“Got ya,” Fallon burst out.“So you know exactly who he is.”She grinned wickedly.
Cara said, “And the way he felt you up was like he already knew exactly how you would feel.”
Their insight shocked her.But she denied, denied, denied.“He was just worried like all the VPs were.”
Fallon snorted.“None of the other VPs kissed you like that.”
“Or felt you up,” Cara added.
“He wasn’tfeelingme up.”
“And that,” Fallon insisted, “wasn’t the kiss of a man who doesn’t know you well.”
Despite herself, Summer blushed, the heat rising to her face.
She couldn’t deny again, and she didn’t want to lie.But she couldn’t saynothing.“All right.We’ve had a couple of dates.”
The girls, both now sitting on the edge of their loungers, reached over Summer to high-five.Then Cara said, “That wasn’t just a couple-of-dates kind of kiss.”
“We won’t let up on this until you tell us everything,” Fallon vowed.
Summer knew they’d question her until she caved.
So she caved.“All right, so things are a little more involved than just a couple of dates.”But she wasnotgiving them details of her sex life.“It’s not really allthatserious.We’re little more than friends.”
Cara waggled her eyebrows.“Friends with benefits?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”But her face was burning now, and she grabbed her water bottle to quench her suddenly parched throat.
“We just want you to know that it’s totally okay,” Cara said, suddenly serious.“You haven’t dated anyone since you and dad split up.”They didn’t know about FWB Paul.“But you’re young.And you don’t have to be alone.”
It surprised her that someone who wasn’t even twenty-one would think forty-five was young.
“I thought kids always cringed when their parents started dating.”
“We’re not kids,” Fallon said.“We’re both adults.And Dad’s got a girlfriend.So now we’re worried about you.”
She hadn’t known Everett was dating.He’d been clingy the first few months after the divorce, trying to get her to come back.But that was a no go.And honestly, she hadn’t cared enough to check what he was doing.Maybe that sounded a little bitchy, but she’d been glad to get out, and she hadn’t looked back.
For her girls’ sakes, she said, “I’m happy for him.”Then she added, “But I haven’t been hanging around waiting for your dad to come back.”
“Well, then,” Fallon started, and Cara added for her, “We’re wondering how long this new girlfriend will last.She’s younger.Most women don’t put up with that kind of crap these days.”
Summer’s skin prickled.“What kind of crap?”
“Hello, the controlling thing,” Fallon said airily with a wave of her hand.“You know, checking up on you, telling you what to do, what to wear.Remember the time you were going to that Christmas party, and he made you change your dress because he said it was too sexy?”
Cara added, “And when he got mad because he said you were flirting with Luca’s dad at that barbecue.”Luca had been Fallon’s boyfriend in high school.
“And all the times he slept on the couch when he didn’t like something you’d done.Like he was punishing you.”
Summer was stunned.She had absolutely no idea the girls noticed any of that.She and Everett never fought in front of the girls.Her parents had fought a lot before their divorce, and she’d never wanted to do that to her kids.
“All we’re saying is that not all men are like Dad,” Fallon declared.
“So you need to tell yourself it’s time to let another man into your life.”Cara punctuated with a nod.
The funny thing was that their father had never been controlling with the girls.Summer wouldn’t have stayed if he’d tried to stifle them.But he’d saved all the stifling for her.
