On the Outskirts

Twenty Two

~Sadie~

The drive home was too quiet. The radio was playing but not a single one of us dared to breathe until I pulled up at the ranch and opened my door. 

"Hal, come on." 

"What? Why?" I really didn't want to argue with her right now. She had to be just as, if not more confused about the market than I was. I walked around to her side of the car, pulling the door open and helping her out, bobbing down to her height and taking her tiny face in my hands. 

"I love you. You know that right? More than anything in the world Hal." She nods. "I'm super mad right now. At him for turning up and a million other things and that is not your fault. But I'm so mad I know I'm going to end up taking it out on you and I really don't want to do that baby. I need to clear my head a little so we can sit and talk about this and you can ask questions and we can work this out together. Okay?" 

"Why are you mad at him?" I sucked in a slow breath. I didn't want to turn her against her dad if he suddenly wanted a relationship with her. I can't be the bad guy here and push him away from her because all it's going to do is push a wedge between us. One way or another he's going to hurt her and - 

"Hal?" Ryder spoke softly from behind me and her eyes moved up to him. "Mom needs some time Petal. Why don't you talk to Pops and write down all the questions you have and you can ask your mom when she's calmed down? How does that sound?" Hallie nods slowly and I press a kiss to her forehead, lingering for longer than I have in a long time before I stood up and walked her into the house. 

"Dad? You here?" 

"Front room." 

"Gimme a sec with Pops okay? Go get some paper and pens." Hallie nods, and I turn into the room. 

"Thought you three were coo-" Dad turned his head from the TV set and watched me pace the living room for a few seconds, chewing on my fingernails. "What happened Sadie? I swear to god if Ryd-" 

"Hallie's dad's here." I blurted it out, stopping and turning to my dad. "Apparently he's dating Sarah and he was in the store and he asked Hallie for ice cream and straight out told her he's her dad without even asking me if he could or if she knew or anything. Just right there in the middle of the store and she's asking questions and I'm so fucking mad but if I talk about it anymore I'm gonna end up shouting at her or saying the wrong things. Can you just-" Dad wrapped me into a tight hug but I was trying to keep everything contained. A hug right now was going to undo everything and I really can't have Hallie seeing that right now. I pushed back from him. "Can you have her for the night? If I need more time, I'l- I'll speak to Brynn and the girls or something I don't know-" 

"Sadie. Sadie breath. I've got her. Go do what you need to do. She's got everything here she needs. She's fine here. He won't get on the property before I shot his bastard knee caps out for what he's done to you two. You go do what you need to do." I nod, kiss his cheek quickly and leave without saying goodbye to the girl who's world must be chaos right now. When I get back to the car, Ryder is sat in the drivers seat and I don't even question it. I just slide in the passenger seat and we continue the drive in silence. 

When we get home, he grabs the groceries and sets them on the counter, opens the ice cream box and stabs a spoon into the top, demanding I sit at the counter and I don't even have the energy to fight it. 

"Talk to me Sadie." I swallow hard. "What happened with him?" I stare at his sweet face and with a deep breath, I reel it off. Piece by piece. From her conception in some strangers bathroom at a party after too many drinks, to the break up when he found out I was pregnant, to us getting back together when he sorted his head out, to 6 months of arguing and fighting that almost turned physical, to me and Hallie almost dying during labor and him being nowhere to be seen. "So he's not on her birth certificate?" 

"No." He nods slowly. "The whole town thinks he's dead Ryder. That's gonna be a huge issue for everyone. And the fact he had the fucking nerve to to outright tell Hallie he was her dad? That has just sent me into fucking orbit. The nerve of him. I raised that girl from day fucking one. I should have been the one to tell her. I should have been able to decide how that happened. Like, fair enough running into him but he should have been like yeah we know each other, let's catch up and given me his number, you know? I could have thought it over, met him and set boundaries, cleared the air or whatever and then introduced Hallie when she didn't have a million pairs of eyes on her in the middle of the fucking super market." 

Ryder, pulled the chair out beside me, pulling me until my legs were between his, his hands trying to provide whatever comfort he possibly could right now. 

"And he's dating Sarah? I mean come on. That's gotta be a fucking joke! Of everywoman in this town. You know for a fact she's gonna be calling herself Hallie's step mom tomorrow and is gonna try and turn her against me." 

"No, Sade, that's not gonna happen. I've seen the way Hallie looks at you babe. No ones changing that." He wiped away the tears I was now shedding, leaning over and kissing my forehead. "Okay, here's the plan. I'm gonna text Brynn and get an urgent delivery of wine and we're gonna work this out okay? The three of us are gonna get this out of our systems, we're gonna be mad and you're gonna cry it out and tomorrow we're gonna pick Hallie up and do it all again. But we're gonna work it out and everything is gonna be okay." 

"Promise?" 

"I promise Sadie. Harder than I've promised anything in my entire life."