“Since I was working my way up the casino and hotelmanagement chain, I assumed he wanted money. I didn’t have to look very hard to know how bad the farm and ranch were doing. But he never asked.” Unlike Grandpa Percival, Dad hadn’t demanded anything of me during those calls.
Mom’s voice rose in my head. She’d cut off Grandpa Percival during one visit.You leave him be, Dad. Giddy’s going to make his own legacy.Her voice had been light, laughing, but my grandfather had shushed her and kept recounting the Percival family history.
“Did you keep in contact with anyone after you moved?”
I buried my nose in her hair, grateful to leave that memory behind. She’d let her hair down, and I toyed with the coppery strands. “Not really. My other grandparents all passed away before I left Bourbon Canyon.”
She dug the two slices of french toast out and transferred them to a clean plate. She set the spatula down and faced me. “Your dad might’ve been reaching out because he felt ready to face his failings.”
A hot wave of resentment wound its way up my neck, but she flattened her hand on my chest.
“I’m not saying that negates what he did. I’m saying that he loves you. He failed you, and you feel like he’s failing you again. But he loves you.”
“Are you saying I should forget everything?”
“No, I’m saying don’t let the terrible experiences erase the good in every memory. Not for his benefit, but for yours.”
Any response I had stuck in my throat. The way I wanted to heave suggested I’d do nothing but sputter if I tried to talk. The past was mixing with the present. Dad’s easy acceptance of me when I was a kid comparedto my grandfather. Dad had done the same with my job, with Autumn, and with the way I treated him. Regret was replacing a small portion of bitterness, and goddamn, I was not ready for that.
She scrutinized me. Was she guessing how I would react? I didn’t even know.
“Can you check the sausages, and if they’re done, will you cook the eggs? I have some more french toast to batter.” She patted my pecs and turned away from me, giving me much-needed distance.
Before I’d returned to Bourbon Canyon, I would’ve sworn all my memories of Dad were bad. Now I was seeing a different side of him, and it was difficult. My resentment had built up so strong, solidified so hard, that I’d been ready to use an innocent woman to get what I wanted.
Autumn might be innocent, but she was smart. Once again, she’d said something that tilted my world and made me look at my past differently.
Autumn
I had worried for several minutes that my comments about Hank were deeply disturbing for Gideon. I thought he’d close in on himself again, but he loosened up, and after the first groan over my french toast, I knew we were in the clear. As we ate, he asked me about the music program and the skit and how I thought it went. Now, he was helping with cleanup and dishes.
Some of my single friends had their wedding plans.They lived for the day. But this was what I had dreamed of. Domestic bliss. We’d cook together and clean together and just talk. Not every night of course, but regularly. Just like this.
Would I miss this or the bedroom activities more when he left?
“Do you have another program coming up?” he asked.
I shook my head and loaded the dishwasher with detergent. He was behind me and his gaze was a brand on my ass. I’d miss that too. He made me feel sexy. I was his only option at the moment. He was a man of his word, but I wasn’t complaining. “No. I’m going to help Scarlett with hers.”
“You’re not helping the friends who ditched you.” He ended with a growl.
I tossed the detergent back under the sink, started the dishwasher, and rinsed my hands off. “I know you don’t like them, but they’re just young. I might’ve done the same thing at their age.”
His gaze challenged me to admit the truth.
I sighed. “Fine. I’m a little salty, but it’s a small town and I work with them. Besides, it’s hard to be upset when I got on an elevator with this moody CEO who wanted to trap me into a marriage for the horriblyselfishreason of saving his family’s land from getting sold to this big land baron family.”
His lips quirked. “They’re into running moonshine too.”
“Not since Great-Grandaddy Bailey.”
He laughed and crowded me into the corner of the counter. “I feel like some of that rebelliousness rubbed off on you.”
“I’m adopted.”
“The trait is that strong.”
His mouth was close. He was hovering over me. The low desire that had been simmering in my body all night cranked up a few notches. “The natural Kerrigan stubbornness might’ve been able to flourish in the Bailey household.”
