“Missed you too.” He leaned in and brushed a chaste kiss to her lips. While they never held back from showing affection in front of his kids, they never took things too far. A soft kiss, holding hands, that was about as far as things went, but they both wanted Lindsay and Kevin to know that they were serious about their relationship.
“You look pretty gorgeous yourself,” she told Grant. His shorts cut off just above the knee, showing off his muscled calves, and the T-shirt he was wearing did little to hide his chiseled abs and bulging biceps since the material was all but molded to him.
“Ash.” Kevin’s eyes lit up when he spotted her, and when he came over and held out his fist, she didn't hesitate to bump it with her own.
“There might be some homemade caramel chocolate chip cookies in here,” she told the boy as she held up the picnic basket. “I made the caramel myself, then cut it up and put it in with the chocolate chips.”
“Cool. Can I have some now, or do I have to wait until after lunch?”
When he directed the question to her instead of his father, Ashlyn immediately looked to Grant. She never wanted to interfere with his parenting. If they wound up married—and honestly, she wanted that more with each passing date—then she would back up his rules, but she didn't want to step in where she wasn't supposed to be.
Grant said nothing, just gave her an encouraging nod, and she refocused on Kevin. “Today is about having fun, so eat the cookies now. But maybe leave at least a couple for the rest of us.”
The boy grinned and reached out to take the basket. “Maybe,” he teased as he wandered off to eat his cookies.
As she watched him, Ashlyn felt her heart swell with joy. Lindsay might still hate her, but she was making more progress with Kevin every time they hung out together. She really liked the kid, and she was sure she’d like Lindsay, too, if the teen would just allow her to get to know her.
Although Ashlyn was starting to feel like that was nothing more than wishful thinking.
Chapter
Twelve
August 18th
3:37 P.M.
He’d never been disappointed in either of his kids before now.
Of course, over the years, Grant had gotten annoyed with them, he was only human, and so were they, and there had been plenty of times they’d been naughty. When they’d been pregnant with Lindsay, he and Lara had discussed how they wanted to parent, and they both agreed that rules and routines were good for kids, but so was the ability to speak freely about their thoughts and feelings. Mom and Dad weren't always going to be there, and they wanted their kids to feel independent enough to be able to acknowledge whatever they were feeling and then think through the consequences of any decisions they wanted to make.
Over the years, that had worked well for him. His kids learned early on to come to him and speak freely without judgment. It didn’t mean that he sometimes didn't have to enact consequences for poor choices, but he thought he had his kids’ trust.
Turned out he’d been very wrong on that.
Despite over three months having passed since he announced he and Ashlyn were dating, Lindsay hadn't softened her stance even a little bit. He hadn't been expecting his kids to jump all in enthusiastically to the idea, but he hadn't expected this either.
Neither he nor Ashlyn expected Lindsay to look at her as a mother figure, and they were both prepared to ease the kids into the idea of them dating, but Lindsay was being completely unreasonable, and despite him giving her multiple chances to explain what was bothering her, she refused to talk.
“Hey,” he rebuked as he caught a glimpse of Lindsay tossing the homemade strawberry cinnamon scrolls Ashlyn had made her completely from scratch over the side of the boat.
“Oh, oops,” Lindsay said with what could only be described as a mean smile on her face.
When had his daughter learned to be mean? She could dislike the idea of him dating someone without needing to be cruel about it, and some of the things he’d caught her doing and saying to Ashlyn could only be described as cruel.
Where had his sweet, kind, compassionate daughter gone?
It was like in the blink of an eye, she had turned into someone he didn't even recognize.
“Accident,” Lindsay added with a sneer. While he’d hoped Ashlyn hadn't noticed since she was deep in conversation with Kevin, when Lindsay looked past him to where the pair were talking and smirked, he knew his girlfriend had indeed seen what his daughter had done.
That was it. He’d had enough of his daughter’s attitude. It was time for her to either tell him what was going on inside her head so he knew how to help her, or start treating Ashlyn with respect.
“Inside, now,” he snapped at Lindsay in the rare, angry father voice his kids had never given him much cause to bring out.
Eyes widening at his tone, Lindsay tried batting her eyelashes at him and giving him her I'm just your cute little daughter look, but he wasn't having it. When she realized that, she gave an annoyed huff and stood, sauntering her way into the boat’s small cabin.
Taking a seat at the little table in there, Grant waited until his daughter sat opposite him, and then he studied her, trying to figure out what had changed Lindsay into this girl he didn't even recognize.
