Page 57 of Back for More
Lily leans back and looks down at her toast for a while before asking, “Why didn’t your dad go after her if he still cared about her?”
“Because he knew she would leave again. And she wouldn’t be happy while she was around, so what’s the point? She had always talked about wanting to travel around Europe when they met, and my dad was always honest about not wanting to, but they got married anyway.”
“But…they still aren’t legally divorced?”
I shake my head. “Nobody’s filed anything.”
“Not even her?”
“Nope.”
“And your dad’s okay with that?”
“My dad’s okay with most things.”
“Yeah,” she says softly. “He is, isn’t he? He’s lovely. But what if he wants to marry someone else?”
“He doesn’t. If he ever does, he’ll do what he has to do.”
“But does he want to see your mom again?”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
She blinks. “Doyouwant to see her again? Do you miss her?”
I don’t have to think before answering. “Yeah.”
“Yeah, you want to see her again, or yeah, you miss her?”
“Why are you asking me all these questions all of a sudden?”
And there’s that defiant look again. “Because I didn’t want to know before. Now I do.”
I grin. “Because now you care?”
She presses her lips together. “Because I’m curious.”
“Okay. I’m curious too. Why did you move back to Belford?”
She stares at me blankly, like she doesn’t understand the question. “For the job.”
“But the job is a means to an end, yes?”
She puts her fork down and wipes her mouth with a napkin. “Yes.”
“Your father offered you some kind of deal? Work for a year? Get access to your trust fund early?”
“Did he tell you?”
“Educated guess. Did you even try to negotiate with him?”
“About what?”
“Other options.”
She clears her throat and looks away. “I wasn’t really interested in other options. He didn’t tell me I’d be working foryouuntil I had already crossed into Oregon.”
“And if he had told you that up front, you would have told him to fuck off?”
