Page 33 of Their Forever Daddy

She was close enough to watch his eyes soften with a sadness that made her breath catch in her throat. “No, Edie. Present tense. That’s why I can’t just take her back to California. Because if I force her to leave before she gets some kind of closure, I’ll always know that a piece of her heart is still here. With you. And I think it might actually kill me to have to live the rest of my life knowing the woman I love is still in love with someone else.”

Chapter 13

Jesse

* * *

She woke alone and gritty eyed, thanks to the tears she’d still been shedding as she’d fallen asleep the night before.

Rolling onto her back as the sun peeked through the window, she stared up at the ceiling and let ‘The Edie Problem’, as she’d mentally dubbed it, roll over in her mind.

Maybe she should just give up. That seemed like the easiest thing to do. Edie obviously had no interest in forgiving her, and she really didn’t have a right to force her to. Which left them at a bit of a crossroads.

But the thought of leaving with Edie still hating her left a bitter taste in her mouth. There may come a day when she would have to admit defeat and accept she was never going to make things right, but that day was not today.

So she forced herself out of bed and through her morning routine, including a nice hot shower during which she practiced several possible outcomes of her next fight with Edie. Unlike in real life, she won all the arguments in her head, which was a nice change of pace.

Bolstered by the shower and the practice fights, she dressed and headed down the stairs just as the front door opened and Edie stepped inside, followed closely by Grant. They all froze, Jesse halfway down the stairs, Edie and Grant just over the threshold.

It was her Daddy who moved first, a smile spreading across his face as he stepped around Edie. “Hey, baby. I was hoping you’d be up. How are you feeling?”

Her gaze slid to Edie, who was still standing with one hand on the door handle, gripping it so tightly her knuckles had turned white. “Morning, Daddy.”

Grant reached for her, so she made herself finish her trek down the stairs and let him pull her close, though she never took her eyes off the woman at the door. “Morning, Edie.”

That seemed to snap Edie out of whatever was keeping her rooted to the spot. “Morning. There’s plenty of stuff for breakfast in the fridge, or you can head into town. The diner does breakfast all day.”

Beside her, Grant stiffened. “You need to eat something, too.”

“I’m fine.” Edie’s words were clipped, and Jesse swore she could feel her Daddy’s temper spiking.

Great. Just what she needed, to be stuck between two pissed off, stubborn bossy types.

Plastering on a bright smile, she looked up at her Daddy. “Can we go to the diner? They used to have the best biscuits and gravy.”

Daddy smiled back, but there was an edge to it that had her heart jumping in her chest as he shifted his gaze back to Edie. “Sure. We can go if Edie comes with us.”

Edie snorted out a harsh laugh. “And give the rumor mill even more ammunition? No, thanks.”

“Then we’ll eat here.” Although Daddy’s voice tone was still cheerful, there was no mistaking the steel behind his words. “What does everyone want?”

“Nothing. I’m fine,” Edie repeated.

Let it go, Daddy. Let it go.

But Daddy apparently didn’t get her telepathic message. “You’ve been out working all morning. You need to eat something, Edie.”

“And you’re not the boss of me.”

Something crashed in the kitchen, cutting off whatever reply Daddy had been about to give. He shoved Jesse at Edie, his expression hard as he pinned them both with a glare. “Stay here. Both of you.”

Without giving either of them a chance to argue, he stalked past them into the kitchen. Looking over her shoulder, Jesse shared a look with Edie, who rolled her eyes and silently jerked her head toward the kitchen.

They followed Daddy in, only to find him standing in the middle of the room, frowning at the cabinet doors that had somehow blown open.

All the cabinet doors.

“What the heck?” Jesse asked, slowly turning in a circle as she surveyed the ‘damage’. Nothing appeared to be broken, but that didn’t help shake the feeling that something weird was definitely going on.

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