Page 13 of Take The Risk

​Pulling it out, I saw it was Dad.

​Running a hand down my face, I answered, moving to shut off the water. “Dad, I fucked up.”

​“I’m listening.”

Chapter 6

​“Oh my God,” she whispered, her eyes filled with horror. “Why didn’t he tell me this?”

​Why fucking indeed? You can bet your ass I was going to find out. This was so unlike Jerome that I couldn’t explain it. In all the years I’d known him, he’d never made a mistake with such deadly consequences.

​“It is unlike him,” Dad admitted, covering Phoebe’s hand with his, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

​My world narrowed to that point of contact.

​“It will be fixed in two weeks,” I promised. “Your home will be safe.”

​If she agreed to sign with us, that was. After behaving like a total dick, I wasn’t about to turn her down if Dad managed to make up for my idiocy. It was an uncomfortable feeling to be told off at thirty by your father, but I deserved every word.

​Shaking her head, she still looked past me. “No. You guys already told me that you were busy when I called last week. We’ll just stay in the city until the house is safe.”

​Meaning until she found another contractor.

​“Phoebe,” Dad said her name softly, hooking a finger under her chin to make her look at him. “That is your right, but I swear to you, we’ll make your house safe. There are times when bathroom renos and new flooring can be set aside; this is one of those times. It would be our privilege to work on Winterbourne Manor.”

​It killed me that she all but clung to my father, eschewing any contact with me. Lachlan was sequestered in her SUV where he’d been until Dad showed up. Once I came out, she’d put him back in the car, using the word “Faolán” again. It seemed some kind of code between them. The second she said it, he stopped whatever he was doing and obeyed her without question.

​I really hated that she used that word in connection with me.

​“I can do the work, of course,” Dad answered her question, “but Ty has a specialist qualification to work on pre-nineteen hundred homes.”

​Dad shot me a look out of the corner of his eye.

​I took a deep breath, squaring my shoulders. “Phoebe.” I moved so I was standing directly in front of her. Dad was right: being an adult sucked. But I could be a man, even if I didn’t love being an adult sometimes. “I owe you an apology.”

​That seemed to startle her. Green eyes found mine, and I felt that look somewhere deep.

​“What happened in the house…that isn’t…” Dad shot me a sharp look of reproach. “It was me, but it wasn’t. I would never deliberately hurt—” You, I wanted to say, already feeling overly protective. “—anyone. I reacted poorly—” Jesus, now it was my turn to stammer. But the familiar sickening twist of my stomach took hold, and once again stark images of blood, twisted wood, and a tiny hand flashed in front of my eyes until I couldn’t see Phoebe or Dad.

​“There was a house that collapsed.” Dad took over, giving me the look he gave me when Halston, our dog, was hit by a car when I was seven. “A city couple had moved here from Washington. The house they purchased was well known to have issues, but we didn’t know how bad it was. Ty went out and gave them a quote. He told them of the structural issues, filed the paperwork with City Hall…he did everything right.” I got the message. “They were told to leave. They had two small children. A little girl who was eight and a boy who was four. We had to finish another job, or we would have gotten to work straight away…”

​Phoebe’s lips trembled.

​“We were working a job out of town.” Dad repeated the story that lived in my nightmares. “We’d been at the café when Wade got the dispatch call.”

​“Oh…” Her whisper was barely audible, her green eyes luminous, tears making the green and gold flecks glow.

​“We arrived with Wade.” Dad’s voice turned gruff, his large shoulders rising and falling rapidly. “Part of the house still stood, but we didn’t wait for the rest of the first responders.”

Phoebe turned to Dad.

“I found their daughter underneath the stairs,” Dad continued. “She was hurt, but the stairs were fortunately structurally intact enough to protect her.”

​Her breath caught. I pulled at the neckline of my T-shirt which suddenly felt too tight.

​“Ty found their son at the bottom of the fireplace that had been in the living room.”

​“Oh, God…” Her voice broke, a lone tear slipping down her cheek.