Page 38 of Broken Boss Daddy

Has Jessica mentioned anything about Abby’s father to her?

But the most consistent thought of them all was—I want to see her.

There had never been a stronger sense of determination in me than I felt about getting to know my daughter. I was scared out of my mind that I wouldn’t live up to Abby or Jessica’s expectations of him being a father.

But it excited me to try, and I was going to do it one way or another.

Chapter 17: Jessica

“Where does this child get these answers?” I asked myself as I continued to grade a student’s test from that morning.

Their answers were bizarre, and I had to check that I was grading the correct test.

A noise caught my attention. Putting my pen down and turning away from the disastrous paper—does this kid even pay attention in class?—I watched as Abby played with some of her toys we’d found in my car. The carpeted floor muffled the sound of her make-believe world of talking cars and flying animals.

For the first time in a while, I truly smiled.

Abby was with me until my mom came to pick her up and take her home. I had so much work to do, it wasn’t even funny. Yet, I only had myself to blame.

These tests should’ve been graded an hour ago, but I kept getting distracted. Every time I looked at my daughter, I saw Grant’s heartbroken face when I finally told him the truth.

It had been nearly a week since and there hadn’t been a word from him. No matter the number of times I called or texted him, each one had gone unanswered. And the guilt came back in a way I never expected it to.

Barely stopping short of driving to his place andmakinghim talk to me, I didn’t know what else to do. I never thought that I would want him to tell me it was all okay and accept us with open arms. But there I was, wanting just that.

Half the time I wondered if I was just making excuses and being cowardly, or if it made me smart not to push him. Either way, I was stuck feeling like that until Grant came to me.

Knowing that I wouldn’t get anything else done with that on my mind, I leaned back in my chair and watched Abby play.

She had no idea just what was happening around her. Whatever happened with Grant, I was going to make sure nothing touched Abby that didn’t have a positive impact.

Knock, knock.

The sound echoes around the room and my head. Without even looking I knew exactly who it was. The shift in the atmosphere was a dead giveaway, and my stomach gave out.

Grant stood in the open doorway, looking unsure about himself.

Thankfully, the universe was on my side and he couldn’t see Abby as my side desk hid her.

He just stood there. For the moment, I couldn’t move either. The longer we stared at each other, the more his expression switched to something I couldn’t read. That disturbed me. I wanted to know what he was thinking and if he was there to yell my head off.

If I knew what was coming at me, I could prepare myself against it.

Grant was giving nothing away.

Amidst trying to figure him out, I couldn’t help but notice how good he looked. He always looked good so there really was no surprise there. The surprise was, however, just how much I missed him in my life. He became such a prominent presence over the last months, and suddenly having him not there was something I never expected to truly feel.

“Hi,” Grant said.

My breath lodged in my throat.Oh, God. That voice.But movement from Abby to look at who was talking broke me out of my haze. Hurriedly pushing back from my desk, I did my best to obstruct his view into my classroom until I’d all but pushed him out of it, closing the door behind me.

There was no way I was even remotely ready for him and Abby to meet. No, not yet.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, standing with my back against the door and my hands firmly gripped on the doorknob.

Grant gave my behavior a skeptical look before saying, “Come on, Jess. You know exactly why I’m here. Don’t you think I’m at least entitled to a conversation considering you’ve kept my child from me for all these years.”

“I didn’t keep her from you, Grant. You weren’t even around for me to do that.”

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