Page 15 of Romance Reset
“Dad—”
“Open. Now.”
A long pause followed, but he finally heard her moving across the room toward the door. She opened it a crack.
“What?” she asked, not looking directly at him.
“What’s going on with you? Why the tears?”
“It’s nothing, Dad. I’m fine.”
His beautiful daughter was anything but fine. “Try again.”
She rolled her eyes and shot him an irritated look that resembled Jill’s so much he caught his breath.
“Jax and I broke up. But it’s no big deal. It’s not like we can date when he’ll be in California and I’ll be at Duke.”
Young love was tough. He knew that from experience.
Lincoln reached out and tucked a wet clump of hair behind her ear. “Are you sure you won’t come with us tonight? Nice chance to hang out with your old man, hear some good music.”
“You’re not that old. But no. I’m going to find a movie and hang out here with ice cream.”
He smiled at the image, because anytime Jill had a bad day, a hug and ice cream were the cures. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah. Have fun.”
She tried to close the door but he stopped it with his hand. When she made eye contact, he took a step back and opened his arms, palms out and fingers wagging for her to bring it in. He got another eye roll for his actions, but she slipped through the door and hugged him. He squeezed her tight, taking the opportunity to kiss the top of her head. “It’ll be okay.”
“I know. It just bites.”
That it did. He held tight for several long moments, not about to be the one to let go until he had to. Breanne pressed her face into his chest and then pushed him away.
“Night, Dad.”
Lincoln watched as she stepped back into her bedroom and shut the door, wishing he could take away the pain he knew she felt. Much like him and Amelia, Breanne and Jax had dated since their sophomore year, and as boyfriends went, Lincoln couldn’t fault the kid. The boy had drive, potential. And had received both an athletic scholarship and multiple academic ones to Stanford, giving the kid a full ride. Lincoln just hated that his daughter was experiencing the same pain he had at her age.
Lincoln still mulled over his dark thoughts of the past forty minutes later when they piled into Carter’s Jeep for the ride to the amphitheater. Carter had removed the top and doors, and his son and two buddies sat squished into the back.
The drive took longer than expected due to traffic snarls, but finally they found a spot and grabbed their chairs from the rack on the back of the Jeep before making their way to the lawn.
“Dad, we’re going to go on down front and see if we can squeeze in.”
“Don’t be rude,” Lincoln ordered. “Come back if you can’t find a spot.”
“Okay.”
The boys disappeared into the crowd, and Lincoln and Carter settled along the back of the lawn with chairs and a cooler of drinks between them.
“You seem awfully preoccupied,” Carter said once they got situated. “Breanne okay?”
“She and Jax broke up.”
“Ahhh. I wondered why he wasn’t at the pool hanging out today. Tough break. Bound to happen, though, with him going so far away for school.”
Lincoln’s cell rang where it sat atop the cooler, and Marsali’s name appeared.
“Whoa! Why is Mac’s sister calling you?” Carter asked, his gaze narrowing suspiciously. “How does she have your number? Are youseeingher? Does Mac know?”
