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My instinct is to protest, to think of my mom and how much she’s always counting on me.
But with it being just Kane and me now? Knowing I can have this feeling on tap 24/7.
I can’t argue with his logic.
“Damn you, Kane Gray,” I scold him playfully, nestling back into his arm as I hug it while he drives.
“Damn you for being so perfect,” I add, knowing that, like everything else, Kane will make it all work out somehow.
I don’t know exactly how, but I already know I’ll be impressed by it.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Kane
I take it slow getting us back home.
It’s a bright and warm day, just right for cruising in my vintage car, feeling like maybe we really can live in simpler times again.
Like the time the car was made, back when life just seemed…better. Easier.
But when I get to thinking about why Jen even works at the diner at all. And with her quizzing me about Abby’s mom, I’m pretty sure simpler times really are a thing of the past.
Especially when you’re about to bed your daughter’s best friend behind her back.
I hate to even think of it like that. But the bigger part of me knows that’s the only way anyone else is ever gonna see it.
And by anyone, I mean Abby.
She’s the one person apart from Jen I’d never hurt intentionally.
But how can I be with her lifelong bestie and not kill our own relationship? Abs and I are more like old friends than father and daughter.
Even when she turns on her theatrics, I have to be the grown-up between us.
“Youneedthe work at the diner, don’t you?” I ask Jen.
She nods her head slowly, crimping her mouth as she thinks to herself.
“Mom freaks out if I don’t do the hours,” she finally tells me. “But only because we need the extra cash. Even the tiny amount I get from tips at the diner,” she adds.
I grind my jaw set hard as I frown.
The idea of Jen struggling with anything just makes me mad.
But having her mom on her case about it wouldn’t make it any easier for either of them.
Abby and I have a good life. A great life where we are, and I often forget how a lot of people struggle just to have a fraction of what we take for granted.
But it hits me hard that Jen and her momarethese people. It makes me take a step back and look at myself.
My plans for Jen for the day, how much I want to spoil and pleasure her.
No matter how many different ways I look at it, I keep coming back to the same conclusion.
She and I have to be together in everything, not just where we sleep.
Her mom too, and Abby. All of us really have to be…Family.
