Page 32 of Rafa's Convenient Wife

“That’s his own fault. Sent me out there with acoaand no explanation. What did he think would happen?”

“He probably hoped you’d do what Jaime and I did at that age,” Rafael suggested. “We found someone to teach us. We showed initiative.”

Beto scoffed. “I was never meant for the fields.”

“No, you weren’t,” Rafael agreed. “You showed initiative when you sailed away. You showed initiative when you came home and asked me to help you with the resorts. You found yourself and your place. You found success, and I’ll always be proud of you for taking chances the rest of us didn’t.”

“Thank you,” Beto said sincerely. “I know I didn’t make things easy for you.”

“You didn’t, but I believed in you.”

“What about you?” Beto asked.

“What about me?”

“You didn’t disagree that you were groomed to be the heir. Did you ever want something else?”

“Not really,” Rafael answered honestly. “I enjoy the work. I like talking business and financing and logistics. I like solving problems. I like knowing that I’m maintaining a company that’s been operating through generations of our family.”

“So, you wouldn’t walk away if you had the chance?”

“Walk away? Completely?” Rafael shook his head and then remembered Beto probably couldn’t see him in the dark. “No, but I might take a long sabbatical or even step back into a less demanding role.”

“For her?”

“For them,” Rafael corrected. As he and Beto lapsed into silence, letting the crickets and slow breeze lull them into a relaxed state, he started thinking of all the ways he could be the man that Sky and Jasper needed.

My nephew. My wife.

My family.

Chapter Eleven

Five Weeks Later

***

Where is he?

Sky glanced at her watch again. Rafael was now thirty-seven minutes late. She caught the eye of the attorney waiting with her. Embarrassed, she apologized for the third time since arriving. “I’m so sorry. He’s always very punctual.”

But not today. Not when she needed him to be here on time.

Small resentments from the last few weeks bubbled to the surface. The muscles in her neck and shoulders tightened, and her anxiety ratcheted up so high her ears grew hot.

He was trying. He really was, and she recognized that.

But it wasn’t enough.

Rafael hadn’t mentioned another word about stepping back from work since that day in his office at the family’s Mexico estate. Instead, he had been flying back and forth between SanAntonio and Guadalajara and wherever else his business took him. He came in late at night or left early in the morning, often only staying in San Antonio for three or four days before jetting off to wind up a deal or negotiate a new one or whatever it was that he did all day.

When he was home, Rafael turned off his phone and concentrated solely on Jasper. She would give him that. He really was trying to be involved as a paternal figure. He took Jasper on his runs and played with him in the neighborhood park. He handled baths and bedtime. He did middle-of-the-night wake-ups if he heard them, but he was often so exhausted he didn’t. She felt guilty waking him for help, especially considering how hard he worked, so she didn’t bother asking.

For now, Sky had accepted that her needs were the lowest priority. Jasper came first and then Rafael because the family business depended on him. What she needed and wanted had to come last. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair.

But she accepted it and tried not to keep score with him.

What he didn’t seem to understand was that losing Jaime and Maddie meant that instead of playing a supporting role to his parents, she was now playing both roles by herself. All of the mental and emotional and physical load that had been shared by her sister and brother-in-law had been dropped on her shoulders.

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