That still didn’t explain why Joon wassayingthis. Grant liked the guy, and thought of them as friends, but not normally friends likethis.
“Forgive me if I’m being rude, but… why do you care?”
“Julia worries about you.” Joon shrugged, hefting the turkey out of the fridge and onto the counter. “Why do we keep getting these? No one likes them.”
“Hope does,” Grant said. “Besides, it’s tradition.”
Joon snorted. “Tradition is a terrible reason to do things, but I’ll suffer through it for Hope.”
Grant smiled at that. Joon was the world’s best step dad, hands down. They werealllucky to have him.
“Like I was saying, Julia worries about you, and you haven’t shut up about Sunny since you met him, and we just… we all want you to be happy, okay? I’m trying to tell you that none of us are judging.”
“Hope?” Grant asked, his heart in his throat. This had just happened, and yeah, maybe he’d had a thing for Sunny for a while, but he wasn’t in the habit of telling Hope about everyone he found attractive.
She’d had enough change in her life lately. She didn’t need more.
Grant couldn’t do that to her.
“She doesn’t know, if that’s what you’re asking. But she’d love to see her dad happy,” Joon said.
In theory, that sounded right. And Hope had taken so well to Joon.
But in practice, maybe she didn’t want to share her dad with someone else. She was only twelve. She didn’t have to be understanding with the adults around her, they needed to be understanding with her.
Sunny was a much more complicated issue than Grant had realized. And that issue was suddenly very urgent.
What the hell was he supposed to do, here?
How was he going to get through this without hurting someone?
“Thanks,” Grant said after a moment, idly watching Joon roll up his sleeves.
He had great forearms, but this year, Grant wasn’t interested. His mind was upstairs, with Sunny.
And in the living room, with Hope.
And he wasn’t sure right now that he could have both, or if Sunny hated him right now.
All he’d wanted was one nice Christmas.
