“What? Why?” I growl.
Everybody turns to me, Graham’s eyebrows shooting up, Lila’s mouth falling open. Hallie’s expression is the hardest to read.
I recover quickly. “Sorry. Just going to miss your annoyingly upbeat ass.”
Graham grins. “A while ago, I volunteered for a research position on the West Coast. It’s a small posting, but huge for a non-academic, non-scientist, if you will.”
“What will you be researching?” Lila asks.
“Terminal diseases and children. I could throw plenty of technical stuff at you, but that’s the gist of it.”
“We do not need the technical stuff,” Lila jokes. “But I think that’s great, Dad. Are you excited?”
Graham nods, smiling. “Yeah, honestly, I am. But the problem is, they’ve sprung it on me last minute. I only found out this morning. I think I was a replacement. Somebody else dropped out, but that’s fine. It’s still a fantastic opportunity.”
I can hear the excitement in his voice. It’s the same way he sounded when he got accepted into medical school. Graham has always been unable to mask his emotions, to hide them behind a gruff exterior like me.
No, that doesn’t work. I wasn’t hiding. I simply had nothing to show.
Until Hallie.
“You’re going to be great,” I tell him, even as an alarm screams through me.
How am I going to tell him if he’s not going to be here?
I’m not sure I can do this over the phone.
“When do you leave?” I ask.
“This is the other issue.” Graham smiles tightly. “My flight’s at eight PM.”
“That’s not a problem,” Lila says. “Who cares? Dad, we’re not twelve. We can survive a month without you…no offense. Anyway, we can all see how eager you are. I just can’t believe you didn’t mention it sooner.”
Graham shrugs. “I didn’t think I’d get it.”
“Congratulations,” I tell him, doing my best to smile, not to steal this moment from him just because I can’t stop thinking about his daughter.
“Thanks,” he grins, then nods to the bacon. “But this feast is getting cold.”
As we eat, I feel Hallie looking at me from time to time. It’s like she’s wordlessly asking what we’re going to do, how we’re going to deal with an entire month of temptation.
We need to talk, but then events move fast.
Graham says he wants to spend the rest of the day with his family, and Hallie and Lila swiftly rework their plans.
He invites me with him, but I make an excuse about work. I can’t even think about spending the next few hours with both of them, Graham and Hallie, without somehow letting it slip.
I need to speak with Hallie, to warn her I’m going to tell him.
But can I tell him now, hours before he goes on a trip?
Wouldn’t it ruin it for him?
“I forgot my watch,” I tell Graham at the door as we’re saying goodbye.
It’s the truth. It’s upstairs, on the bedside table in the spare room.
As I walk up there to get it, I can’t resist the urge to walk down the hallway toward Hallie’s room.
I remember yesterday how confident I felt as Graham led me toward this door…that I’d never be attracted to one of his daughters in a million years.
I’m about to knock when I hear Lila’s voice on the other side of the door.
With a sigh, I step away. I can’t talk frankly with Hallie about this issue in front of Lila. I should’ve taken Hallie’s phone number when I gave her mine.
Call me soon before your dad leaves, I want to tell her.
Instead, I walk down the stairs – Graham’s waiting at the bottom, leaning on the banister, an oblivious smile on his face.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Hallie
Tomorrow, I repeat in my mind as the four of us wander around the fair.
It’s the one we’ve been coming to for as long as I can remember, familiar game stands displaying giant teddy bears.
Lila’s been glancing at me on and off all day, ever since Hayden left, and part of me wonders if she’s guessed something.
I bet she senses something’s off, but she hasn’t said anything yet.
“Are you okay?” Mom asks, walking up next to me.
“Yeah,” I mutter.
“Don’t worry about your father.” She gestures to where he and Lila walk ahead. “I told him he ought to tell you both, but he was so sure he wasn’t going to get it.”
“Is the practice going to be okay?” I ask, really thinking about Hayden, about what he said.
Tomorrow.
That’s when he said I should call…so today, now.
I felt him looking at me during breakfast, the memory of the kiss and his hand between my legs, which were far too lifelike. Real, like it was happening right there, and I had to fight with everything not to scream.
“Yes,” Mom says. “I had higher hopes in your father than he did, so I’ve already made all the arrangements.”
“That’s great,” I say.
Mom wraps her arm around me. “That’s marriage, complementing the other, allowing your advantages to cover their shortfalls.”