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“You’re the CFO, are you not? I assume you won’t be the one getting fired.”
“I wouldn’t let her get fired.”
“Do you have that much of a say?”He raises an eyebrow and I can see his wariness to believe any answer I plan to give all over his face.
I want to tell him that I do, but I don’t know if he’d even buy that. “I’m just asking that you trust me.”
“I don’t know you.”
“Fair, but she does and she trusts me,” I counter.
“She’s twenty-three.”
I’m not sure how exactly to reply to that because it sounds like the go-to argument when parents want to underestimate their children. I go with the truth. “I love her.”
“Does she know that?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve told her?”
“I have, more than once.”
He narrows his eyes before he stands up. “Marissa seems to like you as does my wife, but I’m not that easy to win over.”
“Believe me, neither is your daughter,” I say and while I’m sure he can hear the humor in my voice, I hope he knows that I’m very serious about the fact that Marissa has made me work for her and I would do it all again for her.
“I don’t give more than one chance. Don’t hurt her,” he warns just as I hear the sound of the door opening and Marissa’s brother steps out. I was hoping it was Marissa and I’m wondering if now I’m about to get the same talk I just had from her brother. A wave of discomfort washes over me thinking about how my father and I never had the chance to interrogate my sister’s boyfriends in the same way.
“I was sent to make sure everything is good,” he says before putting his beer to his lips.
“Everything is fine,” Marissa’s father says as he gets up and heads back into the house without another word.
“Don’t worry about my dad. He’s kind of a hardass on everyone except Marissa,” Shane explains once the door closes.
“Marissa says you and your sister think she’s the favorite.”
“There’s no ‘think.’ She definitely is. She can do no wrong, which means you, my friend, have to work twice as hard to stay in our parents’ good graces.” Shane is taller and larger than their father, and I remember Marissa mentioning that he played football in college.
“I’d do anything for her,” I tell him and he smiles and nods but it fades just as fast as it appeared.
“Including leave your wife?” he asks and while I don’t hear the judgment, I am fucking anxious because now I’m wondering if her father knows too. Fuck. Panic takes over because I didn’t know anyone besides her sister knew about that and I’m wondering if this is all a test. Was her father expecting me to come clean and I failed?
“Look…” I let out a breath. “She didn’t want anyone to know about that.”
“My parents don’t, but Autumn told her fiancé and he told me. I don’t think Marissa knows that I know. I’m not trying to be in your business, but she’s my baby sister and there’s a very good chance my father will kill you and make it look like an accident if you hurt her, so I just want to make sure you don’t have any bullshit going on.”
“I don’t. I’m not married. We’re divorced.”
“But you were married when you met her,” he presses and I really wish I wasn’t getting into this right now.
“Yes.”
“Is that why she stayed away in Paris so long?”
I rub my forehead. “I think it was part of the reason, yes.”
“Does your ex-wife know about my sister?”
