Page 93 of Jilted

He pointed down at the glasses. “Those aren’t clean.”

I did a double take. “Oh.”

Dad leaned on the bar. “You usually put half of them back even when theyareclean because they aren’t cleanenoughfor your liking. You want to tell me what’s going on? Because I’m not going to leave my pretty daughter alone in a bar full of men when she’s not on her game.”

I put the dirty glass back into the crate. “I’m fine. Just a little distracted, I guess.”

“That have anything to do with a certain rugby player I saw coming out of the building again this morning?”

I sighed. “I made Wilder feel bad earlier. He asked me to go to lunch with his dad, and I said I didn’t want people at work to know I’m dating the big boss’s son. Which I think is reasonable, but it came out wrong, and it seemed more like I was concerned about how people would view me after we split up—like I expected we would. Wilder said he wasn’t mad, but I could tell it upset him. And he’s at the airport by now, on his way back to England, so it’s not like I can take the subway and apologize in person.”

“Sometimes we say what we mean, even when we don’t mean to, honey.”

I nodded. “Honestly, that’s exactly what I did. I think I just expect things to not work out, based on my past experiences. And that’s not fair to put on Wilder.”

“We all bring baggage to a relationship. The important thing is what you do with it. You can carry it with you forever, or you can unpack it. The choice is yours.”

I nodded. “That’s a really good analogy. Would you mind staying for a few minutes more, Dad? I’m going to go in the back and call Wilder, see if I can catch him before he takes off.”

“Take all the time you need, sweetheart.”

But the phone rang three times and went to voicemail. Wilder should still have had a while before he took off, so I hoped he wasn’t ignoring my call. When voicemail picked up, I decided to leave him a message.

“Hey. It’s me. I was hoping I’d catch you before you boarded. I wanted to apologize again for what I said this morning. It’s been bugging me all day.” I took a deep breath. “I’d like to get to know your dad better. Maybe next time you’re back in New York we can have that lunch? Or maybe I can make you both dinner at my place?” I paused. “Anyway… give me a call if you have time before you take off, okay? Talk to you soon.”

I swiped to end the call and tucked my cell into the pocket of my apron. I hoped I hadn’t screwed things up with Wilder because ofmy experience with Josh. That man had really left his mark. Maybe I should call the jerk back after all and give him a piece of my mind.

Though when I walked back out to the bar, I realized a call wouldn’t be necessary. Because my ex-fiancé had just walked through the front door.

Not surprisingly, Dad spotted him first. He’d been putting on his jacket and stilled. I wasn’t sure where to go first, but I ended up waving to Dad to tell him everything was okay and walking over to Josh.

“What are you doing here?”

He smiled. “Hey. I took a chance that you still worked Wednesday nights.”

“I see that. Butwhydid you come?”

“I want to talk to you, and you won’t return my calls or messages.”

“That’s because I don’t have anything to say to you.”

Josh frowned. “Can we just talk for a few minutes?”

I glanced over at Dad. Josh did the same and waved, but Dad didn’t return the sentiment.

“He’s still pissed, huh?”

“Did you ever really know my father at all? There’s no coming back from leaving his daughter standing at the altar. You’re lucky Will and Travis aren’t here tonight.”

Josh looked down. “Yeah, of course. Should I go over and apologize again?”

“No. I think you should say what you came to say and leave before he chases you out.”

He nodded. “Can we sit for a minute?”

I sighed. “Fine. Go sit in a booth. I need to talk to my dad first.”

“Okay.”

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