Page 125 of Over Time Advantage

And I do.

We’re lying naked on one of my oversized, cushioned, pool lounge chairs with a large blanket covering our bodies, facing each other in our post-coital bliss.

I reach under the blanket and squeeze her butt. “I hope I made that ass mine,” I joke.

She giggles as she leans forward and kisses my lips. “My ass and my pussy. I don’t know how you held me in the air like that for as long as you did.”

I make a muscle and wink at her. She laughs with a huge grin on her face. The tension of earlier is long gone, though my guilt isn’t.

I take in her face. “I love your smile so much.”

She wiggles her eyebrows up and down. “You keep fucking me like that and I’ll⁠—”

Before she can finish her sentence, an intruding female voice yells out, “Sex police. You’re busted.”

Fallon and I both shoot up into a seated position in surprise. Fallon quickly pulls the blanket up to cover her chest as we see Kennedy walking toward us from the side of the house.

Tears fill Fallon’s eyes. “Oh my god,” she cries. “Kennedy, I’m so sorry. I wanted to tell you. I…I⁠⁠—”

“It’s my fault,” I quickly admit, not wanting Fallon to shoulder any blame. “Don’t be upset with Fallon. She loves you and the relationship you’ve formed. You can blame me. You already hate me.” I study her bizarrely expressionless face as she pulls a chair closer to us and sits. “Why don’t you look surprised?” I ask.

“Oh, I’m surprised,” she answers. “But that surprise occurred an hour ago, when I was last here and watched you dancing and feeling her up.”

Oh fuck, I hope she didn’t see anything else we’ve done tonight.

Her shoulders fall as she continues, “I left in tears when I realized the one mother figure in my life didn’t actually care for me at all. She was using me to get to you.”

Fallon and I both yell, “That’s not true,” at the same time.

Kennedy narrows her eyes at us. “How long has this been going on?”

Without giving any real details, we give a brief synopsis of having met a year ago and then reconnecting a few months later.

She stares at Fallon with hurt written all over her face. “I met you six months ago. Probably not a coincidence,” she accuses.

I open my mouth to explain when Fallon gently rubs my arm. “I can speak for myself, love.”

I nod as I wrap my arm around her to let her know I’m here for her if she needs me.

“Your father and I were already talking when Sulley approached me about the job. She pursued me, not the other way around. You can ask her. That’s exactly what happened.” Kennedy nods in understanding. “I was on the fence because of you. I wanted the job, it affords me a better home life than my last, but things were complicated enough between you and your dad. I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. After talking to your dad about it, we agreed I would take the job.” She stares at Kennedy earnestly. “Did I seek you out to try to get to know you? Honestly? Yes. Did I plan on us becoming as close as we’ve become? No. That happened naturally. And so you know, I would never betray any of your confidences to your father.”

I nod in agreement. “I don’t know what you two talk about, but I do know you are in desperate need of a mother figure in your life. It’s something you missed out on, and I was happy to hear you found it in Fallon. I’ve never met a better mother than her, certainly leaps and bounds above the hand you were dealt.” Her head jerks back in surprise. I’ve never bashed Ginny in front of her, but I want to be truthful. Fallon is giving my daughter something Ginny has never been capable of.

I look at Fallon and then back at Kennedy. “I love that you have her in your life. You’ve been lost for so long, but there have been so many positive changes in you since you moved back into town. I have no doubt having Fallon in your life has played at least some part in that. Fallon wanted to tell you—she’s been wanting to tell you for a long while—but I was afraid you’d clam up like you have for the past ten years.”

“Can you blame me?” she spits back with a venom I was hoping was a thing of the past between us.

I stop to take a few breaths, not wanting to escalate this conversation, and calmly state, “I’m sure it was traumatic walking in on your mother having an affair, but you turned your back on all of us after that day.”

“An affair?” she says in a bizarre tone, as if there’s more to the story. “It was way more than that, don’t you think?”

Huh? My face scrunches in confusion. What the hell is she talking about? What am I missing? I look at Fallon. She appears as dumbfounded as I am.

Kennedy studies me carefully. “Do you know who she had an affair with, Dad?” she asks as though she thought I did until this moment.

I shake my head. “She never said. I assumed some stranger she met. She never let on that it was anyone we knew. Did you know the man?” The thought had never occurred to me. Oh my god. Who was it?

She lets out a laugh before asking, “Does the name Nick Castillo ring a bell, Dad?”