AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Daniel…” Michael began, and her dad shook his head again.
“Don’t talk to me,” he told Michael, his voice low. “Don’t even look at me. And get your goddamned hands off my daughter.”
* * *
The front door slammed and a moment later an engine started up, the squeal of tires on her gravel drive making her flinch.
“Grace. What do you want to do?” Michael asked her.
She turned to look at him, and the expression of horror on her face shocked him.
“He’ll calm down,” he promised her. “Once he talks to your mom.”
That didn’t help at all. “He’s gonna tell Mom,” she muttered. “This can’t be happening.”
“We were going to tell them both on Friday,” he told her.
“Don’t you think I know that? But it was going to be on our terms, not like this. He practically caught us in bed together.”
She must have noticed the way he flinched. “I’m sorry… I…” She inhaled sharply. “It shouldn’t have happened like this.”
“He shouldn’t have walked into your house.” Michael raked his fingers through his hair. She looked so lost. He had no idea how to make her feel better.
“He’s my dad. He was worried about me.”
“He could have called you. Or waited. This is his fault.”
She shook her head. “No it isn’t. It’s mine. I’m an idiot. I have no patience. I mess everything up. And now he hates me.”
He pulled her into his arms. “He doesn’t hate you. He loves you. It’s me he hates.”
She was still trembling, and he hated it. Hated the way she was so upset. For a moment he was a fifteen-year-old kid again, watching his mom fall apart in front of his eyes as Cam walked away from her.
Because Michael demanded she choose between them.
He felt sick thinking about that. About what he’d put her through. Why was it always the women who were torn apart?
“I’ll talk to your dad,” he said. “Make him understand.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Don’t do that. It’ll only make things worse. I’ll talk to him.”
He cupped her face tenderly. But she didn’t sink into him. Her eyes were misty, like she was trapped in her own thoughts.
“It’s going to be okay, Grace.”
“Is it?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Did you get a look at his face?” she asked him. “I’ve never seen him so upset. I’ve never heard him talk like that before.”
“He’s your dad. He needs to think it through.”
“No.” She shook her head. “He’s never going to accept this.”
His gut twisted. He’d said that once to his mom when he found out about her and Cam.
His karma had taken almost thirty years, but it was here.
