Page 98 of Single Chance

“You get this certain look in your eyes. And I’m pretty sure Rowan feels the same about you.”

I gave her a noncommittal grunt. I wasn’t going to share that Rowan had said she loved me. I already felt itchy and uncomfortable.

Sam frowned, looking thoughtfully at her nearly empty plate. “Maybe you’re just scared.”

My brows shot up as my eyes popped wide-open. I turned that over in my mind. It didn’t take long for it to resonate, as much as I didn’t want to admit it. But hell yes, I was scared to love someone. I felt that in my bones.

Shit. Called out by my fourteen-year-old daughter.

My instinct was to deny it. Who wanted to look weak to their kid?

I met Sam’s gaze. Instead of judgment or disgust, I saw empathy and understanding in her eyes.

With an uneasy chuckle, I said, “Yeah. Maybe I’m just scared.”

“Rowan isn’t Mom, Dad.”

My daughter was one hundred percent right. Logically I knew that. Rowan didn’t have an addiction that would take her away from me.

“This isn’t the same,” Sam continued. “At all.”

“Yeah.” I took in a deep breath, let that truth sink in, breathed out the fear.

Rowan was different from Erin.

I was different from the man I’d been fifteen years ago.

“You always used to tell me it’s okay to be afraid as long as you don’t let it keep you from living your life,” Sam said.

Damn if I hadn’t. I steepled my hands in front of me while I let it sink in that my daughter had just thrown my words back at me. You never knew if your kid actually heard anything you said. The bitch of it was she was right, and I knew it.

I’d been protecting myself from the truth for two days. Hell, maybe two months.

I loved Rowan.

It’d taken my daughter pointing it out, insisting on it, for me to acknowledge it.

“When did you get so smart?” I asked her.

“I was born this way,” she said with a sassy smirk.

All other things aside, that bit of attitude and confidence did my dad heart proud. She’d seemed to have lost her confidence back when she was trying to fit in with Lacey and friends.

“So you’re admitting it?” she asked.

“Admitting what?”

“You love Rowan.”

I sucked in another slow breath, breaking out in a sweat. My heart pounded so hard I could feel it in my temples.

I pictured Rowan’s pretty eyes when they were full of flirtation and life and laser focused on me. Remembered the way she looked when she was learning something new, determined to conquer it. Recalled the depths of love in her expression when she talked about her grandmother. Thought about how she’d been sensitive to Sam’s needs from the first day she’d met her.

I liked her, respected her, wanted to protect her with every cell in my body from anything and everything that could hurt her. Longed to wake up next to her each morning and end every evening with her in my arms. To comfort her and be comforted by her through life’s challenges. To revel in every milestone and success together—ours, Sam’s, our baby’s, our family’s.

I wanted all of that. With Rowan.

“Yes,” I finally said, sitting up straighter, feeling lighter as soon as I’d said it. More alive. “I love Rowan. I’m not sure what to do about that.”

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