Page 137 of Fierce-Gabe

“And look at how well things turned out for your big brother,” Royce said. “Take a page from my book.”

“Maybe I will. I’ve someone else to talk to before I see Gabe though.”

“Going to talk to Dad?” Royce asked.

“I have to. I can’t be mad at him even when I want to be.”

She drove to her father’s house and let herself in. “I didn’t expect to see you this soon,” her father said.

“You’d see me tomorrow at work,” she said. “No reason to make it tense around everyone else.”

“That’s the only reason you came here?” her father asked.

“No. I came to apologize. I’ll be doing a lot of it. I just talked to Royce. He made me see the things that everyone was saying were right in front of my face. I should have stopped to think things through before I opened my mouth.”

“Which we know you’ve done most of your life,” her father said.

“I just recently learned I need to take a few steps back before I react and yet forgot it all yesterday. I need to repair any damage I did before the crack grows. Weren’t you the one that says putting things off only makes it harder to fix?”

“I have said that,” her father said.

“Then I’m sorry. I should have seen what was happening but I didn’t. Ichosenot to.”

“Gabe was trying to protect you,” her father said.

“No, he wasn’t. He was protectingus. I know that now.”

Her father let out a sigh. “You do see things when you open your eyes. He knew you wouldn’t have even given him a chance if you knew. And he’d told us things were turning with you two once he figured it out. He did tell everyone to stop and step back. Maybe you should consider that it was you two and not anyone else. And it’s because of Gabe that you had that opportunity.”

“I know you guys still had a hand in things. Last night I realized the only reason I came out with our relationship was my jealousy. That I thought they were going to try to fix Gabe up with someone else.”

“Don’t lie to yourself,” her father said softly. “You told everyone that, but deep down you saw all the couples at Royce’s wedding and the man you were with had to stay at arm’s length. You realized it wasn’t fair to him or you, right?”

“Yeah,” she said, sighing. “I did realize that after the fact. I guess I’m to blame for most of the negative things in my and Gabe’s relationship.”

“Don’t do that either. Move past all the negative and focus on the positive. That is how you make things work.”

She stepped closer to her father and gave him a big hug. “Thanks, Dad. I’m still annoyed with you but not angry.”

“I’ll take the annoyance,” her father said, grinning. “That isn’t anything new.”

“Well,”Grant asked Tuesday afternoon. “Did I do too much damage?”

“It’s going to be fine,” Richard said. “Elise just left here.”

Grant had texted him last night and then again this morning. He hadn’t had much to say and didn’t want to admit Gabe and Elise were fighting. That was between his daughter and her boyfriend.

There were things they weren’t getting in the middle of or spreading to other people.

He wouldn’t do that to his daughter any more than he would do it to his son.

Wanting his kids settled down didn’t mean he was going to be intrusive.

He never felt the Fierces were either. They were all having fun and their hearts were in the right place.

“That’s good,” Grant said. “I’ll talk to your daughter and apologize if I need to.”

“No,” he said. “She said she realizes now that it was happening but she was blind to it. She’ll be fine. No one likes to be caught unaware and it happened.”

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