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“Kennedy, are you okay?” he asked as he dropped his hands back to his sides.
“No. That’s my dad.” Her arm raised and she pointed past him. “And I think he’s with your mom.”
Seb turned and looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, his mom and the man he’d met the first time he’d bumped into Kennedy at the rehab center were seated on a bench overlooking the lake. His arm was draped behind her as her head fell back at something he’d said.
“No, no, no,” Kennedy repeated as her head began to shake back and forth and she started walking toward them.
Seb wasn’t sure what to do. He’d known that his mom was dating but he’d never actually seen his mom with a man. It was a surreal thing to see her with a man who wasn’t his dad. Not that he had many memories of the two of them together. He’d been so young when he died, he wasn’t sure if he had actual memories of him or if it was just from photographs and stories that people told him.
From her body language, it was clear that she was on a date. He felt wrong to be interrupting the two of them.
He reached out and grabbed Kennedy’s wrist. “Kennedy, are you sure you should—”
She yanked her hand away and the look in her eyes when her head turned toward him stopped Seb up short. “Yes, I’m sure.”
With that strong statement, she marched up to the two of them and Seb walked beside her. Her loud steps drew attention to them, and both his mom and her father glanced in their direction a few yards before Kennedy stopped in front of them.
Seb could feel Kennedy’s body radiating with tension. As much as he wanted to make everything better, to protect her from the man who was clearly upsetting her, he wasn’t sure how to do that.
“What are you doing?!” The question was laced with accusation and anger.
Her father motioned toward Seb’s mom. “Kennedy, this is—”
“I know.” Kennedy cut him off. Her tone and expression softened as she turned her attention to his mom. “Hi, Mrs. Savage. It’s nice to see you again.”
“You two, sweet girl, and it’s Elaine.”
If he’d had any doubt about how his mom felt about Kennedy, it would have been erased then and there. She only used endearing nicknames for people she liked.
Beside him, Kennedy tensed again, when her eyes scanned back to her father.
“Can I speak to you, please? In private.”
“Sure.”
Seb watched as the two walked a few paces away from him and his mom. He turned to her to try and explain what was going on. “Kennedy and her father—”
She lifted her hand. “I know. Michael explained the situation to me. And I totally understand why she feels the way she does. He wasn’t a good father to her. There were reasons, but those reasons don’t really matter. She has every right to be angry.”
“How long have you two been seeing each other?” Seb asked.
“This is our first date. But we’ve had a few FaceTime calls.”
A few FaceTime calls and one date... Seb’s chest tightened with agitation that his mom seemed to have more insight into the father-daughter dynamic that Kennedy and her dad had than he did.
He and Kennedy had spent two nights together. They’d been witnesses at a secret wedding. They’d gone on a several-hour car ride. He’d met her father before he’d technically met her. He might not know everything about her relationship with her dad but he did know that Kennedy would never treat someone the way she was treating him unless she had a good reason.
“I don’t think he’s a good man, Mom,” Seb warned her.
“I understand why you’d feel that way.” His mom nodded. “But people don’t always need to be defined by their past. They can change. Time will tell.”
He shouldn’t be surprised at his mom’s response. She’d always given people the benefit of the doubt. She was realistic and pragmatic, something he’d always admired about her. She didn’t hold anyone’s mistakes against them, yet she always managed to put up boundaries so that she wasn’t taken advantage of.
She really was a badass. He and his brothers and Keaton might not have had the stereotypical upbringing, but they were all really lucky to have her.
Seb leaned down and pulled her into his arms.
“What’s this for?” she asked as she hugged him back.
