Despite myself, I laugh.
“It’s not funny,” Harvey continues, voice low. “She’s a nightmare.”
Touche, Harvey. Touche.
“Listen, man,” I say to him. “You’re stuck with her for… the rest of your life. You had your fun and now you’re bringing your first child into the world.”
“Third,” he corrects me. “This will be my third child. I also have a granddaughter who just turned three.”
I slap my palm to my forehead.
This is just getting worse as the minutes wear on.
Harvey sighs. “I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t know if I can do this.”
The thought of a child—even Isla’s child—being abandoned by their father sends a flash of anger through me.
“You should have wrapped it up then,” I harshly retort. “Get a fucking apartment in town, Harvey, and quit terrorizing Jason and Jill. Isla is your problem now. You shouldn’t have been sleeping with a student and now you’re stuck with her. Best of luck.”
Then, I slam the phone down.
Ingrid sits beside me, letting out a long sigh.
“That didn’t go well, did it?” she asks softly.
I shake my head. “Grandpa Harvey wants to leave Isla.”
“Doesn’t surprise me,” she says. “They didn’t know each other. Not really. And he’s so old, Wilder. So. Old.”
“He has a three-year-old granddaughter,” I reveal.
Ingrid drops her head into her hands.
“And this will be his third child.”
“Don’t,” she groans. “I don’t want to know anymore.”
“Good news is that your dad hasn’t told anyone he has the spare key for your room.”
“Jason is the stronger of the two,” she laughs.
“Jill means well,” I reassure her as I rub her shoulder. I can feel the tension in her muscles. “Let’s take a shower, Blondie.”
She falls back on the bed. “I just want to let out a good cry.”
“I’ll get the shower started,” I murmur before kissing a quick kiss to her lips. “You have five minutes to cry.”
She smiles. “Why do you always make everything better?”
I wish that was true. But there was a time when I made things harder for her.
Every time Fanny Allred was nasty, I should have stood up for Ingrid.
It’s hard to stand up for someone when you don’t even know how to stand up for yourself.
Myfingers find her jaw. “I love you, Ingrid.”
“I love you more, Wilder.”
