My heart stalls as I move closer and see who’s sitting inside. It’s the broad-shouldered man who played with my heart three days ago. The one who’s had it ever since.
Suddenly, nothing else is happening. The wind isn’t blowing, the trees aren’t rustling, and the dog isn’t barking in the distance. There’s only the meeting of two trucks like a western showdown. Declan steps from his truck, standing taller than my dad, which isn’t a common occurrence. My father is a big guy, and he stays in shape doing ranch work. He too is dwarfed next to Declan.
Oh god, why is Declan here?The look on my father’s face as he listens to Declan’s words, says it all. He’s disgusted. Repulsed.
What is Declan saying?
“Hey,” I say, interrupting the conversation with a lump in my throat and a hard stomach, “what’s going on here?”
Declan looks toward me. He looks exhausted with dark rings under his eyes. Has he not been sleeping? “I needed to clear the air.”
I shake my head. “About what?”
“About you.”
My heart tightens and my thighs rub together. I’m not sure which side of the fence I’m on. On one hand, it’s hot as hell that Declan has shown up to say anything to my father. On the other, how dare he just show up like this after ignoring me for days.
Then again, I guess I was the one who quit.
“What’s going on?” my father barks. My stomach clenches and acid burns my throat.
Declan steps forward and reaches out his hand, but my father ignores the gesture.
“What are you here for?” my father repeats, impatience in his tone.
“I know you don’t like me. I know you hate that the bar is on this mountain, but—”
“I’ve already told him I quit working for you,” I say, beating him to the chase. “There’s nothing to tell him.”
Declan’s gaze meets mine with more intensity. “Are you sure there’snothingto tell him?”
I can only surmise whatnothing to tell himmeans, but if Declan is talking about telling my father that we have a thing for each other, then I can’t support that… not now.
I nod. “I’m sure.”
“Alright then,” Declan says, turning back toward his truck. “I’m sorry to have bothered you all tonight.”
My father grabs the handle of his door. “You didn’t come out here to tell me that you’d hired my daughter. What did you come to say? Adelaide, what did he come to say?”
The lump in my throat only grows thicker and my father’s eyes blaze toward me.
I shrug.
Declan looks toward me, and then toward my father. “I came to ask for your permission to see your daughter, sir. But I see she’s not interested and I’m—”
“You what?” My father’s face turns red and my heart sinks.
“I’m trying to do the right thing. I know this is a small town and you value things like this, so I’m—”
“So, you, her ex-boss,a man twenty years her senior, is coming to me to ask to date my twenty-three-year-old daughter.” My father repeats the words like it’s nothing, then says, “No,” sternly and laughs. “Have a good night, man. Let’s go, Addie. You don’t need him.”
Declan stands in the dirt gazing toward me with a look that’s more desperate than he wore the night we met. Every inch of me is aching to jump into his arms, tell him that I want him, tell my father that he has no choice in the matter, but the shock of the moment keeps me from acting. Instead, I walk toward the truck with my dad and climb up into the seat, looking back at Declan who stands unmoving. His wide shoulders. His thick waist. His dark features. They’re all calling out to me, begging me to return.
“Daddy,” I croak, “I don’t think I can let you drive away.”
My father looks toward me, and for the first time in my life, I see his disappointment.
“What?”