Page 46 of Temporarily in Love

He waved me away. “Keep it. You earned that.”

I tucked it back into my purse, but I was going to stick it in the safe later. “Okay, can we talk numbers now?”

He shook his head. “That’s not your problem.”

“Dad, let me help.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Where have you been the past couple of nights?”

I reared back at his abrupt change in the conversation. Where had that come from?

“What does that have to do with anything?”

He eyed me suspiciously. “Your sister said Declan MacGregor went pumpkin picking with you yesterday, and you went home with him.”

I clenched my jaw tightly. Tattle-tell. “Okay. What does that have to do with the bar?”

“Because he asked me for assets today because he’s redoing the website.”

I sighed. “We’re spending time together, and he wants to help. I’m paying him for the work. Actually, Brian’s going to talk to his younger brother to get some new photos done for it.”

“Lachlan?” Dad asked.

I nodded. “I didn’t realize he was into photography.”

“That’s because you haven’t lived here in a long time.”

Ouch, but fair.

“What does it matter if I spend time with Declan?” I asked.

Dad gave me a stern look. “Because last time you left, he lost himself.”

I wasn’t sure how to tell my dad I had also lost myself. I chased my dreams in college, but I never found happiness. I wasn’t saying that Declan and I had a future together, but I enjoyed spending time with him.

“That’s not gonna happen this time. I’m not going to pretend he doesn’t exist when I leave,” I explained.

Dad snorted, and I immediately got annoyed with him. What right did he have to butt into my sex life? NONE. That’s what right he had.

“I’m gonna go home,” I said.

I left without another word and walked home annoyed. The fact my dad cared more about Declan’s feelings than mine bothered me. Everyone seemed so concerned with how he felt after I left, but nobody asked if leaving him hurt me too.

I ate leftovers in front of the TV, watching a Bulldogs hockey game while my parents were still at the bar. I missed watching my home team. I only agreed to marry Chad because he proposed during a San Jose hockey game. On the jumbotron. Public proposals were the worst. Later he said he did it because he thought I loved hockey. He didn’t get that I was a Philly girl through and through. It was Bulldogs, Phils, Eagles, Sixers, and nothing else. I didn’t give a crap about the local hockey team.

The door opened and distracted me from the game. I waved at my mom as she walked inside. “Hey, sweetheart. Is that your pumpkin on the porch?”

I nodded. “Yeah, we carved pumpkins yesterday. I forgot how much I missed fall in PA. Nobody wants to do that stuff with me out West.”

She smiled as she took a seat next to me. “Thanks for picking up the shift today.”

I shrugged her off. “That’s why I came home, to help you out. Whatever you need.”

She nudged me with a smile on her face. “That post on our social media did really well. Good job.”

“We need to find someone to do that. I think I want to find a marketing person to help us out.”

Mom hugged me. “I’m glad you’re home. You’re not with Declan tonight?”