Page 72 of Swiped By My Dad's Best Friend
Trace squeezed my hand. “It’s okay. I’m not upset with you.”
“I went up on the ladder to check her gutters,” I explained. “Looked like rain later, and she asked if we’d cleared them. Should have thought to check sooner.”
“So you fell from the ladder?”
“No one was bracing it,” Kev said. “That’s my bad. I should have been watching out for him.”
“Yeah, you should have,” Trace said, sounding angrier than he had since he’d entered the room. “It’s a work site. You guys need to take safety precautions.”
Kev looked abashed. “I know. I’m sorry.” He shifted uncomfortably. “I’ll, uh, go update the guys. Simon and Linc are out in the waiting room.”
I knew I should reassure him, but I was too flustered to do it now.
“It’s not really his fault,” I said tentatively once Kev was gone. “You told me not to use the ladder without someone to brace it. You were right.”
“I don’t care about being right. I just care about you. Are you going to be okay?”
“Just a concussion and a sprained ankle,” I said. “They’re doing some X-rays to be sure, but I don’t think anything is broken. Just feeling stupid for letting myself be careless.”
“What had you so distracted?”
I swallowed hard. “Lots of stuff, I guess. Got my philosophy paper back. Didn’t do so great. I was handling it so well though. You would have been proud.”
“I’m always proud,” he said.
I grimaced as my head gave a throb. “But then Geraldine gave me apple pie, and I started thinking about the last time I had it with my mom …”
“Ah, brat. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t know how to feel about her, you know?” I looked up at him. “I’m so disappointed in her, and sometimes I think we’re the same, so what does that say about me?”
“You’re your own person, Cooper.”
“You know what I mean. She left, and that’s all I think about. How I want to escape school and grades and expectations.” I looked up at his concerned eyes. “What if I’m just like her?”
He sighed. “I don’t think one action or desire defines a person. But, so what if youarelike your mom? She may have made mistakes, but that doesn’t mean she’s a bad person. I knew her, remember? Your father loved her. She raised you for seventeen years. From what I can see, she raised an amazing guy, someoneIlove, so she clearly did something right.”
Trace bent to kiss me, and it felt so right. I gripped his shirt with one hand, holding him to me.
“I should go before your father gets here,” Trace said reluctantly.
The thought of him leaving made me anxious. “Not yet,” I said, pulling him back down for another kiss. “Just a few more minutes.”
Trace indulged me, kissing me gently and brushing his fingers along my cheek. When he straightened, gazing down at me, his eyes were warm. “I love the hell out of you, brat. Everything about you, just as you are.”
His words warmed me. He wasn’t just professing love; he was offering love without strings. He might scold me if I injured myself, might punish me for being bratty, but it was all done with love and acceptance of me, flaws and all.
“Trace?” my father’s voice rang out. “What in the hell?”
Trace jerked back, glancing over his shoulder. My father stood near the foot of my bed, shock clear on his face. There was no doubting he’d seen enough to put two and two together.
* * *
TRACE
“Hey, Dad,” Cooper said weakly, his hand clenching tighter on mine.
“Matthew.” I tipped my head, unsure what to say. This wasn’t how I wanted him to find out about me and Cooper.
