Page 31 of Loving You

He paused, not meeting my eyes, and every inch of me wanted to reach for him again, but I didn’t.

“I was going to college online, Will had bailed, and I was knee-deep in trying to be there for Brenna and keep Sammy from getting into too much trouble. Thank god Jake was such a good kid.”

He finally looked up then, and amid the grief, there was also a hint of pride in the small smirk that forced its way out.

“But through all that,” he went on, looking away with a sharp intake of breath, “I also had to keep my eyes on my mom at all times because I was so fuckingscaredshe’d try something stupid so she could… see him again.”

His voice had been ragged through all of that, but he’d barely been able to get the last few words out.

And then when he turned back to me again, the sadness and fear in his eyes was almost too much for me to bear.

I’d never seen him like this.

I’d known he was the bossy father figure of the family, and I’d teased him more than once about being the man of the Walker house and working himself to death to take care of them all.

But this… seeing thelovebehind all that shit I used to tease him about…

It broke my heart.

I reached for his hand once more, not letting him pull away this time. “I’m so sorry, Eric.”

When he finally dragged his gaze to mine, my pulse fluttered at the openness I found. He’d let me in, and there I was, still keeping my own shit locked away for fear of what he’d think of me without my cover.

What would he think if he saw behind the bubbly, sexy, never-say-die, party-all-night lie of a persona I’d created?

Nothing good, surely.

“This isn’t about me,” he finally said, and this time I didn’t fight him when he pulled his hand away. “So, in closing: my dad died, your dad made a pass at my mom, and somehow this resulted in your dad getting… what’d you say? Booted the fuck out?”

I sighed and nodded. “Yep. Your mom told my mom what happened—because she felt like the woman had a right to know—and my mom was a huge bitch to her about it because she sucks. Sorry, I love my mom, but I don’t love how she handled herself with Jenna.”

He grinned, as if that somehow pleased him.

“But anyway, she kicked my dad to the curb and was a badass during the divorce, so she goteverything.Last I heard, the man who’d raised five girls like we meant the world to him and built our B&B up with my mom now lives in a studio in a small Midwest town, and we haven’t seen him since the day he left.”

“Wow. I’m sorry about your dad, for what it’s worth.”

“Thanks. So yeah, now you know.”

He sipped his beer, then stared down at the label. “You said it depends on whose side you’re on before, but it kinda sounds like—”

“Like I’m not on the side you assumed I’d be on?” I swallowed under his assessing stare. “Well, let’s just say I can love my mom, be indifferent to my dad, and still think Jenna Walker was the one who got the shaft in this whole thing.”

Respect filled his face, and one corner of his mouth quirked up. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He leaned back, still watching me. “Now that you’ve shared all that, is there anything else you wanna open up to me about?” When I didn’t speak, he nudged my foot with his under the table. “Come on. I showed you mine.”

Heat flooded my veins, and I had no idea what tumbled out of my mouth in response, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t English.

Chuckling, he picked up our empty dishes and went to the sink. “April Carrigan, blushing at an innuendo. Never thought I’d see the day.”

I didn’t have an intelligent reply to that either, but without turning from the sink he added, “It’s fine. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. And I’ll be here for it.”

10

ERIC

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