Episode 834: Treat You Better

Before Curran could respond to the reprimand, their daughter, Hope, did respond with wide eyes. “I could’ve been killed?” she asked. “You mean like the bug smushed on the car window?”

Feeling like their child had been startled enough by the vehicle that had nearly hit her, Curran attempted to downplay the incident. “No, no, you wouldn’t have-”

“Yes,” Michael countered. “You know better than to dart ahead of us from the parking lot into the street, even if,” she paused to glare at Curran, “even if your daddy let go of your hand to play with his phone.”

His wife had no idea of what he was dealing with on their family’s behalf. Not that he was about to enlighten her anytime soon. “I wasn’t playing, that phone call was important.” He’d love to ignore it, but for the moment, he had no choice.

“You daughter is more important than any-”

“It’s not Daddy’s fault,” Hope’s sweet though forceful voice interjected. “I was too happy to go buy kindergarten stuff so I ran. I’ll never do it again, I promise. Don’t be mad at Daddy.”

“I just got scared for a minute,”Michael said, scruffing their little girl’s silky hair. “I just want you to both be more careful, okay? I’m not really mad at your dad.”

Hope grinned, obviously pleased. Their little peacemaker. She had a way of diffusing things that just made life better. She made life better.

“It is my fault,” Curran told his daughter. “You do need to watch our for you, too, but I’m your dad, I’m supposed to do the best job of watching out for you. I’m sorry I didn’t do that.” He got down on his knees on the sidewalk and pulled his girl into a tight hug, vowing to fix it so that he’d never receive another damn call, text, email, whatever from Paul, demanding anything in regards to Hope. He was done letting this amateur threaten him. It was time to do the threatening.

Episode 835: Send Your Love