Page 105 of The Au Pair Affair

Burgess took a moment to breathe. “Not in a while. But she knows you love her, Lissa.”

“You love her, too. And I made her leave.”

“I’m just as guilty of making her leave, kid. Believe me.”

“When is she coming back?” She looked down at her fingers as she twisted them together. “I didn’t even get to tell her I got picked to play Juliet in English class.”

“You did?” he managed to say. “Damn. Congratulations, kid. I’m proud of you.” The next part burned his esophagus, because it was so true. So heavily true. “Tallulah would be proud of you, too. You know that.”

“Please. I wouldn’t have done it without her. I want to tell her in person.”

All Burgess could do was shake his head. She wasn’t going tocome back. He’d blown it. Not only for himself, but for Lissa. If he’d let her stay and help him through surgery and recovery, the family unit they’d formed would still be intact.God, that burned. He would kill to have her there right now, smelling like blood oranges and basil, her calming energy lifting everyone else around her like a steady wind. Instead, he had stale air and desolation.

“She’s comingback, right?” Lissa asked again, pools of tears forming in her eyes.

Burgess glanced at Sig and Wells, even the knucklehead rookies, for help, but they only looked back at him expectantly. And he knew that expression. It wasgo hard or go home.What else could he expect from a room full of professional athletes? And maybe, as fucking obnoxious as this intervention had been... he’d needed it. As galling as it was to admit.

He could remain lying in this hospital bed, letting life carry on outside without him, Tallulah eventually—or maybealready—moving on from him. Dating a professor. Wearing bathing suits in Costa Rica. Going on adventures without him.

He could hide from his mistake, instead of confronting it. Apologizing. Making it right.

He could explain to his daughter that Tallulah wasn’t coming back and hope she eventually got over the loss.

Or he could get up and fight. Rehab his back, get whole again...

And go to that wedding and get his woman.

Burgess flicked a look at Sig.

Sig nodded.

Burgess pointed at Wells. “I’ll go to rehab if you take back their plus ones. TallulahandChloe. No dates allowed.”

Wells rocked back on his heels. “Is that what that whole silent communication thing was about earlier?”

They gave a synchronized shrug.

One of the Orgasm Donors smacked the other one in the shoulder. “Why don’t we communicate silently like that?”

“We do. What am I thinking about right now?”

“Banana pudding.”

“Holy shit!”

“Fine.” Wells sighed, but the corner of his mouth ticked up. “Worked like a charm.”

“I hate you,” Burgess deadpanned.

“Josephine thought we needed a fail-safe. That’s why she was the best caddie I’ve ever had.” He pressed a fist to his mouth. “God, I’m going to marry the shit out of her.”

“What’s everyone talking about, Dad?”

“Sorry, Lissa.” He hesitated to say the next part, but if he really thought about it, there could be nootheroutcome. Not without him losing his will to live. Did that mean... he had one now? Yeah. He looked at his daughter, who meant so much more to him than hockey. He thought of Tallulah and how she felt in his arms, how her voice sounded like it had been missing from his ears his whole life. “Go get the paperwork, Sig.” He stroked a hand down the back of Lissa’s hair. “I’m going down to Costa Rica to get Tallulah back. But I’ve got some work to do first.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Tallulah looked down at the orange and golden leaves of New Hampshire from fifteen hundred feet in the air, the cool wind drying tear tracks on her cheeks. They weren’t tears of devastation, like the ones she’d been crying for over a week, even while going through the motions. School, sleep, activities. Go go go. Not sitting with the heartbreak long enough for it to consume her. No, these were tears of appreciation for the stunning world below.

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