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She nodded, appreciating the fatherly advice and how he was endorsing Cody without pushing her to or away from him, but leaving it up to her to decide.
“I’d just like to see you happy. I hate to think that Jessica’s life has made you so closed off that you’ll end up alone.”
“You mean like I already am?” The sad, disturbing thought had occurred to her many times. It left her scared that time was getting away from her and she didn’t have anyone with whom to share her life and make memories. “Thank you for looking out for me.”
“Cody’s like a son to me.” He paused, then gave her a cocky half smile. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t kick his ass if he breaks your heart.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. He looked downright pleased about the possibility of protecting her. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Besides, I just met Cody. I barely know the man.”
“As long as you’re here, sweetheart, you’re living with him. That kind of closeness lends itself to getting to know somebody very well.”
She looked back at the house and saw Cody in the living room talking to his sister. “Cody and Brooke are lucky to have you. Itcouldn’t have been easy for you to become their guardian when you had two daughters to raise, too.”
“They needed me. Without their father, I wouldn’t have been able to start the business and build it into what it is now. We worked our asses off to do it. I only wish he’d lived long enough to see how successful it’s become.”
She liked him like this. He was easy to talk to and he thought like she did. “Cody and Brooke must miss him a lot.”
“They were very close with their dad after their mother left them. Brooke lost her husband last year. He died serving overseas. She’s had a hard time dealing with the loss.”
Cody and Brooke were still talking in the living room, their bond and closeness evident. Alex was climbing over Cody’s back. Cody reached behind him and pulled Alex around to the front of him. He hooked his big hands at Alex’s armpits and held him aloft and kissed his belly. Alex squealed and grabbed fistfuls of Cody’s hair. “They’ve had so much loss in their lives.”
“More than their fair share, that’s for sure.”
Summer’s cell phone vibrated in her pocket and then beeped, letting her know she had a text message. “If Mom is texting, she’s desperate.”
“Now isn’t the time to talk about all of this. You need to think about how you really feel and what you want to say to her about what she’s done. Decide what you want to do. Whatever you choose, I hope you’ll stay. But if you want to go home, know that I’ll be coming to see you as often as I can. I’ll pretty much make a pest of myself.”
She went into his arms. “That’s the nicest thing you could have said to me.” She held him close because she could. “Meeting you, being here with you, is definitely the highlight of my day.”
“Hearing you call me dad has been the highlight of mine. My life, really.” He turned her loose.
“I know it’s still early, but it’s been a long day. I’m tired. I think I’ll let Mom stew a bit longer and just go to my room and do what you suggested, think about what I want to do and say to her.”
Nate gave her a reluctant nod. “I’m here if you need me.”
It was all she needed to hear to know he loved her and that his love ran deep. She walked with him toward the house, but split off and went to the doors that led into the glass foyer and the other side of the house, while he went into the living room across the way.
Her phone was still going off when she entered her pretty bedroom. She ignored it and did something she hardly ever did: she put herself first.
She changed out of her clothes and into a comfortable tank and shorts set, crawled under the covers, settled into the very comfortable bed, and listened to the quiet.
She had so much to think about, it was hard to focus on one thing. The headache pounding away didn’t help.
She let all the troublesome stuff fade and focused on the one thing that had gone right today. She had met her father.
He loved her.
He wanted her.
But that wasn’t the only amazing thing that happened. She had met Cody.
She’d never met a man like him. She’d never been drawn to anyone the way she was to him. So maybe this upheaval in her life would turn out to be a good thing. And she wanted to share all of this with someone who’d get it. She called Lucy.
Chapter Eleven
“Do you have any idea what time it is in New York City?” Lucy answered every phone call from Summer the same, because she was usually overseas and when Summer called it was usually the middle of the night, or some ghastly early time in the morning. Lucy was not a morning person. Mostly because she was a night owl.
Plus, Lucy loved to travel, so a lot of times when she answered the phone, she really didn’t know what time it was in that time zone and the question was genuine.
