Page 88 of Close to My Heart

The truth of that statement struck me in the chest. “It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t feel the same.”

He raised a brow. “And you’ve had this conversation?”

“No.” I felt like a petulant child.

He slapped his thigh. “I told you to talk to her.”

“There was never a good time. When I tried at the birthday party, Mrs. Rosesmith collapsed. Then Sutton moved home.” And everything felt like a clusterfuck.

“You’re going to let her just walk away?” Dad asked.

“No. Yes. I don’t know.” A headache brewed at the base of my skull.

“That’s not the man I raised. I taught you to go after what you want. To work hard. Not to give up without a fight.” Dad said each word with inflection.

I nodded, grateful to have him growing up. “You did.”

“Why do you continue to take a backseat in your personal life? You waited for years for this opportunity to come up, and now you’re letting her go. I wondered over the years if it had anything to do with Teddy taking charge after Mom died, and you being his wingman.”

I wasn’t going to touch Dad’s comments about me and Teddy, even if they struck close to home. “It’s what Sutton wants. She didn’t want the truth getting out. It has always been about the estate for her. She’s a Rosesmith through and through. I should have known.”

Dad was quiet for a few seconds, looking out over the water. “You’re a good judge of character. You have to be to do the job you do.”

I nodded.

“When has Sutton ever acted like a Rosesmith? Like her parents?” When I didn’t immediately respond, Dad continued, “She came over to our house after every holiday to escape her family.”

My stomach twisted. She’d never felt good in her family’s company.

Dad leaned his elbows on his thighs. “She went with you to your school’s prom.”

I leaned back, wishing I could be anywhere but here talking to my dad. “Her parents didn’t approve, and I wasn’t invited to hers.”

“She married you and not one of those other men her mother wanted her to date.”

I shook my head. “I was convenient. She trusted me not to want any money out of the deal.”

Dad gave me a look. “I think we both know money wasn’t the deciding factor.”

I ran a hand through my hair, suddenly exhausted from this conversation. “What are you getting at?”

“For someone so smart, you can be dense. Sutton is not like her family. She’s her own person, just like you and my other kids have paved your own way. How many years did I try to put Jameson in the same hole I put you and Wes? He didn’t fit. It didn’t mean he wasn’t a Calloway. We’re all different. And Sutton’s never been like her mother.”

Sutton liked nice things, but she’d never been about status or her name. In fact, she left her last name off most introductions because she wanted people to get to know her before they drew any conclusions.

Dad sighed heavily. “You need to have that talk before you end things. You owe it to yourself.”

A muscle in my jaw ticked. “Mrs. Rosesmith knows. The deal is off. We don’t have to pretend anymore.”

Dad stood. “You were never pretending.”

It was real for me. But that just meant I was an idiot for going along with the plan. “So I talk to her and then what?”

Dad looked out over the water. “You’ll finally know where she stands. You might be surprised.”

I grunted out a noise of disapproval. There were no guarantees in this life, and I wasn’t holding out hope.

But then I remembered what it felt like when we were alone and how we came together. There was something there. If she didn’t feel it, then I’d walk away.

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