Page 43 of Broken Boss Daddy

“But besides that,” he interrupted and turned to face me with a determined expression, “you were right. I haven’t been around to be Abby’s father. You’re all she’s known, and I respect the hell out of you for being the mother you are. I won’t take her away from you. I would die before I let that happen.”

All the emotions and debates I’d been having with myself sprang to the surface. Tears built in my eyes, and it was a struggle not to just let them free with all the overwhelming feelings rushing at me.

Grant couldn’t have said anything better at that moment.

When he saw me, he reached for my hand and placed a gentle kiss in the palm of one.

“I’m so sorry,” I choked out.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. Am I upset I missed out on the greatest journey of my life? Sure. But I understand now the position you were in, Jess,” Grant said calmly.

“I wanted to tell you. Really, I did. But when I called, and you didn’t pick up, I thought it meant you wanted nothing to do with me so why would you want anything to do with our child?”

He shifted closer to me then said, “Which, I’m still finding really strange because I thought it wasyouwho wanted nothing to do withme.”

“What?” Sniffling, I pushed the tears back down. “Why would you think that?”

Grant shrugged. “Because you didn’t come back to the hotel, and I did the stupid thing of only giving you my number instead of also getting yours. So when I didn’t hear from you either, I figured that night was just another night for you.”

Smacking the arm he had placed on the bench behind me, I gave him a blunt look. “Did you really think I was that type of girl?”

“Well, no. Which was why I didn’t understand it.”

“The reason you didn't hear from me, dumbass, is becauseyougave me a fake number.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.”

“No, I didn’t,” Grant insisted. “Why would I give the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen the wrong number?”

I blushed at his compliment, but said nothing about it. “That’s something you would have to ask yourself. All I can tell you is that I called, and no one picked up. Then when I called again with the whole pregnancy thing, some woman picked up and said she had never heard about you.”

Sitting back in my seat, I crossed my arms and let him stew over that for a moment. He couldn’t come to me and say I abandoned him when he was the one to do it first.

A moment passed. Then Grant’s face lit up and laughter bubbled out of him. He couldn’t stop laughing, and I wondered if he had finally lost his damn mind.

“What?” I asked, feeling slightly left out of whatever was happening.

“I think I gave you the wrong number,” he managed to get out.

Playfully slapping him again, I exclaimed, “See! So it was you, not me.”

“Jess.” He breathed. “Jess. Trust me, it wasn’t on purpose.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No,” Grant had finally calmed down and looked at me softly. “Never,” he whispered. “I know it sounds stupid, but you changed my life that night, Jess. There was nothing I wanted to do more than to see you again. What I think might’ve happened is that I was so tired, I put in the wrong digit or something.”

I didn’t answer right away. There was a part of me that thought he was talking shit to get himself out of a sticky situation. Yet, I knew Grant, and that wasn’t the type of person he was.

“Alright, I can see how that would’ve happened.”

Grant continued to smile softly at me, and I melted into him. All I wanted was to forget about everything and just have one more moment asus.

But there was still so much more we had to clear up before I could even think about that.

Deciding that it was better not to prolong the inevitable, I turned to face him fully and took a deep breath. “Truthfully, maybe there was something more I could’ve done to tell you about Abby.”

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