Bella stood silent, watching him.
“What’s up?”he asked, more defensively than he’d intended.
“How is Annie doing?”asked Bella.“Have you checked in on her?”
Miles took a long swig of soda and shook his head.“Not since the night of the fire.”
“You haven’t talked to her in two weeks?”Bella shook her head.“What is wrong with you?”
He made a face.“Nothing is wrong with me.By all accounts, she’s doing fine.”
“Did you guys have a fight or something?”
“No, Bella, we did not have a fight.I’m giving her some space.She had a big shock.”
She crossed her arms over her chest.“Men.”
He laughed at her unconvincing attempt to lighten his mood.“What’s that supposed to mean?Can’t a guy save a girl from a fire anymore?”
Bella lowered her eyes, cutting him with a glare.
A jolt ran through Miles’ chest.He didn’t like that look.He didn’t know what was coming, but it wouldn’t be good.
“So you can run into a burning building, but you can’t tell a woman how you feel?”
There it was.
He sighed.“That’s not what this is, Bella.”
She let out a dramatic groan.“Come on, Dad!I’m not blind.I know you like her.”
“First you thought I was too old for her, but now I like her?I think – ”
“That doesn’t matter,” she said, waving a hand.A smile danced on her face.“It took me a while to see it.It’s actually my fault for getting too obsessed with the women responding to the ad.”
“Ah yes.Dr.Birch,” Miles said.
Bella nodded.“Yes.I really liked her.I still like her, for the record.”
“And you don’t like Annie?”Miles asked, a bit too quickly.
“Are you kidding me?”Her mouth dropped open.“IloveAnnie.I would totally take her as my stepmom.”
He wasn’t going to have this discussion.“Bella, you can’t talk about people like that.”
She rolled her eyes.“Come on, Dad.What are you afraid of?”
Everything.He was afraid of everything.He had already watched the woman he loved die in front of his eyes.He had already gone through a grief so deep and so bleak he thought he would never emerge.
But he’d had no choice.He’d had to emerge – for Bella.
He couldn’t do it again.There was no question in his mind that it was not worth the risk to even consider loving someone again like that.And if there was anyone he could love again, it was Annie.
He opened his mouth to respond, stuttering out a rote, “It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?”she demanded.
“Because we’re not teenagers going to the school dance, Bella.”
