“Exactly,” he said with a tired huff.
It warmed her to see how much Gibson seemed to care about his stepbrother, like he would do anything to fix it for him. Hell, she wished she could fix it. The thought of Kade being cut off from his daughter, and some little girl out there missing out on time with her dad. God, what she wouldn’t have given to have had more time with her father. Her mother had gone off the deep end with her bipolar disorder, trading her meds for drugs of another sort, right around the time her dad had gotten sick. She’d dragged Tessa to a new town and kept her from him. By the time child services had stepped in to remove her from her mother, her father had been too ill to care for her. He’d died of brain cancer three months after she’d been placed in foster care.
“There’s nothing else to do but hope?” she asked.
Gibson shrugged. “He’s got a top-notch lawyer who told him he needs to create an image of stability. Kade’s cut down on a lot of his travel and regulated his work hours. That playboy, being seen at all the hot spots version of himself is in the past. He has a room set up for Rosalie. But that judge is all 1950s values and conservatism . . .”
“Kade needs a wife and a picket fence,” she said, the words landing like rocks in her belly.
Gibson looked up with a smirk. “His house has an iron fence around it. That’d probably do. But yeah. Maybe even throw in a golden retriever because that image of the scary whip-wielding, leather-clad freak is going to be hard to overcome in court.”
She pressed her fingers to the spot between her brows, a headache forming. “And instead he’s wasting time with me.”
Gibson sat in the chair like the conversation was exhausting him. “Whatever y’all have going on is none of my business. But know that I told him he should take your relationship public, even if y’all were just doing the casual thing, and make it look more serious—even to you. But Kade’s a better guy than I am. After what you did to him, I wouldn’t have had qualms about breaking your heart back.”
Her ribs cinched and her attention snapped upward.
Gibson shook his head. “Maybe that makes me a dick, but you crushed him, Tessa, and sent him into a lion’s den with no weapon. The shit Doug did to him that night . . . he wouldn’t even talk to me about it. But I know it was more than just your average beating. Something in my brother died that night. He was in therapy for a year after he moved in with his father because everyone was so worried about him. He’d never tell you that because he thinks it makes him look weak. But you have no idea what he went through. None of us really do.”
Tears pricked her eyes between blinks, guilt raking through her with jagged force.
“I don’t have a problem with you now. I can see you’re trying to change. But whether you realize it or not, keeping your relationship secret is a selfish move, especially if you know there’s no future. You get to date Kade for whatever purpose yo
u want, you get to have a new job, you get to help your charity. It’s the same as it was in high school. Kade helping, you taking. Kade tutored you when you needed help, he gave you friendship when you hadn’t done anything to earn it, and he protected your secrets at great cost to him. And he never asked for anything back from you.”
Tessa swiped at the moisture that tracked down her cheek. With each jab she felt smaller and smaller, but he was only speaking the truth. “I know. I didn’t mean for it to be that way . . .”
“Doesn’t matter what you meant, only what is. So, if you really feel bad about it and want to make it up to him, now’s the time. Either suck up whatever consequences you might suffer and be seen on his arm or cut him loose so he can find someone who isn’t scared to be out in public with him and who isn’t opposed to the kind of relationship he wants. You two have been seeing each other a lot, so I know you’re not blind. Kade cares about you. You knew it back then and you know it now. So it’s your turn to take a hard look at your motivations. From the outside looking in, I see a girl who’s enjoying a wild adventure and is soothing her wounded pride from getting cheated on with a guy who openly adores her. I don’t see a woman willing to give herself to something real. My brother deserves better than that.”
She stared at him, words leaving her.
He pushed up from the chair and tapped the top of her desk with his palm, returning to cool business mode. “I have to get to a meeting. Give it some thought. And call me if you need any help with the rest of that potential donors list.”
He walked out without waiting for her reply, leaving her reeling. So much for speculating on whether or not Gibson still held any bad feelings toward her. He’d been better at hiding his low opinion of her than she’d thought.
But harder than fielding the barbs he’d thrown her way was wondering if he was dead-on right. Maybe she hadn’t changed at all.
Maybe she’d never be able to be the kind of person Kade deserved.
Because even knowing how much hurt she’d caused him back then and how he needed her help now, she still felt like running.
TWENTY-FIVE
Kade sat on a bench under the massive oak tree that served as their meeting place and turned his phone on silent. Work wasn’t allowed to invade this little sliver of sacred space. The park was pretty empty this afternoon, the chilly overcast day chasing cold-sensitive Texans indoors, but Kade didn’t mind the quiet. Sometimes there were so many people out here that it was like trying to spend quality time in a fish tank.
A car door slammed a few yards away and he turned toward the parking lot. A small tornado of blonde curls was already hurtling his way. He stood, holding out his arms to prepare for impact. Rosalie was wearing white tights, a pink skirt, and a flower-patterned sweater—perfect princess wear, but he knew that pristine outfit wouldn’t last long. And sure enough, as soon as the thought crossed his mind, her foot smacked into a mud puddle, creating a Jackson Pollock version of her former self. Her mother shrieked her name from behind her, but Kade just laughed. Rosalie was rough and tumble wrapped in glitter. If Angie kept putting her in white, she was just asking for it.
Rosalie didn’t even break stride and before he knew it, she was barreling into him like a mini-linebacker. “Daddy!”
“Spark!” He lifted her into his arms, spinning her, and she wrapped herself around him like an octopus. He closed his eyes as he hugged her back, inhaling the smell of banana Laffy Taffy and Burt’s Bees baby shampoo. Angie had never changed the shampoo, and the scent reminded him of those early days when he’d rock Rosalie to sleep after Angie had nursed her. Back then, even when he knew his marriage was struggling, he never once considered the possibility that he’d be relegated to cameo appearances in his daughter’s life.
Rosalie leaned back, her arms looped around his neck, and grinned a semi-toothless grin. “Look, I lost a front one. The tooth fairy brought me ten dollars for it. ’Cause those are more special.”
Everything was a little lispy with the missing tooth, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. No matter how hard it was knowing that he’d only get a couple of hours with her, there was no way he could maintain a grim mood under the power of a seven-year-old ball of sunshine. “Wow, you’re rich, Spark.”
“Yep. I bought five packs of glitter stickers,” she said, a touch of awe in her voice.
He set her down, shaking his head. At least she was doing justice to the nickname he’d given her. Since age two, she’d never been able to resist something sparkly. Rosalie started to chatter again, but Angie stepped up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Baby, can you go play on the swings for a minute? I need to talk to your dad.”