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“If you do, I’ll never speak to you again.” Her tone was so serious. “Seriously, Dad. I want you to have a life. And I know you have a thing for Caroline. What’s stopping you from going after her?”
Something twisted in his gut and still he kept cutting up the vegetables for their dinner. “Look, I’ve always talked to you like an adult and maybe that was a bad thing. Here you are thinking you can understand what I do or don’t want with Caroline, but you don’t get it, sweetie. This isn’t something you can just make happen.”
“Why not?” She picked up another piece of green pepper and pushed it into her mouth. “You said I’m smart. And I know I’m stubborn, that certainly comes from you. So why can’t I just push the right buttons and have you go after what… or who you want?”
“It’s not about pushing buttons, Nadia.” He finished cutting the bell pepper and shook his head. “Caroline… Well, Caroline and I never really had a start and I don’t think she wants to try again.”
He reached for the onion on the cutting board and cut into it.
Nadia frowned at him. “Oh, that’s low, Dad.”
“Low?” He tried not to smile too much. “What are you talking about?”
“Onions. You know I can’t stand cutting onions!”
He sliced down the center of the onion and set aside half of it. “I’m the one cutting onions.”
Nadia moved away and stopped in the doorway, turning back around. “Look, Dad. I get that you think you don’t have a chance with Caroline, but I don’t think that’s the truth. I have eyes, Dad. I saw the way you looked at her today. And,” she put extra emphasis on the word, “I saw the way she looked at you. You can pretend whatever you want, but I am living firmly in reality.”
She stepped out of the kitchen and came right back.
“Dad?”
“Yes, daughter?”
“I’m not going to give up.”
* * *
Lucas heard Nadia’s door close and he shook his head. He loved her. Heaven help him, he loved her.
There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Nadia.
And that’s why he was staying away from Caroline.
Nadia was smart.
Too damn smart for his own good.
He’d made it a whole decade and change without someone to share his bed, he’d make it longer. He had plenty to do.
Sure, he was still working, just from a distance. He’d trained his staff well. All of his restaurants were making money hand over fist because of the work he’d already put in. He finally had time to really concentrate on building a stronger relationship with Nadia.
She was right.
In a few years she was going to be off at college. He had until then to make sure that Nadia would always have a good relationship with her father.
It was the least he could do, given the shit show of a relationship she had with her mother.
Sandrine had been lovely.
Sandrine had been talented. She danced like a dream.
But as a partner in life she had been a nightmare.
When she’d left him for a two-bit actor from some Hollywood B-Movie, he’d counted himself lucky.
Then she’d called with the news that she was pregnant and that her lover had left her, he’d been shaken. He hadn’t known what to do, but it was the first time that he’d seen Sandrine look so lost. He took her back in, put her up in a house and made sure she had the very best care. Food, health care, everything she needed.
