Page 35 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

Though he did say he liked her more than anyone else.

Was she so weak that she’d fall for it?

“Maybe I like to argue,” she said.

“I’m starting to see that.”

“What do you want?” she asked. “Tell me that.”

“I want a few days to figure things out. I’ve got a big envelope staring at me of information from my grandfather that I can’t seem to open. I’ve got business reports I don’t understand that I need to read at some point. I’ve got a job on top of it. I don’t want to say goodbye to you. If I did, I wouldn’t have told your father we’d been on two dates.”

“You did what?” she asked almost shrieking.

She never told her parents she dated when it was that few dates.

But if he did say it to her father, then she’d have to think he did want it to continue.

She was starting to understand his comment about not knowing if he was coming or going.

“Sorry,” he said. “It seemed the thing to do. I want no secrets from the guy that is my business partner. Nor the father of a woman I might end up seeing again. I know you’re pissed I went to him first, but I did what I thought was right and sorry you don’t agree with that.”

She couldn’t argue that he had a sense of loyalty.

He was right. It was two dates.

What he had with her father was much more in the bigger picture.

“Why don’t we take a week?” she asked. “We can talk again next Friday and see how we both feel. Is that reasonable?”

“It is,” he said.

He turned to leave, but she ran after him and grabbed his shirt again, pulled him down for a kiss. One where they were making out and his hands were in her hair and holding her head tight.

As if he needed that lifeline as much as her.

“Think about that for the next week too. Might as well add it to our list to help us make a decision.”

Van nodded his head and left.

The minute he was out of the door, she grabbed her keys and Frankie and pulled out of her driveway, going straight for her parents’ house.

She hoped they were home. At least her father. He was the one she wanted to talk to.

With her puppy in her hands, she went storming in the front door like a hurricane.

“You’re here faster than I thought you’d be,” her father said. “I suppose you just talked to Van.”

She looked at her mother. “You know?”

“Your father told me this morning,” her mother said.

“And you sat in the office and didn’t say one word to me?” she asked. Why was this happening to her?

“It wasn’t for me to say anything,” her mother said. “I have to say I’m happy that Van told you almost immediately. He wouldn’t have told you while you were working.”

“No,” she said. “He wanted to do it face to face. I was still dressed from work when he knocked on the door.”

“I like him,” her father said. “I was impressed with his composure and the fact he’d told me about you.”

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