Page 184 of The Lumberjack and the City Slicker

Protective. But that’s just Dad.

Geoffrey steps forward like he’s narrating a crisis.

“Mr. Belle, Mrs. Belle, this is exactly what I was telling you about,” he says urgently. “She’s been taken in by some scam artist. A nobody lumberjack who’s using her to bankroll this entire?—”

“Stop.”

My voice cuts through the space sharper than I expected.

Every head within five feet turns.

I step forward, away from the safety of Greyson’s body for just a second.

“Mom. Dad. I’m fine,” I say, forcing my voice to steady. “I’m more than fine.”

My mother’s brows knit together.

“I don’t understand, Clara. You haven’t answered our last few phone calls. And Geoffrey said you’d disappeared. That you’d been manipulated. That you weren’t answering anyone.”

“No, I just wasn’t answering him because he’s an asshole,” I correct.

My father’s gaze sharpens.

Geoffrey sputters. “Clara, don’t be dramatic?—”

“I ended our engagement,” I say clearly. “Because he cheated on me.”

The word hangs there.

Ugly.

Unavoidable.

My mother’s lips part slightly.

My father goes very still.

Geoffrey laughs weakly.

“It was a misunderstanding?—”

“You were boinking your assistant on my kitchen island,” I say calmly. “That’s not a misunderstanding.”

Silence. The gallery noise fades into a dull hum.

My mother inhales slowly, eyes flicking between us.

“You told us she was having a breakdown,” she says to Geoffrey, her voice cool now.

“I was trying to protect her reputation,” he insists.

“By telling them I was being conned?” I ask, incredulous.

My father’s jaw tightens.

He looks at Greyson then.

Not with contempt.