned. “I don’t like baboons.”

“I know. That’s my point.”

“I would never look at a baboon like I look at you. There’s only pride and unconditional love in these eyes.”

“You look like I just stomped all over your heart with my creepy, hand-like baboon feet.”

I physically shuddered at the mental image. “I was just thinking about how fast time has gone by. How much you’ve grown up.”

She nodded slowly, processing, then shoveled a few more fries into her mouth. “Well, you were thinking about that. Now you’re just thinking about baboons.”

Smirking, I flicked a french fry across the table and it bopped her on the nose.

“Rude!” She broke out into giggles and tossed a handful at me. “You know I’m not above public food fights.”

“Oh, I know. Your seventh birthday party still finds me in my nightmares.”

“Cake. Everywhere.”

“So much.”

Her features softened, her emerald eyes sparkling against the window light. Long hair fell over her shoulders in cocoa-brown waves, and her eyelashes were long and curving, just like mine. Tara had my bone structure; an angular jaw, dimples, and full lips. While her eyes were my color, they were shaped like Whitney’s. They shared the same button nose, too.

She was so damn perfect.

My little girl.

“I feel like you invited me out to lunch to get sappy with me,” Tara said through a bite of food, dipping one of her fries into a chocolate milkshake. “Am I right?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, boy.” She sighed and collapsed backward in the booth. “I saw your tears during my graduation ceremony. I had a feeling this was coming.”

“Those weren’t tears. The wind was in my eyes.”

“We were inside.”

“There was wind.”

Pursing her lips to the side, she let a smile break free. “I’m still your little girl, Dad.”