Page 59 of Broken Boss Daddy

“Jessica.” Paul gave me a long look. “You have to understand, Grant is my only son. Yes, there’s Jack and I love him like a son, but Grant ismine. I will do anything to ensure that he has the future that he deserves.”

I wondered what Grant would say if he heard his father talk like that. “That’s understandable.”

“I thought you would understand, being a parent yourself.”

His words hit me like a brick. I stood up straighter and eyed him. “How do you know about my daughter?”

“Don’t worry, there wasn’t anything bad involved with me learning about her. I went to see Grant at his apartment and heard her through the door. Grant told me she was your daughter.”

My daughter?Confused as to why Grant didn’t tell him Abby was his daughter, I shifted on my feet. “Okay…” I didn’t know what to feel. “Do you have a problem with me having a child?”

“No, not at all.”

“Then what is this all about?”

“Your relationship with my son, your daughter’s relationship with him, is detrimental to his career.”

“Excuse me?” I felt like someone had slapped me.

“I mean no disrespect, Jessica, really—”

“No disrespect? You literally just told me that my daughter and I are bad for hiscareer. How can you expect not to be offended by that?”

He sighed like I was out of line. “I like you, Jessica. And I’m sure your daughter is a wonderful girl. But Grant is so tied up in whatever this thing is, that he’s stalling on making the right choice.”

“If Grant is stalling, that’s not on me. He has had all the space in the world to decide. Did he tell you we actually haven’t been seeing each other?”

“No. I wasn’t informed about that.”

“Well, that’s where our reality sits at the moment,” I huffed. “You can’t come here and accuse me of stalling him when he’s doing it to himself.”

“I see I’ve upset you.”

“Upset me? No, Dr. Adams. You’ve frustrated me. It’s one thing telling me to back off, but a whole other thing when you get my six-year-old daughter involved.”

There was a pause after I had said that, and I half expected him to just nod his head, get in his car, and leave.

But, as it turned out, Paul was just thinking long and hard about what to throw at me next.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have brought her into this conversation. You’re obviously a wonderful mother to her. But that’s where I plead with you to consider my point of view. Playing at being a family is holding Grant back from achieving great things like he was always meant to do. He was meant to save lives, Jessica, but he can’t do that while he’s distracted.”

I had nothing to say to that.

Paul took a step forward, and continued, “He’d be a fool not to take the job. I know it. He’s likely thinking the same thing. And somewhere deep down, I’m sure you know it, too. Don’t hold him back. Don’t be the reason he wakes up in ten years and wonders what he’s done with his life.”

Paul’s words hung between us. Again, there was nothing I could say to that, because it was the same thoughts that have haunted most of my dreamless nights.

Yet, none of it had anything to do with him.

“Dr. Adams,” I started. “I hear what you’re saying. But Grant is an adult. He should be able to make this decision for himself. Outside of you, or me, Grant needs to consider what he thinks is best for him. He can’t keep doing what you expect of him, or me for that matter.”

“That’s not—”

“It’s exactly what this is. You want him to achieve great things, and that’s fantastic. But have you noticed how much pressure you’ve put on him to meet those expectations you have? Grant will bend over backwards, go to the end of the Earth to please you. When will you stop focusing on what could happen, and realize what’s happening to your son in the present moment?”

With that finally being said to him, I came to the realization that I was doing the same thing to Grant as his father was. I was holding all these expectations for a life together, without considering what it actually meant to Grant.

Guilt crawled up my spine, and it was a struggle not to cower under it or Paul’s stare.

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