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I feel hot tears spill down my cheeks and try to swipe them away. I’m surprised he’s able to read me this well. He moves closer and rubs his hands up and down my arms. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine, I mean I’m going to be fine. I sometimes have to remind myself you’re my dad and in my life after all this time.” He winces slightly and I regret my words as soon as they leave my mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
He cups my face with his hand and places a kiss on my forehead. “It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s the truth. I know what you meant. But I’m going to prove to you every day how much I love you.”
He wraps me in another hug, and I find myself hugging him back tighter than I mean to. He pulls back after a moment and smiles before grabbing his coat and heading for the door.
I spin around before he can leave and say, “I love you, Daddy.”
He seems surprised and to be honest, I surprised myself finally calling him anything other than Rhett, least of allDaddy. I don’t feel like I can call him Dad because that’s what I call Steve. So, Daddy it is.
A look I haven’t seen on Rhett Davis before appears on his handsome face…a look I’d call joy. “I love you too, sweetheart.” He stares at me for a moment longer before closing and locking the front door after he leaves through it.
I turn and see Ivie leaned against the wall in the living room smiling and wiping her own tears.
“That was beautiful, Lucy,” she says and wraps me in her own hug.
“What do you mean you’re leaving?” Ivie’s brows furrow as she concentrates on me. We ate chicken alfredo with garlic bread and now we’re about to share crème brûlée.
“I need to leave Greendale Valley for a while…to clear my head. I still have a week or two of leave at work and then I’m going to work remotely until I’m ready to come back. I talked to my boss earlier and he approved it. If there are any projects I’m needed on before I officially go back, they’ll let me know. He assumed I can do most, if not all, my work remotely. He told me to take the time I needed.”
She puts her hand over mine. “I support you in whatever you decide to do. You know that, but what’s going on Lucy? I know something’s happening and you’re keeping it from me. I don’t want there to be anymore secrets between us. Please.”
I close my eyes, drawing in a deep breath. When I open them, Ivie’s staring at me carefully. “I want to tell you, I do, but I can’t. I’m not ready. I’ll give you an abbreviated version, that’s all I can do right now.”
She nods, “Yes, okay. I’ll take it.”
My hands tremble as I start to talk. I didn’t plan on telling her much at all. It was hard enough telling Tate much less Ivie. She’s like the other half of me…someone I don’t want to let down and somehow, I feel like if she knew the truth, she’d be disappointed in me even if in my heart I know that’s not true.
“I told you the night we had dinner when you first came home, I’d still been seeing Taylor off and on. I was lying...sort of. I’ve wanted out completely for a long time. But he doesn’t want to let me go. We’ve had issues—a lot of them. I’m sure the more time you’re back home, you’ll hear several versions from other people. I stopped loving him a long time ago and I honestly don’t know if he was ever capable of loving me. I was more like a trophy to him, someone to make him look good. But I’m done with him and have been.”
“I’m so sorry. I wish you would’ve told me sooner. I know that’s not the whole story but what you said sounds terrible.”
My eyes drop to my hands and I say something out loud I know I shouldn’t because it’s a self-destructive thought. “I was so lost when I found out the truth about my dad and Rhett being my real dad…maybe I made him act the way he did because I couldn’t be who I was anymore.”
Ivie quickly snaps me out of that line of thinking. “Are you serious right now? You didn’t do anything wrong. If he loved you, whether you told him what was going on or not, he should’ve supported you and not treated you like you were nothing. He should’ve loved you like a real man. He doesn’t deserve you and he apparently never did. He sure doesn’t deserve your time now. Forget him, Lucy.”
I smile at her fire. This is how I normally am—full of fire, like Tate said the first night we danced at High Road Bar. Somewhere along the way, I’ve allowed Taylor to put out my fire, reducing me to a nothing but a smoking ember.
“That’s the main reason I’m leaving for a while. I need to be where he can’t find me. Maybe while I’m healing and taking time for myself, he’ll forget about me and move on.” I match her smile with one of my own.
“We covered the main reason, so what’s the other reason or reasons?” She asks way too chipper like she already knows.
“I need to clear my head, okay?” I try to leave it at that, but Ivie isn’t budging.
“Come clean, Lucy. I know you. There’s something else…or someone else.” She grins playfully.
“Tate maybe? Bree may or may not have mentioned to Sterling you left the bar with Tate after a heated discussion the other night.”
“Okay, Ivie. I could fall for him in the blink of an eye. Maybe I’ve already started falling, but you were right when you said he doesn’t do relationships. I can’t stay and let myself continue down that path with him. I need to put distance between us for a while.”
She eyes me sympathetically. “Don’t look at me that way. I’m fine. I mean… I will be. Leaving for a while will let me get hold of these feelings and let Tate get back to life as he knew it before I waltzed in on him and changed everything.”
She stays quiet, listening to each word I say. “He’s a good man. He wouldn’t hurt me on purpose. I’ve spent more time with him lately than I ever meant to. I’m trying to save us both heartache by leaving. I wouldn’t want you and Sterling to feel like you have to take sides between us. I won’t let it be that way. It’s best this way, trust me.”
“I don’t know. You could be the one to change his mind. What if you’re running from something that could be the best thing to happen for you both?” her wide green eyes trained on mine, all playfulness gone.
“You’re a hopeless romantic, Ivie.” I laugh and she does too.
