Page 186 of Santa Daddies
“You didn’t have time to plan, just jumped in and kept her from getting won by someone else. Thank you.” I catch his gaze, hoping he can see my sincerity.
He nods and his shoulders relax.
“Can I ask you something else?”
Another nod.
“Why are you so worried about what your parents think?”
He angles his face to look out the window again. His mouth opens a few times but nothing comes out. I turn my attention to the Christmas tree to take pressure off of him. He clearly needs a moment to consider whatever he wants to say.
Santa ornaments give me an idea. I should hand out Krampus ornaments and promote my favorite Christmas entity more. Somehow my naughty list and punishments got absorbed into the jolly guy’s persona.
“My father abandoned me.” Loren gets the revelation out, then pauses. All he’d ever said before was that his father wasn’t in his life and we’d left it at that.
“I’m sorry, Loren.”
He shakes his head. “I always thought I’d done something wrong for him to abandon his son. But Bellamie’s dad took me in like I was his own, despite my worse-than-teenage attitude–and he became the father I never had.”
“I didn’t realize that.”
“He’s the reason I wanted to help young entrepreneurs. Be there for them. Help them find their path. You never know who just needs one person to have faith in them.”
That clicks even more points into place. “That’s why you’re so talented as a mentor.”
“I owe it all to him.”
“Which is why you resisted crossing a line with your stepsister.”
“And now I’ve failed at that.”
“She loves you, Loren.”
“How the hell would you know that?”
“I see it in the way she looks at you. And every time she said she didn’t want to talk about you, I sensed she was hiding her reason.”
“That’s quite a leap.”
“That’s my forte. Look, I may not have found out about the auction in time to participate, but I know that she had the right to turn down whoever won her.”
“Howdidyou find out? Weren’t you doing the other festival?”
“Yeah, I was talking to the Santa, who was nowhere near as good as you, and he mentioned saving up money for next year’s auction. On its own, that wouldn’t have been a big deal, but Bellamie had gotten weird about not being able to date and then again about her Friday nightthing. I hoped I was wrong, but I put two and two together and got there as fast as I could.”
“When we were leaving.” Remorse hangs on Loren’s words.
“Yeah.”
“This is so fucked.” He looks at me as if he wants advice.
“Yeah, but you and Bellamie can't go back from this. You and I can't go back from this. Why don’t we try moving forward together?”
“Because that’s insane. What are we supposed to do, share her?” His mind is probably mapping out schedules and rules.
Mine has sailed away with the obvious scenario. “We already know that the two of us are great together.”
“Not inthatway.”
