Page 124 of Shortcake
“Do what?”
“Yellat her! That’s only going to make it worse. What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you had to wait—”
“I called Warren and told him I had an emergency, so he relieved me early. I didn’t realize I had to check withyoubefore approaching my daughter as I see fit.”
Jesus Christ. Meyer family: 2. Addy: Zero.
They really knew how to punch below the belt.
“Youdon’t. But Conrad, she’s going to be mad about this. It’s just how it is. So let her get that anger out. And if she has to use me as the punching bag, fine, I can take it—”
“No,” he barked. “It’s not fine for her to use other people as a punching bag when she’s upset. She’s allowed to be angry. She’s allowed to express that anger. But she’s not allowed to hurt people in the process.”
I shook my head. “That’s all good and well for an adult who understands the nuances. But we’re talking about a hormonal teenager. One who’s lost her grandmother and home recently. And who’s scared of losing her dad, too.”
“Losing me? I’m not going anywhere.”
“Oh, Conrad. You can’t really be this dense, can you? You may be here physically, but you know as well as I do that you haven’t dated anyone seriously in… what…ever? And now you are. And I’m here. And it’s scary for her.”
“So now I’mdense?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I shouldn’t have said that. You’re not dense. But have you ever been a teenage girl? Have you ever watched your single parent date? Or move on? BecauseIhave.”
His expression softened and he slid his arm around me, pulling me into him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, kissing my head. “This is… uncharted territory for me.”
“For both of us,” I said, sighing in his arms. They felt so damn good wrapped around me like that.
“I need to tell you something,” he said, his voice tight.
“Okay…”
“Because this…” he paused, gesturing up at Harper. Or maybe at me. Or the house. I wasn’t sure. “I can’t go through this again and have you find out some other way.”
Nerves bounced in my belly while something darker—dread, maybe—clamped my throat. “You’re scaring me. Whatever it is, just say it.”
“Harper’s mom is coming for a visit.”
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting… but it wasn’t that. “Oh,” I said.
“Tuesday.”
“Tuesday,” I repeated. It felt like the air was knocked from my lungs. “As in… the day after tomorrow?”
He nodded, face twisting. “I’m sorry. I’ve wanted to tell you, but I was a fucking coward. She hardly ever visits and now that I’m finally with someone, falling in love, now she comes…”
If I thought I was breathless before, I might as well have been under water at this point. We said those words to each other at the precinct, but we were interrupted so quickly, I didn’t get to really relish in them. “Say it again,” I whispered.
He sighed, pressing his mouth briefly to my forehead. “I’m falling in love with you, Addy.”
My eyes fell closed and I nuzzled into him. It was a weird feeling, being so elated amidst such a horrible afternoon. “I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”
But when I looked back up into his eyes, I wasn’t met with the gaze of a loving partner. He stared down at me, concern knitting his brows, pinching his mouth, and creasing his forehead.
Reaching up, I brushed my fingers against the lines on his forehead and said what I knew he was thinking. “But it can’t work without Harper being on board.”
“I don’t even know what to say to her. Where to begin.”
“Begin withI’m sorry.”
