Page 40 of My Dad's Billionaire Grumpy Friend

“Unless you don’t want to talk about it,” I said. “But I can’t help but wonder how we can do what we did, then just go back to living like we’re nothing more than we were.”

“Oh?”

“I made the choice to take a leap of faith and see if there was something between us, and I gave into my desire to make love to you,” I said. “I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, but I then chose not to care about those things and just go with what felt right. Now, you’ve got me wondering if this is how people your age do things these days, and what it meant to you.”

“You mean going on just acting like nothing happened?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “If you just wanted to have sex, that’s fine, but I would like to hear it from you that’s all it was rather than have to figure it out with this distance you and I now have between each other. It’s not like we don’t know what the elephant in the room is, but I don’t want to keep going on with our lives acting like it’s not that.”

“No,” Erin said.

“No what?” I asked.

“I didn’t just want to have sex with you. And I’m not doing this to get back at you over not being any different after the kiss, either. I did wonder about that, but I know having sex is a lot bigger a thing to do than to make out with each other. But I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and I knew that I had to make a choice, so I did.”

“Make a choice?” I asked. “And what choice did you make?”

“I knew that if this was going to turn into something that was more than me working for you or if we were going to give being together a real shot, then I had to figure out what was going on with us. I wasn’t going to keep guessing and trying to figure out what it was that you wanted when we have Libby to think about. You know she means more to me than anything, and I think you’re already aware of the fact it’s going to be tough for anyone who wants to come into your life in a romantic way.”

“Obviously it is,” I said. “But she loves you already, and I’m hoping that’s saying something. Not just to you but to show me that it is okay for me to feel the things I’m feeling and to give in to the desires I have. You know Libby is the most important thing in my world, and I don’t want her to get hurt in anything that goes on.”

“Exactly,” she said. “And I’m not sure what you were after when we did that in your office. I wasn’t going to be the one to keep acting like there was something between us when we hadn’t talked about it. I couldn’t let myself go in that direction for the mere purpose of making sure Libby isn’t going to get the wrong idea about what is going on and for her to get hurt when the time comes for me to leave.”

“Of course not,” I said. “But I want to know where you stand, too. This has more to do than just with Libby, just with you. Or even what I want in my own life. You have to understand that this entire thing is complicated in a lot of ways, and there are going to be a lot of things both you and I need to navigate moving forward if we are going to make this a real relationship. And I’m not just talking about the people who are in this house, either.”

“Right,” she said with a nod. “No, I’ve been thinking about what I would say to Dad about this, but I also know that I’m an adult, and that means I’m free to choose who I want to be with in my life. He might have something to say about it, but I’m not going to choose to be with or not be with someone based on who he thinks I should date. It’s not up to him.”

“But there is still a lot of love and respect I have for him,” I said. “And I know it’s going to be something that has to be approached carefully.”

“Look, before we even start with how we’re going to tell my father, I would rather hammer out the details with us. I don’t want to ever have to guess where I stand with you, and I mean it. If you want to talk about this in a sense that you and I might be moving forward and giving this a real shot, then I want to have a real talk about that.”

I nodded. I knew it had to happen, too, but I also knew to have that conversation, I had to admit to myself that I was at the point in my life where I was ready to move on romantically. It had been a struggle to even live after losing my wife and to think I might have found another woman to make me happy was just as sad to me as it was happy.

But then, there was Erin standing in front of me, and I couldn’t think of another woman I had ever met who made me feel the way she did. She was incredible in so many ways, and I knew she deserved to hear it from me that I was willing to commit to her and do what work we had to do to be together.

We both knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I also felt that we both thought it would be worth it.

But, before I had the chance to say anything else, Libby appeared in her doorway. She looked bored, and it was clear she hadn’t heard any of the conversation we had been having, but both Erin and I broke apart from our conversation with the same level of awkwardness, and with the way Libby looked from one of us to the other, I was sure she could piece together in her mind there was something going on.

“Why are you two being weird?” she asked.

“Just talking about what we could have for dinner,” Erin said. “I want to make something that goes with this dessert, but your dad was just saying that pizza sounded like it would be good.”

She gave me a look, and I picked up on it right away. It was a little white lie, but if it saved having to convince her there wasn’t anything else going on, I would go with it. Libby was too smart for her own good, and I knew we would have to be really careful if we were going to start dating without her figuring it out way too soon.

“What do you think?” I asked her. “Pizza is the kind of dinner that can go with any dessert, right?”

“Duh,” she said. “Pizza goes with everything even if it’s not dessert.”

“You think so?” Erin said with a laugh. “Well, in that case, I guess we can order a pizza.”

“What kind do you want?” I asked Libby, grabbing my phone out of my pocket to put in the order. She fell for it almost immediately, and she seemed to think that was really what we had been talking about.

I was grateful for the change in conversation, though what we had been talking about before was going to stay on my mind. I knew I had a lot to think about, and it would be best to talk to Erin about this officially sooner rather than later.

But she understood that we had to be careful, so as I walked out of the kitchen with Libby, I gave her a wink, letting her know we would pick up on this conversation again when we had the chance.

She smiled back, showing me she understood, then she went back to the dessert she was working on.

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