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He did his best to run down the beach, which wasn’t saying much considering how hard he was laughing. He loved that she was laughing too, her cheek right there next to his, as she almost strangled him with the way she was hanging onto his neck.
When he couldn’t go any further, he stopped, and she slid down his back. As the two of them stood there, laughing and gasping for breath, he couldn’t remember ever feeling this happy.
Chapter Fourteen
As soon as Alyssa got home from work, she went straight into the shower. When she came out, she dressed in her favorite pajamas and tied her hair up in a ponytail to dry. It had been a long, hard day.
Not that there was anything particularly hard about the job; she enjoyed it. But today, she’d had to deal with far too many people for her liking. It was understandable from their perspective; they wanted to know how she was getting along with her preliminary assessment. Each department head had wanted to chat, ostensibly to make sure that she was doing okay and didn’t need anything, but this wasn’t her first rodeo; she knew that they were each hoping that her report wouldn’t reflect badly on them. And it wouldn’t – they were a great team.
But tonight, she was ready for a break. It wasn’t often that she sat in front of the TV, but that was her plan for this evening. She was going to order in and then veg out.
She gave her phone the evil eye when it rang from its place on the island. If it was her mum, she was just going to ignore it. She’d already filled her in on how great the new apartment was. She’d given her a video tour on Monday night, when all she’d really wanted to do was sit and think about Bentley and what a great weekend they’d had.
She had to go and check. She doubted that it would be him, but she wouldn’t risk missing a call from Bentley. When she checked the screen, she was relieved that it wasn’t her mum, but she wasn’t nearly so thrilled as usual to see that her dad was calling.
She reached for the phone and then hesitated. There was no reason not to talk to him. She wanted to talk to him. The only thing she didn’t want was to have to lie to him. Then again, he was hardly likely to ask about Bentley.
“Hi, Dad,” she answered.
“Hey, sweetheart. How are you doing?”
“I’m great, thanks. How are you?”
“I’m good. How did the move go? Now that you’re in the new place, I can tell you that I sat here being twitchy all weekend.”
Alyssa’s heart leaped into her mouth. Did he somehow know that Bentley had been here? “Why?” she asked cautiously.
He laughed. “Because I’m your dad. When you said that you were moving, I wanted to be the one to move you. I wanted to offer to come. I … I just … I know I haven’t been around for anything like that for you before.”
“Aww! That’s so sweet of you, Dad. And don’t you dare feel bad. The only reason you haven’t been around for things is becauseshewouldn’t let you.”
“I’m not saying anything bad about your mom.” He let out a short laugh that sounded like he was thinking it, even if he wouldn’t say it. “That’s all behind us now. I think what bothers me more is that there’s still a distance between you and me. I wanted to offer, but I didn’t dare because I didn’t want to overstep.”
“Oh, but Dad! I want to say that you should know that anything you do won’t be overstepping; you’re my dad. But I get it, I really do. I feel the same way with you sometimes still. I think it’s just something that will take time.”
“Yeah.” His voice sounded gruff when he spoke. “I guess you’re right. Anyway, so it went okay? Did you have any help?”
She wiped her sweaty palms on her pajamas. She really didn’t want to lie. “I thought I told you? I had that little moving company, Two Guys and a Van?”
“You did tell me that. I meant did you have anyone to help you unpack? Did those guys do that? I thought they were just a basic deliver the boxes and be gone kind of deal?”
“Oh, yes, that’s all they do.” She sucked in a deep breath before she continued, wishing that she and Bentley had planned for this. They were going to see each other again this weekend, thinking that giving themselves another week would be better. They wanted more time to pass so that it would seem that things had progressed between them over a more normal timeframe than just one night before they told their parents that they were seeing each other.
“Now I feel even worse. So, you had to deal with everything by yourself when you got to the new place?”
This was awful! She didn’t want him to feel bad. “Oh, no, I had some help. I … I had a friend over. I …” Shesowanted to tell him. It felt bad to not be honest with him. At the same time, she didn’t want to tell her dad before Bentley could tell his mom. The one thing that they’d already agreed was that they needed to tell them together.
“You what, sweetheart? Is there anything you want to tell me?”
That made her heart pound. Did he already know? No, he couldn’t. She was just imagining things because she felt so guilty. She laughed, hoping that would cover up her guilt. “There are lots of things I want to tell you, Dad. You know me, though, once I start chattering away, I’ll have you on the phone all night.” There, she hadn’t lied to him. She’d told him the truth. Andhopefully, she’d moved him past the point where she’d have to elaborate.
“I’ll bet Ria wouldn’t thank me for keeping you on too long. How is she? Is she still crazy busy with all her charity work and helping at the women’s center?” She felt bad diverting him, but she couldn’t feel too bad; she could see in her mind’s eye the way he always smiled when he talked about Ria.
“She’s great. She said to tell you she says hello. She’s on the phone herself right now. In fact, hang on a minute, sweetheart. She’s trying to tell me something.”
Alyssa heaved out a big sigh when she heard his muffled voice talking with Ria.
When he came back on the phone, he sounded strange. It was almost like he was trying not to laugh, but she didn’t know what might be funny about what he had to say.
