“Thank you,” Lach and I say in unison.
I should probably take this opportunity to invite him to the wedding. I’m a sucker for second chances and I know after this conversation, I’m going to let him back into my life. I don’t know to what capacity, but I know I want him in it. I’m not sure how I feel about him being at the wedding, though. Or how he’ll feel about being there and not walking me down the aisle. I think it’ll hurt both of us if he doesn’t, but I don’t know that I want to give him the privilege of doing that. I take another sip of my bourbon and make a decision.
“Prescott’s walking me down the aisle,” I say. “I... if you want to be there, I...” I clear my throat. “I’d love to have you there, but I don’t know how you’d feel about sitting in the audience and not walking me down the aisle.” I lower my gaze for a moment. “I don’t know how I’d feel about you being there and not walking me down the aisle, despite everything, but. . .”
“But you’re not entirely sure if you want me to,” he says. “That’s fair. I understand I lost that privilege a long time ago. And yes, I think it’ll hurt to watch someone else walk you.” He pauses, tears filling his eyes. “But it’ll hurt more if I’m not there the day my little girl gets married.”
My mother won’t be there either.Emotion crawls up on me quickly, lodging in my throat. I already know I won’t be able to stop my tears, so I turn my face to Lachlan, in an attempt to hide it. He pulls me into him, his large body shielding me from everything. It’s not like my father doesn’t know I’m crying, but I’m just not used to crying in front of anyone. Maybe one day, I’ll get there. Not today. I sniffle against Lach’s t-shirt as his hands move soothingly up and down my back.
“I got you, baby.” He kisses the top of my head. “You’re okay.”
I swallow and take a few shaky breaths, wiping my face as I pull away. Before I turn back to my dad, Lach tilts my face and presses a kiss on my lips. It’s chaste, no tongue or anything, but it still feels weird doing it in front of my father. This is the man who didn’t even agree to let Luke be my official boyfriend until junior year. Of course, he didn’t know that the very thing he was trying to prevent was happening right underneath his roof without his knowledge — and without mine. Lach continues to hold my face. He has the same look on his face that he had the first time I cried in front of him. Compassion, understanding, love. I smile up at him and even though he doesn’t return my smile, his eyes light up. I turn back to my father and find him smiling proudly. I can’t remember the last time I sawthatsmile on his face. My high school graduation, maybe.
“So, when’s the wedding?” he asks, still smiling.
“A week,” I say, laughing at the look on his face.
“Where is it?” Dad asks.
“Chicago. I know it’s last minute, but we just decided last night. It’s a loooong story, and no, I’m not pregnant. Can you be there?”
“Of course.” Dad smiles softly. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
We keep talking. I tell him about med school and Tackle Sports Center. He tells me about what’s been happening around our neighborhood and at the country club. I show Lach my old bedroom, which I haven’t even seen in years. His curiosity is the only reason I brought him up here. It’s clean and looks exactly the same as I left it, which is a mindfuck in and of itself.
When we’re leaving, I give Dad a tight hug and a kiss and tell him I’ll see him soon. He seems surprised by my gesture, but smiles so wide when I fully pull away. He turns and hugs Lachlan. His eyes have tears in them again as he pats him on the back.
“I haven’t seen my daughter smile,” he starts, swallowing hard, “or show any kind of emotion in years. I can see the love between you two, and I’m happy you found each other.” He clears his throat. “I know I’ve been a shitty father, but if you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”
“Noted.” Lach’s lips tug into a small smile. “I’m not worried about it. I would never risk losing her.”
By the time we leave there, I feel lighter and know that conversation needed to happen. It should have happened years ago.
CHAPTER61
LACHLAN
I lookup from the email I’m typing when Liam barges into my office, breathing hard, as if he just took three flights of stairs instead of the elevator.
“What the fuck, Lee?”
“Have you looked at your calendar?” he asks, walking over quickly.
“Shit, did I forget a meeting?”I open up my calendar and look at it. I have three conference calls set up. I already went through two of them. I look at Liam again. “What am I looking at?”
“So you didn’t know,” he says, taking control of the mouse and clicking different things on the screen.
“Didn’t know what?”
“Do you know where Lyla is right now?” He looks back at me over his shoulder and clicks something else.
My heart sinks. “Did something happen?”
We received word yesterday that David Jameson would probably be in a coma for the rest of his life, and his loved ones decided to pull the plug and let him go. I know I should feel remorse for being the cause of it, but I don’t. He hurt Lyla in ways I still can’t think about. He hurt others, according to the confession we got from Lyla’s mic. The only thing I regret is that he wasn’t alive to see this downfall and watch his own people turn on him when they found out what a monster he really was.
“No. It’s not about that,” Liam says.
“Well then, she’s buying a wedding dress right now.”
