Page 97 of Never Bargain with the Boss

“Make me seewhat?” I ask, instantly suspicious. My daughter, while sweet as can be, is also damn smart and I have no doubt that she’d use my being wrapped around her finger to manipulate me into getting something she wants. The only question is, what does she want?

Grace clamps her mouth shut, realizing she’s said too much. Her eyes jump around as she looks for someone to help her, but they’re all staring back at her, wanting the answer to that question too. She huffs as she rolls her eyes. “Fine. You wanna know?” she snaps. “I’ve been trying to get you two together since Riley got here, Dad. And it was working! You sit out on the patio every night, and I finally got you sitting beside each other.” She flashes me an annoyed glare. “You really have no rizz at all, do you?”

I have no idea what rizz is, so hopefully, I don’t have it. But she’s still going…

“I got you to dance together at the Fall Ball.” She starts ticking off things she’s done on her fingers. “I wanted to give you time alone so I’ve been hanging out in my room, doing my homework, which is also why I have straight As now. I’ve organized sleepovers to leave you two alone, thinking you’d take Riley on a date, but you just stayed home. Seriously?” She rollsher eyes again, somehow exasperated with me. “I hype you up to her all the time, but you’ve got to work with me here.”

My mind is whirling and spinning like a tornado is tearing through it. Grace… has been trying… to get me and Riley together?

“Wait, you’re saying that you’ve been plotting and scheming to…” Pieces click together, the picture becoming clear. “Get me and Riley together? Why?” I don’t mean to sound so stupid, and I could certainly list out dozens of reasons I would want to be with Riley, but none of them seem like things Grace would even notice, much less value. I mean, does Grace give a shit that Riley’s little fang tooth is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and I feel like a god every time I make her smile big enough to see it, or that her bracelets drive me crazy, or that her optimism in the face of the trauma of her life is inspiring? Probably not.

“Because she’s my chance at a real family!”

Grace’s outburst stops everything—time, my heart, the whole damn world.

“We are a real family,” I tell her, meaning it. We might not be the picture-perfect postcard version, but we’ve been a family of two for a long time and are doing okay for ourselves. I’ve made sure of it, mostly by always putting Grace first.

Grace sags, realizing that she’s hurt my feelings. She sighs dramatically, sounding more life-weary than her twelve years should allow for. “I know, Dad. And I’m happy with you, us against the world like you always say. But Riley’s our chance to be a regular family. I love Mom, but she’s been gone for a long time. And you smile with Riley. You’re happier now… well… usually,” she grumbles. “Riley’s my shot at having a mom again, like the other kids. She’s who I want for that. I’ve been trying to make her my mom all along, and now you’ve ruined everything.”

“Grace,” I say softly, gathering her into my arms as the tears stream down her face, “I’m sorry I didn’t realize you felt likeyou were missing a mother figure in your life. I can understand why you’d want Riley to fill that role. She’s amazing, she’s magic, she’s great.” I can see the hope starting to fill her eyes when she looks up at me. “But she also put you in danger, and that’s unacceptable. I would never do anything to risk you. You’re everything to me.”

“She didn’t put me in danger. That guy did, and that’s not Riley’s fault.” I tilt my head, ready to argue with her, but doesn’t give me a chance. “Dad, bad things just happen sometimes, and they put us on a new and different path than we thought we’d be on, and that’s okay. Riley taught me that.”

She sounds so mature, so well-adjusted, so… like Riley. They have both been through hellish experiences at a young age, and while Grace had the blessing of being surrounded by a supportive family who loved her and Riley went into the foster care system, they seem to have found a kindred spirit in one another.

Could my daughter be right? All signs have historically pointed to yes, but this is different. This is… my life, and her life, and Riley’s too.

“Maybe this is the path we’re supposed to be on now,” I suggest, playing devil’s advocate against Grace’s argument. “What if we were supposed to meet, and learn, and love, and then let each other go?” Even as I say it, it doesn’t feel right. Actually, it feels so very, very wrong.

“What if you weren’t?” she questions back, and that sounds good to me. “What if you’re meant to be together?”

Am I an easy sell? Fuck yes, I am, mostly because she’s telling me the things I want to hear. That I can have Riley while still prioritizing her, and that she’s not only okay with that, but it’s also what she wants too.

“Oh, fuck!” I hiss, standing to my full height. “What have I done?”

“Fudged everything up,” Grace answers with a heavy dose of ‘duh’ in her conclusion. “But you can fix it. You always fix things. You’re my dad, and that’s what dads do.”

She has the utmost faith in me. I wish I had some in myself because I have severely fucked up and there’s no easy way to fix it.

I look around at my siblings, praying that one of them might have some idea how in the world to undo a mistake of this caliber, but they’re all looking back at me with sadness in their eyes. They don’t have the same idolized version of me that Grace does.

“She loves you, but you lost her when you made her feel she wasn’t worth it. She doesn’t think you’re capable of the love she deserves, and honestly, I’m scared she might be right,” Kayla tells me, not holding back at all. She’s not the lovey-dovey, sweet and syrupy kind of woman, and in her eyes, a fuck-up of this severity is a flat-out deal breaker. She would have zero patience if some guy did this to her.

I hope Riley is more forgiving.

Thankfully, Janey is a bit more optimistic. “You’re made for each other,” she states. She’s been quiet through this whole thing, just watching me spin out, but she’s Riley’s best friend, and I think unintentional or not, she’s been checking to see if I’m good enough for her. I hope I passed the test.

I look to her, my brows raised in question. “How do you know that?”

“You don’t look at each other with stars in your eyes, like wishes are easy to come by. You look at each other with reality—and all the darkness it sometimes holds—in your hearts, but at the same time, like there could be light and love waiting for you.”

“Tell me where she is.” That one I direct to Cole, because he’s the only one who’d know. I’m still mad at him for not telling meabout the Austin situation from the beginning, but this is how he can make that up to me.

“Thought you’d never ask,” he quips, looking like he’s fighting a smile. He glances down at his phone, then jerks his head back up. “To be clear, if you hurt her again, I’ll bury you in a shallow grave in some deserted woods I know about.”

He wouldn’t. Not because he couldn’t or shouldn’t, but because my brother knows better than to bury a body shallowly. He’d be the one to hand-dig a hole twelve feet deep and put you in vertically so any heat sensors wouldn’t recognize it as a body.

“If I fuck up this bad again, please do it.”