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“I’m fine.” Which was true because I honestly felt fine. I was still upset about not being kept in the loop about my Dad’s girlfriend, but I was prepared to put my big girl panties on and deal with it. Just not tonight.

Jackson came back into the kitchen, and planted his butt in the stools alongside our breakfast counter. Thankfully he’d had the good sense to put some actual clothes on.

“Have you been here all day?” he asked. Maddy gave me the side eye, probably because they were here all afternoon breaking bedsprings. The image made me shiver.

“No. I stopped over at Dad’s on my way back from Vaughan's house.”

“How is the old man?” teased Jackson.

“He’s fine. He told me about his girlfriend.”

Silence.

Maddy stopped what she was doing, and I could feel Jackson’s eyes boring holes into my back.

“He told you?” asked Maddy.

I looked at her. “You knew too, huh?”

She looked sheepish. “Jackson told me.”

I heard him grumble behind me.

“So I really was the last one to know.”

Maddy looked at Jackson from over her shoulder. “I told you we shouldn’t have kept it from her.”

“Kenzi,” he started, his voice softening with what I discerned as regret. “Dad didn’t want to hurt you. He thought he was doing the right thing by not telling you until he was sure about her.”

I spun around. “Keeping secrets is not the right thing, Jackson. And he’s been seeing her for three months, how is that not serious enough for me to know about it?”

“He made a mistake,” conceded Jackson. “We all did.”

“I don’t want to be mad,” I exhaled, “but I am.”

“I’m sorry.” He stood up, and came toward me, engulfing me in his arms. I tried not to cry because dammit, I was tired of having leaky eyes. “We should have told you.”

I held on to him, and shook my head against his chest. “I want him to be happy, just like all of you.”

“I know, Squirt.”

I tipped my head back and looked at him. “So…uh…is she nice?”

“Incredible,” he replied. That made something inside me soften. “You’d like her. She’s asked about you every time we’ve seen her.” I tried not to let that little tidbit get to me, the fact that they’ve seen this woman more than once and I had to find out about her by accident.

“I’m not sure I’m ready to meet her,” I admitted softly. “Well, not officially.”

Having walked in on them yesterday hardly counted as an introduction.

“Take your time Squirt, but you have nothing to worry about. She’s good for him.”

Jackson kissed my forehead, and I went back to preparing dinner with Maddy. When Jackson turned the television on, she took that as an opening to ask about Vaughan.

“Did you sleep with him?” she asked.

“Maddy,” I whisper-hissed. “Not here!”

“Oh my God, you so did!”

“Does it really matter?”

“Of course it does! I want to know!”

“You already do,” I replied, shooting her a warning glare.

Maddy winced. “Please don’t be mad?”

“I’m not mad. I’m just…confused.”

“Do you want me to tell Jackson to leave so we can talk? Because I’ll kick his sexy ass to the curb if you want me to.”

“First of all, don’t use ‘sexy’ and ‘Jackson’ in the same sentence while I’m around. Ever. And secondly, I’m all talked out so if you don’t mindI just want to enjoy dinner.”

“Whatever you need.”