Page 30 of Their Forever Daddy

Jesse’s heart hammered against her chest as she glanced from her Daddy to the woman glaring at him from across the table and back again. “You mean like… right now?” she asked, her voice pitching up to a squeak.

“Yes. Right now. You’ve already told me you’re not coming back home until you make things right with Edie. So”—he waved a hand in Edie’s direction—“make things right.”

“No. We’re not doing this right now.” Slamming her hands down on the table, Edie shoved to her feet, her eyes blazing with fury.

But before she could get more than two steps from the table, Grant’s voice rang out in the kitchen. “Sit down. Now.”

Edie froze, and if this whole thing hadn’t been such a fucking shit show, Jesse might have burst into laughter at the look of pure shock on her face. “Excuse me?”

There was enough bite to her voice to have Jesse squirming in her chair, but Grant seemed completely unaffected. “You heard me. Sit down. Please,” he added in a sugary tone Jesse had never heard before, but nearly had her whimpering all the same.

A standoff ensued, with Edie planted beside the table, staring down at Grant, who simply stared back, his expression completely bland. And then to Jesse’s continued surprise, Edie turned on her heel and returned to her seat with an annoyed huff.

Ho. Lee. Shit. She’d never seen anyone boss Edie McDowell around.

Ever.

“Go ahead, then,” Edie snapped, crossing her arms in a gesture that seemed somehow defiant and protective at the same time. “Tell me whatever it is you came to tell me.”

“Right. Okay.” Clearing her throat, Jesse unfolded her arms and wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on her jeans. “I guess what I really wanted to say was… I’m sorry.”

“That’s it?” Both of Edie’s brows rose in a clear show of disbelief. “You came all this way to say you’re sorry?”

“Yes. Maybe.” A nervous little laugh escaped before Jesse could stop it. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure I’d actually get this far so I don’t really have like, a speech planned or anything.”

Edie rolled her eyes. “Jesse Walker doing something without thinking it through? Shocker.”

“Careful,” Daddy said, his voice a low growl of warning that had twin spots of red blossoming on Edie’s cheeks. “You two aren’t going to get anywhere with insults and snide little digs.”

“Sorry,” Edie mumbled, dropping her gaze to the table.

“It’s okay.” Torn between sympathy and amusement, Jesse flashed her a grin. “You’re not wrong. We both know planning ahead isn’t my strong suit.”

An awkward silence fell, stretching to the point of being painful before Grant sighed. “Edie? Anything you want to say? Or ask?”

Flicking her gaze up, Edie looked from him to Jesse several times before she nodded. “Yeah. Okay. I guess if we’re going to do this we might as well get it all out on the table, right?”

Fear tightened Jesse’s throat, nearly cutting off her air, but she managed to nod. “Right.”

“Right.” Running a hand through her hair, mussing the already disheveled ends, Edie dragged in a deep breath. “I spent a long time hating you. But I moved on. I got married, fell in love with someone else. I can’t say I forgot you, because how the fuck could I when your face is all over the tabloids every time I go to the store? But I did my damnedest to put you, and what we had, behind me. And then you come crashing back into my life with no fucking warning. After ten years without a single word, here you are. And I’m just supposed to, what? Forgive and forget? Pretend like you didn’t break my goddamn heart? You left me, Jesse. Without a word. You left me in a town where every time I turned around, someone was whispering about you, about us, watching me and judging me. You got to leave and live out your dreams, and you left me behind to pick up the pieces. How the hell am I supposed to forgive that?”

“I don’t know,” Jesse whispered, her eyes once more filling with tears. “But I hope you can, because I really am so fucking sorry, Edie. I could give you a million reasons why I left the way I did, but I won’t because I know it was wrong. I wish I could go back and do things differently.”

“Yeah, well, you can’t.” Her hard gaze shifted to Grant. “I’m done here.”

This time, when she stormed away from the table, he didn’t try to stop her. And when her bedroom door slammed hard enough to rattle the frame of the old farmhouse, Jesse ended up back in her Daddy’s arms, once more sobbing out her heartbreak.

Chapter 12

Grant

* * *

“Come on, little outlaw.” Grant pressed a kiss to his babygirl’s hair as she let out another shuddering breath. “Let’s get you to bed.”

Her whimper of agreement nearly shattered his heart. Juggling her carefully in his arms, he rose and carried her up the stairs to the first room on the left. Light shone under the door to Edie’s room, but it was almost eerily quiet in the house save for Jesse’s sniffles.

Thankfully, the two guest bedrooms shared a Jack and Jill style bathroom, so he was able to wash her face and help her use the bathroom without having to step back out into the hall.

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