Page 59 of Bookworm
“Sorry, Addy,” I whispered and handed her another bottle of coconut water from the cooler next to me.
“Stupid wine,” she muttered, taking the bottle and cracking the cap off, taking a big swig.
“Elijah got off easy last night if you ask me,” Enzo said.
Addy nodded. “If it were me, it would have been more than just a beer poured over the head. He woulda had a bottle up his?—”
“Who got a beer poured over their head?” Dad’s massive shadow appeared, shading all three of us from the sun.
He held grill tongs in his hand and Lacey propped on one hip. About twenty feet behind him, the grill smoked and the delicious scent of burgers drifted toward us.
“Elijah,” I whispered with another furtive glance at Adam. “I dumped a beer on his head last night.”
Surprise flashed briefly over Dad’s face. “Huh. Well, I could name a dozen reasons why he would deserve that. But… you gotta be careful kiddo.”
I nodded. “I know, I know. Technically, that’s considered assault. If he wanted to press charges, he could.” This was one of the reasons why I didn’t want to tell my dad about last night in the first place. He was still the sheriff of this town and he couldn’t turn his law enforcement brain off most days.
Not even for his own daughter.
“Well, yeah,” Dad said, bouncing Lacey a little as she fussed in his arms. “But also, no matter how big of a jackass he is, it’s still your boyfriend’s dad. If you’re going to make it work with Adam, you need to make it work with his family, too.”
Damn. Truth bomb, right to the face.
And I knew he was speaking from experience since he didn’t exactly get along with my mother’s family back in the day.
But it still wasn’t the advice I wanted to hear.
“And,” Addy added. “You should probably tell Adam what happened… before it gets back to him some other way.”
I groaned. I didn’t want to talk to Adam about all this. I just wanted to enjoy the time we had together before the reality of our situation and history poisoned us before we really had a chance to begin.
“Being the bigger person sucks,” I moaned and threw my arm over my head.
“Being the bigger person doesn’t mean you have to put up with abuse,” Dad clarified.
“Or even be nice to him,” Addy added.
“But you should probably refrain from pouring adult beverages over his head,” Enzo said, a little snicker in her voice.
Lacey squirmed in Dad’s arms and I reached out my hands. “Give me my baby sister. I want to get in all the snuggles I can.”
Dad handed her over to me and she cooed, curling into my arms.
Instead of going back to the grill to check on the burgers, Dad sat down on the lounge chair beside me, nudging my legs to the side to make room.
With his eyes still on Adam, playing in the hot tub, he said, “He’s good with the boys.”
I nodded, even though I didn’t feel like giving Adam credit for anything right now.
Why wouldn’t he tell his dad about us? Was he that embarrassed by me? After all this time, did he still believe those things his dad said about me years ago?
When, if ever, would I be good enough in Elijah’s eyes to be deserving of Adam’s heart?
And if the answer was never, then when, if ever, would Adam stop caring what his dad thought about me?
As if he could hear my thoughts, Dad leaned down and whispered. “Go talk to him.”
“I will.”
