Page 113 of Summer with the Single Dad

“Maybe it’s the new me,” she said quietly. “Maybe I don’t want to be who I was before.”

“And why is that?”

The fire in her brown eyes was now an amber flame that danced with defiance and fury. “Because I didn’t like who I was before now. I played it safe. I let my parents and my sisters influence my decisions. I didn’t listen to my heart. I didn’t listen to my gut. I didn’t take any risks. I was just like Emme. I drank the same kombucha flavor every day. I ate the same breakfast, ran the same route. I was a creature of predictability and habit. Boring. Lifeless. Tad saw it. It’s why he went to Ashli.”

Oh, the can of worms they’d just opened was bigger than he ever expected. Now the slimy little bastards were inching and wriggling all over the fucking place. He’d never be able to collect them all and stuff them back where they came from.

“Maybe I need to have some faith in the unknown for once in my life,” she went on. “That it’ll all just work out.” She laughed humorlessly and tossed her free hand up in the air. “Or, who knows, maybe Keturah Katz will let me squat on her land. Build my tiny house there and the two of us can dance naked around a bonfire in her front yard. I can think of worse ways to spend the rest of my life.” She fixed him with a final glare that he felt down to his bones. “It’s easy to pick apart a dream from the outside and tell the dreamer it’s impossible. But when all that dreamer’s had for their entire life is one nightmare after another, maybe, for just a little while, encourage their dream. Embrace it. See the beauty in it too.” Then she slid into her flip-flops, yanked open the door and stomped across the driveway to her trailer. All the while, Bennett stood there in the jamb of the open front door, kicking himself for even opening his big, stupid mouth.

Was there anything worse than a man telling you that you’re wrong? Yep. When he’s actually freaking right. And Bennett was right.

About all of it.

She realized he was right when they stood there in his entryway and he expressed his concerns.

He made one heck of an argument, but she’d already dug her heels in that she wasn’t willing to give him the satisfaction and agree with him right then and there.

Agreeing with him would mean her dreams of moving to the island would be squashed before they even took shape, and she just wasn’t ready to face that truth.

She paced the small space of the travel trailer, finishing the beer and growling in frustration, mostly at herself.

Bennett approached the situation with kindness and understanding, and she refused to acknowledge any of the practical things he pointed out.

And they were all very practical. She was cruising through this pipe dream thinking everything would just work out. The brothers would get the land and she could live in a tiny house in one little corner. But that was months away. Maybe more. What would she do until then?

If she was being brutally honest with herself, she stupidly hoped that maybe Bennett would offer for her to move back in with the girls and him until her tiny house was finished.

Only, that would confuse the girls. Heck, it would confuse her. Why would she move in with the man she was falling for, only to move out again?

She growled again, pulled out her ponytail and shook her hair free.

It wasn’t that late, and she wasn’t tired. It was still light out and cheerful sounds from the pub trickled up through the trees.

With another frustrated growl, she grabbed her laptop off the kitchen table, flung open her front door and bumped into Bennett’s chest, his fist raised, prepared to knock.

“Oh!” She stepped back into the trailer.

“I couldn’t let what happened in the house fester overnight,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I … I was wrong. I’m sorry for crushing your dreams. That wasn’t my intention.” He glanced down at the ground. “I’m just not sure you know the challenges you’re going to face if you pursue moving here.”

A flicker of anger created heat in her belly, but she doused it with a cold splash of reality. “No,” she exhaled, “I was wrong. And I’m sorry.”

He lifted his gaze from the ground to her face.

“I don’t know the challenges and you were gently trying to tell me, and I refused to listen. But you’re right. Moving here is probably impossible.” Her shoulders rounded. “I was just really excited at the idea of it. I love it here and I don’t want to leave.”

“You still have six weeks here.”

“And that’s going to go by in the blink of an eye. This week already has.”

He nodded. “I understand. It’s a really great place to live.”

With a sigh she felt down to her toes, she stepped further into the trailer. “Do you want to come in? I kind of stormed out of your house like a moody teenager.” Heat filled her face. “Not going to lie, I’m pretty ashamed of my behavior.”

“What behavior?” He didn’t step into the trailer.

“Where I behaved like an idealistic todd—” The lift of one brow and his sexy half-smirk made her pause. “Ah, you’re being kind … again.” Smashing the heel of her palm against her forehead, she hung her head. “Ignore me.”

“Impossible.”

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