When he picked his kids over her, she wouldn't even be angry about it, after all, she wouldn't respect him if he didn't put his responsibilities to his kids as his number one priority. Ashlyn would just be sad as her dreams of what could have been went up in smoke.
Chapter
Ten
May 10th
1:17 P.M.
It had been a long day, and it wasn't even half over yet.
Since it was still lunch time, Grant had decided to pick up some takeaway and bring it to Ashlyn’s place along with some flowers he hoped would go enough of a way toward getting her to forgive him.
Now he had no idea if he’d handled things the right way. Maybe he should have waited until he and Ashlyn had been dating for a while before telling his kids. Then again, Lindsay had seemed furious at the idea that he might have been keeping a relationship from her, so he doubted that would have changed the outcome of the morning.
Second-guessing himself wasn't going to change anything. He’d done what he thought was the best thing for him, Ashlyn, and his kids, and now he had to make the most of it and work with what he had.
Which, granted, wasn't much.
At least with Lindsay. Kevin seemed okay with the whole thing. He’d been even more intrigued when Grant had told them more about Ashlyn, the kind of person she was, what she did for a living, and that she drove a Porsche. His car-obsessed kid had been excited after the revelation, and Kevin had asked if, since Ashlyn was rich, did she know any professional race car drivers. He’d told his son he didn't know, but that Kevin could ask her next time he saw her.
Lindsay had made a snarky remark about how she didn't realize they were doing badly financially since he was now after women for their money. Not wanting to lose his cool with his daughter, Grant decided that they all needed a time-out. His former brother-in-law had come over to hang with the kids so he could get out for a bit. Given the high emotional state Lindsay was in, he hadn't wanted her alone while he went to check on Ashlyn.
Thankfully, his cop badge had gotten him into the elevator, and he hadn't corrected the doorman that his visit was to do with yesterday’s incident, although he was sure the flowers had given the man doubts.
The question was, were the flowers and lunch enough to get him off the elevator and into Ashlyn’s penthouse?
“Oh.” The smile fell off Ashlyn’s lips when she saw him step out of the elevator. “I thought it was Donovan and Jessica.”
“Sorry,” he said, feeling awkward with her for the first time.
That was the thing. From the moment he first laid eyes on her, everything had just felt so natural. It was hard to explain. There had been a sense of familiarity even though they hadn't met before. They’d laughed and talked, danced, and when he’d asked if she wanted to find a hotel room, she’d quickly said yes.
Now things felt weird.
Stilted.
Wrong.
“It’s okay, I understand.” Tears swam in Ashlyn’s eyes, and he realized what she thought he meant.
“No,” he blurted out, hurrying forward and shoving the flowers into her arms, willing her to understand. “I'm not breaking up with you, I'm not ending things, not that they really got started, but I still want to go out with you. If you’ll still have me.”
The whole time he’d been talking to his kids, trying to get Lindsay to articulate why it was she was so adamantly against him dating, he’d been aware of the fact that Ashlyn might have decided he was more trouble than he was worth. After all, she was a beautiful, intelligent, funny, kind woman. Any guy would be lucky to have her. He and his kids certainly would.
“You're not … but Lindsay … I just assumed you didn't want to go out with me anymore,” she finished with a shrug that tried to look nonchalant and failed.
“I was worried you wouldn't want to still go out with me because of Lindsay,” he admitted.
“Of course not. She’s your daughter, I would never expect you to choose me over her, I don’t even want you to have to choose. I never wanted to cause trouble between you and your daughter.”
“You're not doing anything,” he assured her. “Lindsay … I don’t even know where she’s coming from. She seems so angry, so unlike my daughter. She needs some time.”
“That’s what Jessica said. Donovan agreed with her, of course.” Ashlyn rolled her eyes, but she had that wistful look back on her face, the one he recognized from the wedding. She was happy for her brother and his new wife, but she wanted that same kind of love.
Right now, Grant had no way to know if the two of them were going to fall in love, but he wanted the chance to find out.This thing between them felt special, and it deserved a chance to grow.
“I explained to her that while I love her and her brother with every fiber of my being, she won't be dictating my dating life. I assured her that we would be taking things slow, and that you had no intention of taking over the role her mom had. I told her that this was still happening and that she needed to find a way to make peace with it. If she can't talk to me about what's going on, then she can talk to a family member or a therapist. I owe you an apology. I honestly had no idea Lindsay would react that way. If I did, I might have handled things differently.”
