Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 49189 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49189 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
“He means it about that job?” my Dad finally asks, sounding more like his usual self despite the battered hand and wounded ego he’ll have to live with for a while.
“I know he does,” I assure him, “And it’ll mean one job, not three,” I remind him.
“Thanks, Vanessa,” he murmurs. “Thanks for not turning your back on me either, and I’m sorry. Sorry for acting like such a jerk. All I want is to see you happy,” he says, flashing a small smile before he winces again.
“We should really get that checked out,” I tell him, wondering if my medical insurance from my new job I haven’t even started yet would cover it.
“I just wanna see you happy, Vanessa,” my Dad finally sighs.
“And I guess I always thought it would be me that could do that…,” he begins, but we’re both interrupted by another person in the doorway of the kitchen area.
“Mr. Hart’s ready for you now. Ready for you both.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Michael
I gotta give Vanessa’s Dad credit where it’s due, turning up and giving me a face full of his fist shows me that he cares. And it’s exactly what I would’ve done, too, if the shoe were on the other foot.
He doesn’t just care about Vanessa. He’s willing to risk it all to protect her if he has to. Funny thing is, it’s the very same reason I claimed her as my own. To make sure it’s always me doing the protecting and providing.
Just old-fashioned, I guess.
But it’s time for her to be a grown woman now. An adult.
And that means living away from home. Being with the man who loves her in a very different way. Just as obsessed with making sure she has everything she needs and a ton of extra special things.
And if dealing with her Dad as well as Jase is why we both came down here today solves two problems at once, I’m okay with that.
Jase, on the other hand, is not as straightforward as dealing with an angry Dad.
I guess I have my own version of dealing with my kid as Vanessa’s Dad does right now, except they’re not kids anymore.
They’re grown-ups, and I’m determined to treat him like one.
This also means having to discipline him as a son and an employee. But he needs to tell me himself on our video call and explain how he met someone, and it changed everything. And no matter the cost?
I’ve said it before, but Jase really is a chip off the old block.
“I know I messed up, Dad. I fucked up the biggest opportunity we’ve had in ages. But I did it because I love her,” he explains, more than ready to take his punishment or whatever I might usually call it. But I only feel my heart getting lighter as he tells me, and I ask him more about his girl.
“Does she have a name?” I ask, chuckling as I watch him flush red with a shyness that only love can give a man.
Especially a man like Jase, who’s usually anything but shy.
“Emily,” he says and starts to list off everything he’s so crazy about with her.
It reminds me instantly of just how I feel about Vanessa.
About how I haven’t even told her how much I love her. I miss her already, even though she’s just a few feet away.
Because?
Well. Because I’ve never felt this way about anyone, ever. And seeing Jase have a mirror image experience is just a little bit weird right now, but I’m taking notes.
I promise to tell Vanessa I love her. Not just over lunch or at the water cooler.
I’ll tell her when she’ll hear it most.
When I make love to her while we keep working on putting that baby in her belly that I know we both want so much already.
By the time we get down to the nitty-gritty of my call with him about what we can do to solve the Phelps ‘crisis,’ I decide it’s easiest to cut Jase a break.
“I’m suspending you from working with the company for…six weeks, Jase,” I tell him after thinking it through, listening to his reasons for and against what he’s done versus what he hasn’t.
“Six weeks? Jesus, Dad, what am I supposed to live on? What am I supposed to do?” he groans, getting more upset when I smile.
“I’m suspending you from work, Jase. Not from living. You’re on vacation, fully paid from today. And I only ask one thing in return,” I add.
“Anything, Dad, I’ll do anything. And thanks!” he beams. All his troubles are over, it seems.
Taking a breath, I tell him about Vanessa and me. Not the gory details about exactly what I’ve been doing to his best friend, but I tell him we’re a couple now.
The whole world can know now that she’s mine.
“An item, I think you call it,” I try to joke, breaking it to him gently for now.