Chapter Forty-One
Chloe
“Why didn’t you come to us?” I could hear the disappointment in my father’s words without even looking up to meet his gaze. “You should have told us what was going on.”
“I didn’t want to burden you with my problems.” Lifting my head, I found my mother holding his hand as they rested upon the table. Each of them watched me with concern, and it hit me, the support they each provided. No judgments…they would never. “I’m an adult. That’s what I keep telling you, right? Running to you asking you to rescue me is not being an adult.”
“Neither is hiding and hoping it will all just go away.” Letting go of my mother’s grasp, he slid his palm over the mahogany tabletop, and I allowed him to cover mine with his own. “Listen, I understand that you have Landon now.”
Just the sound of his name being spoken made my heart hurt. “Had.”
“And he—” I saw the moment my father registered my word. “Wait, what?”
“Things have happened, a lot of things, and I’m just not sure he and I are what’s best.”
There was a long pause, one that actually started to make me nervous and slightly uncomfortable. Especially with the way my father was looking at me like I’d grown a second head.
“It had to be extremely hard for him to come to me.”
“Come to you?” My stomach felt like it bottomed out. That feeling of lightness followed by an intense swoosh, so hard to explain but an overwhelming surge nonetheless, it was all there. “When?”
“The when isn’t important, what is, is the fact that he did. That man gave me enough respect to reach out but asked that I allow him to take care of you.”
Again with the heaviness.
“I’m not an easy man to deal with.” My mother snickered, and he gave her a look, one that clearly stated, Really woman, you pick now to be humorous? “Yet,” he arched a brow at my mother, waiting to see if she was going to add anything more before turning his complete attention back to me, “he came to me and told me all this was going on. I stood back, waited it out for two reasons. One, because he asked me to give him just a little more time to work it out. He knew there was more, but you were hiding it from him, too. You wanna know what the second reason was?”
I nodded, still in shock that Landon had gone to my dad. I couldn’t even be mad about it because wow, he’d gone to my dad.
“Because I could see that he meant it.”
So cryptic, my father had never before been a man that held back. He said what was on his mind and when, leaving no doubt in the minds of those around him. But now, each sentence he spoke left me confused and frankly shocked.
“Meant what?”
“Meant that he loves you.”
I took in a deep calming breath, needing it more than anything at the moment.
“I asked him once before, and when he hesitated, I knew it was too soon for me to trust him with my girl. I knew he wasn’t ready for me to step back and let him protect you. I had to be sure, and when he came to me, sharing everything he knew, I asked him once again.” Leaning in, my father made sure I was looking directly at him before he spoke again. “I asked him if he loved you, and there wasn’t a second of hesitation in his mind. So whatever it is you think has changed between the two of you, I think that you should know that I trust him. I trust that he would never intentionally hurt you.” I blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over. “I know from experience that as a man, one who has a problem accepting that he can’t fix everything for those he loves.” Looking up, my father offered me a wink. “We tend to let our need to protect override all rationality.”
I understood how very hard it had to be for my father to let go of me in the way that he was letting go.
“Do you love him?” The tears I had been trying so hard to refrain from falling fell freely without any hope of stopping them as I nodded my head. His chair slid backward from the pressure of him standing, and he rounded the table, taking the empty seat at my side. “I’m pretty sure what you are feeling now is a premature assumption of the relationship you and Landon have.”
One look into his eyes and I knew there was something my father wasn’t telling me.
“How do you know?”
“Because that man has been camped outside your apartment from the moment you left him. So that leaves you with two choices.” Reaching out, he wiped the tears from my cheeks. “One, you could stay here, hide out, and let dear ol’ Mom and Dad comfort you, or two, you could go to him and together figure out what’s next.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Landon
A flicker of headlights flashed in my rearview mirror, and I looked up just in time to see Chloe pull up on my right. Holding my breath, I watched as she climbed out of her driver’s side and slowly opened the passenger door of mine.
I had never been more worried and frankly scared in my life. This could be it, the moment where she decided that my ignorance was enough to end this amazing thing she
