Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 92368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
I just look at Zeus. I can tell he doesn’t want to. But I know what he’s going to say.
He glances back at Gigi, who’s waiting on the merry-go-round, which has slowed to a stop. She has a curious expression on her face.
“I’ll just be a sec, okay?”
She nods but doesn’t say anything.
The guy digs his cell out of his pocket and holds it out to me. “Would you mind?”
I take the phone and snap the photo. Then, I hand the phone back to him.
“Thanks,” he says to me. “Sorry to interrupt,” he says to us all. “And good luck with the Dimitrov fight,” he tells Zeus. “Not that you’ll need it. I reckon five rounds, most.”
“Thanks, man,” Zeus says to him. Then, he turns back to Gigi. “Sorry about that, Gigi. Right, you want me to keep spinning you, or are we going on something else?”
She doesn’t answer. She’s staring at him, her head cocked to the side, like she does when she’s trying to work something out.
For a split second, my heart stops as I worry that she’s figured out he’s her dad, which is crazy. There’s no way she’d be able to figure that out. Right?
“Why dids that man want to take picture with you, Zweus?”
“Well…” He seems to be struggling with how to answer.
“Zeus has a job that means he’s sometimes on TV,” I tell her.
“Wike Princess Twilight Sparkle?”
“Kind of but different,” I answer.
“Different how?” she asks, craning her head to look up at Zeus.
He crouches down in front of her, so he’s eye-level. “Well, I’m a boxer, Gigi.”
Her brows come together. “But I’s thought you were a mailman?”
His lip comes out at the corner, forming his trademark half-smile. “That was my other job. But my main job is boxing.”
“So…you’s a box?”
Zeus rumbles out a laugh. “A boxer, a fighter,” he explains to her.
“Fighting’s bad.” She frowns. “Mommy always tells me that.”
“Your mom’s right; fighting is bad, Gigi. But there are some instances when it’s okay.”
“Wike?”
“Well, when it’s a sport, like boxing is. I put on gloves and get in a boxing ring to fight against another boxer. There’s a referee to make sure we’re okay. And medics are on standby in case one of us gets hurt.”
“You get hurt?” Her eyes widen, and the concern on her face tugs at my chest.
“No,” he tells her, his expression softening. “I’m the best. And, when you’re the best like me, no one gets close enough to hurt you.”
Those words echo in my mind, and I believe them down to my very core.
I can’t imagine anyone ever hurting Zeus. And I don’t mean just physically.
We stayed in the park for another hour, and no one bothered Zeus for a picture again, which was good. We’re back in his car now and on our way to Landmark Diner, which is Gigi’s favorite place to eat, as she loves their pancakes.
She also seems to really like Zeus. She’s been soaking up attention all morning. He’s totally gone for her. I can see it in his eyes. But then Gigi is easy to love. She gets that trait from her father.
Watching Zeus with Gigi—something I never thought I’d see—makes me happy for her. That she finally has her father in her life even if she doesn’t exactly know yet who he is.
But there’s this permanent ache in my chest. I think it’s the what-if ache. What if Zeus had never cheated on me and dumped me? We’d have been a family. Together for all this time.
But it’s stupid to think about what-ifs. It gets you nowhere but to Sad Town.
Life happens the way it’s meant to. And I was never supposed to be with Zeus for life.
I might have thought that he was the love of my life. And I can’t deny that I still have feelings for him. He’s Gigi’s father and my first love, so I’m always going to have an emotional attachment to him. It makes sense.
But, beyond that, there’s nothing more.
Zeus and I were over a long time ago.
“This the place?” Zeus checks as he pulls into the diner’s parking lot.
“Yep. This is it.”
“Looks nice,” he comments as he parks the car in a space.
“It’s my favowite,” Gigi tells him for the tenth time.
He smiles at her in the rearview mirror.
Gigi insists on unbuckling herself. I notice Zeus doesn’t put on his ball cap this time. Maybe because it didn’t help him go unrecognized the last time.
Zeus gets out of the car, and I do the same. He opens the door for Gigi. She clambers out of the car with Princess Twilight Sparkle under her arm.
We all start to walk toward the diner. Gigi and Zeus are in front, and I’m just a little ways behind them.
“You gonna have pancakes, Zweus?” Gigi asks him.
“They make the best pancakes here, right?”