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“Your daughter is a freaking angel compared to her father,” Heather snapped. “Her mother must have been asaintbecause how could a child be so sweet when her father is a stubborn, thoughtless idiot?”
I know she didn’t mean anything by it. Heather was just trying to get under my skin, and she hadn’t understood what she said or why it would raise my hackles like this. That was the only reason I didn’t lose my shit on the spot.
“Collins’ mother is not a topic of discussion at any point in time,” I informed Heather quietly. “Not with Collins, and certainly not with me.”
That took the wind out of Heather’s sails of rage for a moment. “Fair enough,” she said. “I’m not going to poke that hornet’s nest because I don’t even want to know. For the record, though, avoidance is not the way to deal with those kinds of problems. You need to be as open as possible with your daughter about her mother’s absence.”
“I’m sure you know enough about it from Carol.”
“My mom took her position with your family seriously,” Heather said. “She didn’t tell me anything about you or whatever family situation you’re in. Just anecdotes about Collins. Day-to-day details.”
“You can ask her if you want.”
“As I said, I don’t want to know.” Heather poked me in the arm. Hard. “And if you’re trying to escape what’s coming to you, then you can bite me. I’m sorry for stumbling upon a forbidden topic, but I’m not sorry to say I’m pissed off at you. You know what you did.”
“You’re going to have to be a lot more specific,” I said. “I’m a very busy man, Heather.”
“Uh-huh. Busy enough to ship a case of whiskey to my mother’s house?”
I grinned. “Busy enough to know how to prioritize the important things in life.”
“Graham, seriously. You need to listen to me.” In spite of the tough words, Heather was fighting a smile. I raised an eyebrow, inviting her to continue. “I told you not to order me a case of whiskey. I specifically said no.”
“I remember.”
She spread her hands, exasperated. “Then why did you do it?”
“Because I can. And because I wanted to.” She just didn’t understand, and as much as I wanted her to do so, I couldn’t explain it to her. How did you say you wanted to do something because you had a ton of money, but you couldn’t really convince someone to enjoy it?
“Why did you want to do something I clearly didn’t want you to do?”
“You like that whiskey. You told me you did. And just like I told you with your dog—”
“Hank.”
The mutt in question wagged his tail, and I bent to give him a scratch behind his ears.
“Hank,” I said. “You deserve to be happy. These are things that make me happy. If you have other things you want, things that will make you happy, tell me. I’ll make them happen.”
She was quiet for so long that I looked up from Hank to see if she’d been struck dumb or something. Instead, Heather looked at me, her eyes soft, lips pursed.
“Thank you,” she said at last. “For Hank. And for the whiskey, too, I guess. But I don’t need anything else to be happy. You don’t have to do anything else for me. Okay?”
“Whatever you say,” I cheerfully lied, rubbing Hank’s belly as he laid down and rolled over.
11
Heather
What was the straw that broke the camel’s back—that is, my back—when it came to Graham showering gifts, moments, gestures, and other things on me?
I could say the exact moment when I should’ve realized something was going on—the very first time we slept with each other. And the second time. If I could’ve taken both times back, I would’ve, but even that was a lie because together, they represented the greatest and sexiest encounters of myentirelife. I wouldn’t have wanted to trade them for anything.
And I would’ve been a liar if I said I stopped thinking about that last time on the leather chair. It kept me up all night, sweating and squirming—how Graham had demanded I come for him and how eagerly I complied like it was the easiest thing in the world.
Well, I suppose when you were with someone who truly turned you on, it really could be that simple. I would’ve done anything for him that night.
Since then, though, his behavior had been more than enough to give me something to worry about whenever I wasn’t worried about something else, like Collins or my mom or my work.
