Page 82 of Every Time My Heart Breaks

Dad slowed to a stop, and his smile faded. “Motherfucker,” he uttered. “He told you.”

“Oh…” I laughed harshly and shook my head. “He didn’t have to say a single word. His behavior alone was so freaking obvious it hadyouwritten all over it.”

“Damn,” he murmured with a wince and ran a hand over his hair. “I should’ve taken that into consideration. The kid’s got no tact at all.”

Another laugh burst from me. But this was funny. Hilarious. My father had tried to arrange amarriagefor me, and now that I’d outed him, he wasn’t even bothering to hide it or apologize for what he’d done.

How had my life come to this?

Plopping down on the couch near me, I kept laughing until the laughter turned to sobs, and I started full-on crying.

“Oh, Chloe Girl,” Dad murmured, his voice full of sympathy. He started for me again, his arms reopening.

I pointed at him. “Don’t you dare come near me,” I warned. “I’m so mad at you right now, I can’t even…” But I had no idea how to finish the sentence, so I shook my head, pressed my lips together, and closed my eyes, visibly trembling all over.

Dad paused briefly, then came forward anyway. “I know,” he murmured and sat down next to me. I flinched when he pulled me into his arms, but he still didn’t let up, even then. He hugged me close and kissed my hair. “But trust your old man a little, will you? I would never do anything that would hurt you. You know that. Thiswillwork out.”

“No.” I bowed my head as every muscle in my body tensed. “This will ruin me. Because I know Luke. Iknowhim. And he gets unwaveringly stubborn when he puts his mind to something. If he told you he was going to do this, then he’s not going to give up about it, not until he somehow charms me into going along with it too because, oh, I’m sure he will. Then he’s going to get saddled with a wife he doesn’t love, and he’s going to end up hating and resenting both youandme for the rest of our lives until all three of us die miserable deaths full of regret and heartbreak.”

“Or…” My dad murmured, stroking my hair and rocking with me. “This will become the greatest love story of both of your lives.”

I groaned. “I hereby banish you from your rose-colored glasses, and I’m throwing them in the trash. This is a train wreck, Dad. Atrain wreck.”

He merely chuckled. “Just give it a chance. Because youarewrong about one thing. He does love you. He’s always loved you. He wouldn’t be there for you every night if he didn’t.”

“That’s not the kind of love I’m talking about, and you know it. He sees me as a…a sister. And I want a man who fuckinglovesme, Dad. Don’t I deserve that?”

“You do,” he assured me. “But love is love, and the feelings he has for you nowcanbe nurtured into something more. He’s just neverlethis feelings grow in that direction before because he didn’t see it as a path he was allowed to take. He kept the gate to that kind of love with you firmly closed. Out of respect. All I did was open the gate and point out the way, and now…I have every confidence that he’ll find the kind of love he needs and giveyouthe kind of husband you want.” Smiling fondly at me, he cupped my face and gazed adoringly into my eyes. “He’s going to worship the ground you walk on. I know it.”

I sighed, envisioning the picture he drew. I even smiled over it. Then I shook my head sadly. “You make it sound like a fairy tale. Too bad your versionisa fairy tale. It’s fake, Dad. It’s not real. You didn’t takehiswants or needs into consideration at all. And I’m not what he wants. I’m not what he needs.”

“Chloe…” he started, his voice full of warning as I rose to my feet.

“The truth of the matter is,” I said. “He’s never looked at me that way. And he never will. So I’m going to do everything I possibly can to help him break this idiotic promise to you and get him out of this mess.”

“Jesus. Just give it a chance, Chloe,” my dad begged, rising to his feet. “All I asked him to do was try. That’s all he’s going to do. If you go in, determined to sabotage it, it’s just going to make you both miserable. But if you just…lethim try…” He shook his head and heaved out a breath. “Then the worst thing that’ll happen is he gives you a couple of presents, takes you out a few times, and then you both go your separate ways.”

“No,” I disagreed, shaking my head. “The worst thing that’ll happen is that he’ll finally break me so completely that there will be nothing left for me to keep going on my own. Because Ihavetried with him, Dad. Time after time again. And all he’s ever done is break my heart.” Walking to the door of his office, I paused and turned back. “I’m done trying. It’s over.”

“He didn’t know then,” my dad insisted. “He didn’t know what was happening. But he does now. Just give him one more chance while he’s aware of what’s going on. For me.”

I looked him in the eyes and realized how much I loved this man. He seriously would do anything for me. Pick Ryan was an amazing father.

So it broke my heart a little when I said, “No,” and left his office, walking away.

There’s no way I could give Luke a chance after this because no matter what happened from this point on, it’d never be genuine. My father had stained him. He might even convince himself that hedidlove me just because he would be determined enough to. But it’d never be real.

Luke Hamilton was simply incapable of loving me the way that I’d always loved him. And I was going to do everything in my power to get him whathewanted—a life without me in it.

20LUKE

After Chloe left to confront her dad, I took my time straightening the kitchen and cleaning the mess I’d made. Then, I returned to her bedroom to shower and change into my clothes for the day. Once I was pulling on my shoes, however, I glanced over toward her closet at the shoes she had in there.

So I pushed to my feet and wandered inside to snoop around, browsing through her footwear until I got a decent bead on what size she wore. Then I locked up before heading out to my truck.

A good night’s rest had left me feeling more resolute about my goals than before. She might be a little reticent over the whole thing and a hard nut to crack, but that just made her a bigger challenge. And one thing I loved to conquer was a good challenge.

So she could fight it and butt heads with me as much as she wanted to, I wasn’t giving up.

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