The suggestion sent a fresh wave of desire through me, and I lifted my head to look at him. “Is that a challenge?”
His grin was pure sin. “Baby, that’s a promise.”
THIRTY-NINE
My life had never been better, but I should’ve known the balance rested on the thinnest of tightropes and it was about to be jostled.
I was expecting a delivery, so I didn’t think anything of the knock on the door. I was still in my pajama shorts and one of Drew’s hockey shirts, riding the high from a night and morning filled with leg-shaking sex. Drew had only left half an hour ago to go pick up Rory from Ava’s.
My smile was friendly as I opened the door, but it fell off my face when I saw my dad standing there instead of the delivery person I’d expected. He was wearing his usual outfit of blue jeans, a UM Grizz T-shirt, and steel-toe boots.
My stomach dropped to my feet. “Dad?” The word barely made it past my lips.
My dad had barely spoken to me, let alone come to my house, since I’d started at CFU.
His brown eyes—the same exact shade as mine—swept over my appearance with that familiar look of disappointment. “Harper. We need to talk.”
I thought my stomach had sunk as far as it would go, but at the ominous tone of his words, it fell further and I swallowed hard, all happiness I’d felt this morning replaced with dread.
“Sure,” I said, stepping back so he could come in.
He walked past me into the living room, his gaze sweeping over the space, taking it all in.
“Coffee?” I offered weakly.
“No, thanks.” He spun around as I closed the door and joined him in the living room, but he didn’t take a seat so neither did I. Instead, I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Is everything okay?”
“I received an interesting phone call yesterday. It seems there’s a rumor going around Meadowbrook that you’re dating the Dumontier boy.”
My cheeks burned and I had no doubt my whole face had turned bright red—the curse of red hair and fair skin. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I should’ve known the second Drew’s parents saw us together that news would get out in our small town. And there was nothing Meadowbrook liked more than gossip—especially about the Tinsleys and Dumontiers.
His voice stayed level, but a muscle ticked in his jaw. “Tell me it’s not true.”
The demand hung between us. I wrapped my arms around myself, Drew’s shirt suddenly feeling like the world’s worst armor.
“I can’t.” I hated how small my voice was. I wasn’t embarrassed of my relationship with Drew. But the little girl in me who wanted to make her dad proud was dying from the pure hatred that filled his eyes when I spoke.
“Jesus Christ, Harper.” He stared at me like he’d nevermet me before, and I’d never felt so small. It was a harsh fall from the high I’d woken up with. “How couldmy own daughterbetray our family this way?”
The venom in his voice made me flinch.
“Dad, you don’t understand?—”
“I understand plenty.” His voice got louder, and I was grateful my roommates weren’t home. “I understand that my daughter is making the biggest mistake of her life. Frankly, I didn’t think you could do worse than when you chose to come here for a music degree, but then you went and did this. Do you have any idea what that family did to us? What they cost us?”
His words hit me like shrapnel and I was sure I was bleeding out, but I couldn’t look away from him.
“That was decades ago?—”
“Decades? You think that matters?” His face was getting red now, the way it did when he got really worked up. “James Dumontier destroyed your great-grandfather—stole his fiancée, betrayed his best friend, stabbed him in the back for a woman. Robert lost everything that mattered because of that family’s selfishness and lies. It changed the entire trajectory of our family. You can’t just dismiss it because some time passed, Harper.”
I’d heard the story of the feud my entire life—every Tinsley knew about the Dumontiers’ betrayal.
But why did none of them ever question that each generation could be different?
“Drew isn’t his great-grandfather,” I said, quiet but calm. “He’s not responsible for?—”
