Sighing, Grant reached over and grabbed his daughter, dragging her in for a quick hug even though she didn't return it. “Nothing is ever going to stop me from loving you, that’s theway real love works, it’s forever. In the same way I’ll never stop loving your mom, and neither will you or your brother. Ashlyn isn’t asking any of us not to love your mom. The heart is a pretty big organ, it can fit a whole lot of love inside it. Loving Ashlyn doesn’t take away any of the love we have for your mom. That’s not the way love is. I can love your mom and love Ashlyn all at the same time.”
“Do you love her?” Lindsay demanded.
The front door banged open, and he heard Ashlyn and Kevin giggling together as they came down the hall. The answer to his daughter’s question was a simple one.
“Yeah,” he whispered, “I do.”
“Hey.” Ashlyn’s eyes lit up as she stepped into the room and saw him, and he quickly crossed to her, pulling her into a hug and dropping a kiss to her lips.
“Hey, yourself.”
“Thanks for inviting me.” Ashlyn’s gaze darted somewhat nervously to where he’d left Lindsay, and he had no doubt his daughter’s expression was hostile.
“Told you you were being part of the Bull family Christmas Advent spectacular,” he teased.
“What are we doing today?” Ashlyn asked.
“Gingerbread house building and decorating competition,” Kevin piped up before he could answer.
“Ooh, fun! Since my mom always loved baking, we used to make a gingerbread house together every year. At the time, I never thought much about it, I was too young, but now I realize she had to scrimp and scrounge every penny she could to do that for us. After she married my stepdad, we kept the tradition going. Decorating the house with my mom and brothers, they’re some of my happiest Christmas memories.”
“Let’s see if we can add to those memories,” Grant said, touching a kiss to Ashlyn’s temple and then guiding her to the table.
“Who does the judging?” Ashlyn asked as he pulled her chair out for her and then took the seat beside her. He’d set up the parts of the house in front of each seat, and then the middle of the table was filled with all the things they could use to decorate.
“Grandma and Grandpa, and Nanny and Poppy,” Kevin answered. “We take pictures and send them to them without names attached, then they each give a vote on the winner.”
“So you don’t need to worry about winning,” Lindsay snarked. “I'm going to tell them which one is yours so they don’t pick it.”
Ashlyn’s smile dropped a bit, but Kevin rolled his eyes at his sister.
“Her mom owns Eat Dessert First, as if she’s not going to be better at this than all of us,” Kevin said, making Ashlyn laugh and relax a little, and Grant sent up a silent prayer of thanks that his son wasn't having the same problems with Ashlyn as Lindsay was.
“I think you might be disappointed then, Kev, because I'm nowhere near as good at baking as my mom is.”
“Nah.” Kevin shook his head in disagreement. “Everything you’ve ever baked for me has been amazing. You're going to win.”
Determined not to let Lindsay and her terrible attitude ruin a fun evening, Grant got to work building his gingerbread house, and the others all followed suit. He, Ashlyn, and Kevin chatted and laughed, Lindsay didn't join in, but at least she was sulking silently as she built her house.
He’d hoped that spending these joyful Christmassy moments together might help Lindsay relax and overcome her anger, but it didn't seem to be working.
Was he hoping for something that was never going to happen?
And if he was, where did that leave him?
Walking away from his daughter was obviously not on the table, but walking away from Ashlyn felt impossible as well.
Chapter
Fifteen
December 3rd
10:58 P.M.
“It’s late. I really should get going,” Ashlyn announced, glancing at the time on her phone. But she made no attempt to move out of Grant’s embrace.
They were snuggled side by side on his couch, watching old Christmas movies, and while she knew she had to get up and go home at some point, she found herself really not wanting to. Despite Lindsay’s hostile behavior, it had been a fun evening. Making gingerbread houses had been nostalgic in the best way, and she, Kevin, and Grant had laughed and talked and gushed over each other’s houses, although after her first few compliments of Lindsay’s creation were met with anger, Ashlyn had backed off and just let the teen be.
