Page 52 of Broken Boss Daddy

My jaw dropped to the floor. I couldn’t get it to move, couldn’t get my mouth to form words.

Or at least, that was what it felt like in those few seconds after Grant’s bombshell.

In another state, I repeated to myself.

The only thing I felt like Icoulddo was stare at him blankly. “Excuse me?” I croaked out.

Grant turned his gaze away from me and onto Abby. The fact that he hadn’t said anything else reaffirmed that I had heard exactly what he’d said.

“How long… How long have you known?”

He sucked in a breath. “A while. My father told me about it, and that they were very interested in meeting with me.”

“You’ve known for a while,” I whispered, facing my sleeping daughter.

There I was, ready to take everything between us to the next level and he’d been sitting on this news for “a while.”

The room fell quiet. Only Abby’s light snores could be heard. Yet, I could hear the pounding of my heart in my ears. My eyes were puffy from the crying I had done earlier, and even more tears threatened to spill, the longer I had Grant’s confession in my head.

We’d been playing at being a family for weeks. All the while, he knew he might not stay. That was one thing I expressed dearly to him before I allowed him to meet Abby, my one condition—he had to stay.

Heartbreak didn’t seem like the right word to describe what I was feeling.

Everything was crumbling down around me, and just when I saw a future that was bright for all of us.

Forcing down the constriction in my throat and ignoring the pang in my chest, I asked, “What is this residency thing about?”

“Basically, what I’m doing here.” Grant shrugged. “It’s just at a more prestigious hospital with well-known surgeons in my specific field.”

I nodded. “Okay. And what field are you in?”

“General surgery. Funny thing.” He chuckled and glanced at me. “I was dead set about not going into general surgery. My dad’s a neurosurgeon, so I wouldn’t touch that. For a while, I thought I might go into pediatrics.”

“That’s about children, right? Why didn’t you?”

“Well, that's what made it so funny.Youwere the one that steered me into general surgery.”

“Grant, I know I’m good, but I’m notthatgood.” My pathetic attempt at humor failed miserably as even I didn’t find it funny.

“You don’t remember much of that night, do you?” he asked.

I shook my head. “The important parts, sure. Obviously.” I motioned toward Abby.

Grant leaned back in his seat. “We had this conversation about our futures.”

“I remember that.”

He smiled. “Yeah, me too. Anyway, I had rambled onto you about which medical specialty I thought I wanted to go into, hence pediatrics. That impressed you, which boosted my confidence with you. But then you asked why notpeoplesurgery—”

“People surgery? Gosh, was I that drunk?”

“Not at that point, no.” Grant gave me a look that said he was thinking about the part of our night that led to Abby.

Blushing, I smiled shyly and almost forgot the real reason we were having this conversation.

“After I corrected you,” he continued. “I asked why you thought I should do that, and you said,Because you get to save more than just children, you get to save the world.”

“I really said that? Damn, I’m smart when intoxicated.”

---