Page 78 of Out of Bounds

“The Gunnar you know, Talia, is not the Gunnar who I called when I turned down the coaching job because I had left my heart in St. Thomas,” Cullen piped in. “The Gunnar you’ve gotten to know isn’t a workaholic who spends eighteen hours a day in the office. No, you got the one who has found his light again. You have Felicity to thank for that. She brought him back to life in a way.”

She did bring me back to life…

Warmth spread through him as he listened to Cullen say that. But it also made him realize that the guy was right. Felicity had changed him. He’d known for a while that they were good for each other—that they brought out something in the other that no one else could. It just hadn’t been until now that he’d actually done the math. All the extra hours he hadn’t spent working. How he’d started taking breaks during the day so he could text her. Felicity Sutherland really had been exactly what he needed.

“So why didn’t they just tell me? It’s not like I’m a child. I wouldn’t have cared. But instead they snuck around.”

“Sometimes relationships need to develop in their own little world, without the influence of anything else,” Cullen told her. “I’m sure they would have told you when they were ready.”

“We would have, promise,” Gunnar said, walking into the living room where the three of them were sitting. Talia jumped a little, startled by the sound of his voice, Cowboy and Cullen’s heads whipping around to look at him. He smiled at all of them, looking for a place to sit. Talia was curled in a ball in the large, overstuffed chair that sat closest to the kitchen, while his two buddies were on either end of the couch. It looked weird to have them all in one place, like they were having a family meeting, but it also felt good to have the people he cared for the most all together. Well, almost everyone. “I was actually planning to bring it up when we got back from San Antonio, but we got off the plane and everything went tits up.”

He sat down on the coffee table, facing his daughter. The hurt on her face was clear as day, but there was confusion in her eyes as well. He could tell that she was having just as much trouble as he was processing everything, and he wanted to reach out and hug her. He might be new to the dad thing, but he still didn’t like to know that his little girl was upset.

“Talia, I know you’re hurt, and angry, and confused. And I don’t blame you. But these guys are right, it’s because of her that you’re getting this version of me. I can’t promise what version you would have gotten if she hadn’t stepped in. He might have been cool, but he also might have been shit. Should we have said something as soon as things changed between us? Probably. But it wasn’t that simple. For one, things just kind of happened. She and I both fought it for a while, but eventually, we couldn’t. Because of our jobs, well, that makes things extra complicated. But never, at any point, was she using you. Your friendship might have helped me start to see a different side of her, but that’s it.”

“So she never told you about…” Talia trailed off.

Gunnar eyed her, wondering where that sentence was headed before she stopped. Talia gave him a sly, secretive smile, like she could see the wheels turning in his head. “Never told me what?”

“Nothing.”

“Right…” he answered, dragging out the word. He gave her the most fatherly look he could think of, hoping he didn’t look too ridiculous. “Whatever secrets you two shared, well, they are still between you two.”

“I said some pretty horrible things to her.”

“That can be fixed,” Cullen chimed in. “First off, Felicity Sutherland is no stranger to saying horrible things to people. She excels at it, actually.”

“Cruz!” Gunnar chided.

“Sorry,” Cullen replied, holding his hands up. Talia let out a little snort, and Gunnar’s heart squeezed at the sound. He’d liked hearing Cowboy refer to him and Cullen as Talia’s uncles earlier, even if she had rejected the idea. Sitting like this with all of them, they did feel a bit like a family. A rather odd one, but a family nonetheless. “My point being, many times a simple apology goes a long way.”

“Think so?” Talia asked.

“What can it hurt to try?” Cowboy offered.

Talia looked between the three of them, her eyes still a little unsure. It only took another brief moment, however, before they lit up, and she bounced up from the chair. “Okay, let me go figure out what I’m going to say.” She turned to head toward her room, but then paused, turned back around, and lunged toward Gunnar, throwing her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you problems. If you love her, don’t let her get away.”

“It’s not always that easy, love,” he said, surprised by the moniker that popped out at the end. They’d had their first fight and gotten through it just fine. While that hadn’t been the win he’d been hoping for today, it was one he’d gladly take.

“Why can’t it be?” she asked, pulling back and sauntering off to her room.

Gunnar stood and flopped into the chair Talia had just vacated, letting out a huff.

“Whatcha thinkin’, big guy?” Cowboy asked.

“You guys are right. I became a different person after Anya died. And in doing so, I broke my promise to her,” he told them. “But my kid is also right. And I can’t let Felicity get away. She was the spark I needed to start living again.”

“The right woman changes everything,” Cullen said.

“She sure does. And that right woman is Felicity Sutherland.”

“Well then, go get her!”

“Easier said than done there, Cowboy.”

“If I can fix things with Lee after all the shit I pulled, you can fix this. Fuck, call Dalton! There’s a guy who knows all about the grovel,” Cullen added.

“You do realize we’re talking about his sister here, yes?”