Page 36 of Romance Reset
Lincoln stared out at his backyard the following evening after his third call to Amelia went to voicemail. He’d texted her last night after he and Breanne had returned home and asked Amelia to call him on any break she’d had during the day today, but so far all he’d received was radio silence.
“Hey. Everything okay?” Mac asked from his deck. “The food should be here in an hour or so.”
The last thing Lincoln felt like doing was socializing, but the evening wasn’t about him or his moods and all about the twins’ journey to college tomorrow. Since they were packing up the truck and doing last-minute things, Mac had offered to host everyone at his house for dinner and had ordered from the kids’ favorite Italian restaurant. “Yeah, we should have everything loaded up and done by then.”
“Dad?”
Lincoln turned and found Breanne standing in the doorway to the kitchen, her ex-boyfriend, Jaxon, behind her.
“Can we talk for a minute?” Bree asked.
Lincoln stood and took the conversation in the privacy of the kitchen rather than outside, where they might be overheard. He had to give the boy credit for standing his ground when Lincoln approached, even though Jax looked as pale as the white baseboard behind him. “What’s up?”
“Sir, I just… Bree told me what happened. I wanted to come over and… apologize. And to say that if she had been… Sir, I wouldn’t have left. I would’ve stayed and been a dad whether we were together or not. I just wanted you to know that.”
Jax was the son of a single mom who’d done a great job raising the boy on her own. Still, the kid knew what it was like growing up without a father, and even though the words were easy to say after the fact when the test was negative, Lincoln sensed the kid meant what he said. “Yeah, well, let this be a lesson to both of you. Sex is a big deal and comes with consequences you’d better be prepared for. Understood?”
“Understood, sir.”
Lincoln held out his hand and Jax took it, but Lincoln also gave the kid the parental eye that made it clear Jax had better be respecting Breanne and making better choices from now on. Breanne had already received that lecture, though Lincoln knew it had probably fallen on eighteen-year-old ears. Hopefully the pregnancy scare would at least have an effect for a while and temper any such behavior that would lead to a second scare. He couldn’t play the hypocrite, though. He’d been young and stupid once, too. To be honest, it was how he and Jill had wound up with the twins.
“Is it okay if Jax and I walk to get ice cream?” Breanne said. “One last time? He leaves for school tomorrow, too. I’ll be back in time for dinner at Mac’s. Dessert first?”
“Just ice cream,” he stated drolly, earning a blush from his daughter. “And don’t be late. Mac’s doing a good thing for you two. Plus I’d like to spend some time with you myself before you leave.”
Breanne nodded and rose to her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
“I won’t be long. I love you, Daddy.”
He wrapped her in his arms and breathed deeply. “I love you, too, kiddo.”
“Is Amelia coming tonight? You invited her, didn’t you?”
He and Breanne had talked the entire drive home last evening after leaving her car parked at the pharmacy until this morning. During their talk, Breanne had told him what Amelia had said regarding her desire for motherhood, his daughter adding that Amelia would make an awesome mother. “No. No, she isn’t. We said a lot last night, bug. I’m not sure she wants to see me again.”
Breanne gave him a look reminiscent of her mother’s and shook her head.
“She does, Daddy. Trust me. Call her and ask her to come. You can talk after dinner. You always say Bren and I don’t talk to you enough. Tell her the same thing and really listen.”
“There may not be a way around this wall, Bree. Now go get your ice cream and stop giving your old man orders.”
Jax grinned at the statement but Breanne just stood there, unmoving.
“Dad, shereallylikes you. And you really like her and you’ve beenso happythese last few weeks. Everybody’s noticed. If this is about me and what happened—”
“Honey, it’s not about you. It has nothing to do with you.”
“Are you sure? I mean, I can see why you’d be uncomfortable with a grandkid older than one of your own kids, but you’re not going to be a grandfather now, so you shouldn’t be weirded out by becoming a dad again.”
“Bree—”
“When Bren and I are gone, you’re going to be lonely in this big house by yourself. You know you are.”
Lincoln inhaled in a struggle for patience. “I thought maybe I’d travel. See the world. I haven’t had the chance to do that kind of thing.”
“Alone? Don’t you want Amelia to go with you?”
“Bree—”
