Page 43 of Daddy's Double Surprise

I sighed a lot harder than I should have because Mom was making sense, and I hated it. I didn’t want to rethink this. I wanted to be mad because I was hurt.

“Sunny, Kira didn’t know that was going on in her body. If she had, she never would have gone in that trial, or she’d have at least told them. And Carter doesn’t run GenOne. He just owns it. The board and the employees run it. He didn’t even ask to own it. It was given to him. I think you need to talk to him, and I know you need to schedule an appointment.” Mom stood, slapping the tops of her thighs.

Frustration over her leaking my secret to Dad still lingered in my chest, but I’d gotten over that for the most part. I couldn’t stay mad at my mom. Who else was going to take care of me if I pushed her away?

“I’m gonna do some dishes. You rest a while. And make that appointment.” As I suspected, Mom waltzed off to do her thing cleaning the whole house while I sulked and thought about what she said.

I pulled my phone out and scheduled an appointment using my OneCare app to see my ob-gyn. As I went to set my phone down, it started ringing. It was Carter for the millionth time.Like clockwork he called every day, at least five times a day, and each time I silenced the call.

But this time I went a step further by shutting my phone off. I wanted a nap, and I wanted to forget everything Mom just said because I didn’t like how vulnerable it made me feel. I loved Carter, and he had no reason to lie to me. I wanted to hold onto that anger for a while still.

30

CARTER

My call went straight to voicemail for the third time today. Sunny had shut her phone off for the day apparently, or maybe it just died. I had no clue where she was or what she was doing. She called Jackson the day of our argument and told him she quit, so I didn’t expect to hear from her at all after that, but it didn’t stop me from obsessing about it and calling her several times a day.

I sat in the break room near the end of the day, stressed and not holding it together very well. I had a few patients ask me if I was alright, so I assumed that meant my body language and facial expression were speaking louder than my “I’m fine” I tossed at them.

The patient load was light. I could’ve told Jackson I’d had enough for the day and gone home already, but I didn’t want to go back to my home where I’d spent so much time with Sunny and stare at those walls. Lie in the bed we shared. Eat at the table I’d made love to her on a few times. I didn’t know how I was ever going to move on from this. If it had been something where it was mutual, where we both decided it wasn’t going to work, it would’ve been different. This was torture.

I had hurt her beyond belief, kept a secret from her that under normal circumstances wouldn’t have been a huge issue. I’d have told her about GenOne eventually, and it wouldn’t have mattered. But with what happened to Kira, there was no coming back from the depths of my mistake. I never intended to hurt her, but there was no way to know how all the details would line up perfectly to create the disaster that happened.

“Carter,” Jackson said, standing in the doorway of the break room. I looked up from where I sat at the table and blinked slowly. My eyes were heavy with emotion, though I knew I’d never sleep if I laid down.

“Yeah?”

“Rick’s here to see you. He insisted that he speak with you right now. He seems frustrated.” He stood with his hand wrapped around the doorjamb leaning on the wall, only his head and left shoulder peeking around the corner at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion. Rick here to see me? I didn’t know what he could possibly want now. He’d gotten what he wanted. Sunny walked out of my life. He drove the wedge between us and convinced her that I was a monster before I even had the chance to talk to her about the truth, and now she wanted nothing to do with me. My calls had gone unanswered for days.

“Send him in,” I said numbly and sat back in the chair to wait for him.

Jackson walked away. I heard the door to reception open and watched on the monitor, which I had been ignoring, to see Rick follow him back up the hallway. Rick looked upset, but that was par for the course lately. The last time I’d seen him look calm or at peace in any way was when he asked me to give Sunny that job, or perhaps the day of that party where this whole mess started.

I’d like to have gone back to that day and undone what happened. How Sunny flirted with me and the choices I made, but how could I truly regret that? I’d spent so many amazing days with her, connected with her in a way that healed my heart. To undo every part of our relationship would be to reverse the good times we had, not just the bad times, and I’d do it all over again, even live through this pain again, if it meant I could have those moments.

“Carter.” Jackson appeared in the doorway and pushed the door open, and Rick strode past him into the break room, standing over me with his hands on his hips.

I stood, smoothed my tie down my chest, and nodded at Jackson, who left the room and shut the door. Rick didn’t speak at first, too busy looking me up and down to articulate why he was here. I did the same to him, noticing he was dressed casually for a change. His polo and Dockers were out the norm for him, but the deep scowl and haggardly expression he offered I’d grown used to.

“Have you spoken with Soleil?” he asked in a gruff tone, and I shook my head.

“Haven’t you? She lives with you…” My entire body was tense from fear of what new trauma this interaction might bring. He had a way of twisting the knife sometimes, and I wasn’t prepared for it. I knew how reactionary I was and how easy it would be for me to bite his head off if he said the wrong things.

“No, I don’t know where she is.”

My heart sank at his words. If her own father didn’t know where she was, then where could she have gone? Back to Tampa alone? The thought scared me, that Sunny would really vanish into thin air and tell no one where she was going. I had hurt her that badly…

“My God, have you called the police?”

“The police?” he asked, shaking his head. “According to you she’s a grown adult and she can do what she wants.” He ran a hand over the top of his head and scowled at me.

“What did you do, Price? I trusted you with her. I thought you understood how vulnerable she is.”

My mind raced at the idea that she was out there hurting, all alone, not reaching for help at all. He was right. How could I have done this to her? As much as I wanted to let myself fishtail into that pit of self-loathing, I couldn’t. It wouldn’t do me or Sunny any good. Rick had to see that his pushing her made this even worse.

“You’re right. She’s an adult. She can make her own choices, but did you stop to think that if you hadn’t been trying to micromanage her life, she might be at your house instead of God knows where?” My heart played war drums against my rib cage. I loosened my tie and walked around the table, feeling angry enough I could punch him right in the nose.

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