Page 148 of Embracing the Change

She tossed up her hands. “Because I wasn’t sure it was him, Dad. You and Nora were finally together. We have JT. All is good. It’s happy. It’s as it should be. We don’t need that jerk messing it up.”

He didn’t like this. It smacked of stalking. Not only of Nora, but of Dru.

However, if she hadn’t put that together, he wasn’t going to do it for her.

And she had security on her, so they’d inform him if this was the case.

Jamie let out a sigh. “You can always tell me anything, especially if it’s important.”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I want to tell you, especially if it’s going to be upsetting. I didn’t know he’d go psycho and assault Nora.”

There was a sliver of pain and embarrassment in her eyes, as if Chet’s bullshit had something to do with her, when it didn’t, so Jamie took her in his arms. As usual, they both held on tight.

“You’ve told me now,” he said to the top of her head. “And I’ll get my attorneys on drawing up adoption papers.”

She tipped her head back to look at him. “Maybe we can have a big dinner to celebrate or something? I mean, JT can’t fly, so we’ll have to wait for when that’s groovy for him to do, but that won’t be bad. Only a month or two. It’ll give everyone the chance to fit it in their schedules.”

“That’s an excellent idea. Would you mind if Nora planned it?”

She melted into him. “I’d love that.”

And he loved she did.

“So would she,” he murmured.

“Her shower for Elsa was the bomb.”

“I have a sense she’ll pull out all of the stops for this.”

“I might have to bust into my trust fund to find a dress,” she teased.

“It’s yours, you can bust into it whenever you want.”

He watched his daughter’s eyes sparkle before she queried, “Can I walk you down?”

Best offer he’d had all day.

“Yes,” he agreed, turned her to his side and slid an arm around her shoulders, guiding her to the door. “Can we drop you somewhere?”

“I can take the subway, Dad.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

“Okay, yeah, I have an audition and interview down in Soho,” she told him as they moved through the outer office, and he lifted his chin to Monica so she’d call down to Vincent to have him pull around.

Monica picked up her phone.

“Is this interview for something you’re excited about?” he asked.

“It’s not gonna happen, so I’m trying not to be.”

Jamie hit the elevator then gave his girl a Spill expression.

She spilled. “It’s to be in the band for Ashe’s new tour.”

That artist was not of his era, but even Jamie had heard of the hyper-popular female singer, Ashe.

The elevator doors opened just as Jamie’s face split into a grin. “That’s fabulous, darlin’.”

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