Page 62 of Billionaire Retreat

Chapter 12

Our local mall had recently been renovated and an addition of a large outdoor entertainment area had been added. The outdoor area was considered fancy for our town and was dotted with small, pretty water fountains and several lounge areas which faced a huge flat screen TV that sat about 20 feet high on one outer wall. The lawn was used to host various classes from yoga to toddler’s story time. And as I predicted, no one was there. We had the entire lawn to ourselves. I took off my shoes, enjoying the grass between my toes, and took a deep breath of early morning air. Any other day, I would have been enjoying a brisk walk around the neighborhood with Sadie at my side, riding along on her tricycle, but today clearly wasn’t an average morning… at least not in my life.

I sat down on the grass and folded my legs under me. Griffin sat down next to me. I shifted away from him, needing room for what I was about to say. I knew his nearness distracted me and I had too much to get off my chest to risk being distracted.

He cleared his throat and looked down at me. His dark brown eyes were studying me earnestly.

He reached out to touch my face and I pushed his hand away. He didn’t seem surprised, but hurt nonetheless. He sighed. “Where should we start? I keep screwing this up, so why don’t you start?”

I thought that was a brilliant idea. So, I led with a simple question: “Why are you here?”

“I messed up. Simple as that and I want the opportunity to make it up to you... and to our daughter.”

“So, you want to be a part of her life?”

He nodded. “But I want more than that, I want both of you to be a part of my life.”

“I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea,” I said, not looking away from him. In the past, I would have looked away, afraid to face him, but not today.

“If you give me a chance—”

“Why should I?”

“I know I can make you happy if you let me.”

I frowned. “I’m not unhappy. And I hope you’re not arrogant enough to think my happiness depends on you.”

He rubbed at his face in frustration. “I’m screwing this up big time.” He reached for my hands and this time I let him hold them. I looked at him and realized this conversation was probably really hard for him, and I bet for the most part things usually came easy for him. I wasn’t going to make this easy.

“I just want to be a part of your life and our daughter’s life. You can decide what that entails. I’m not going to push you into doing something you’d rather not do. I’m not going to rush you to make a decision. I understand that right now you’re probably not feeling that charitable towards me—”

“You got that right.”

“But, I want to get to know her... and it would be a privilege if you’d allow me to do so.”

“Nice speech,” I said, pulling my hands away. “But flowery words that you probably thought up while on the plane ride here doesn’t make up for the fact I’ve been mistreated by you and your family, specifically your mother.”

He opened his mouth to interrupt and I held up my hand to silence him. “Let me say what I have to say.”

He looked ready to argue again and I shot him a warning glance. “Let me say what I have to say or you can get back on a plane to L.A.”

“Go ahead,” he said reluctantly.

“I don’t really want to focus on the past. What’s done is done. You don’t know your daughter. You haven’t been around for the last four years of her life. You’re a stranger to her. We’re both to blame for that.” I took a deep breath and continued, “But you have every right to be in her life and Sadie has every right to have a father.”

“Sadie, that’s her name? That’s a beautiful name.”

“It was my grandmother’s name,” I said, and doggedly continued, “We’ll co-parent for Sadie’s sake. While you’re here, we can draw up a visitation schedule and custody agreement.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ll agree to whatever you decide.”

I gave him a long look. “I’m not sure I trust you.”

“Nina—”

“I’m not finished.” I took a deep breath, knowing that the next words out of my mouth would hurt not only him, but me. There was no way around it though, I would just push through the pain, because my next words needed to be said. I couldn’t trust Griffin not to hurt me. His track record proved that. “For the sake of Sadie, I want everything to be civil between us, but you need to understand that there is no ‘us’. Understood?”

He shook his head, “Why are you being like this?”