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“I will.”
“You’ve got this, Ladybug.” He sounded so sure. “It will all work out.”
Cody walked into the office and didn’t hesitate to come around his desk, lean down, and kiss her on the head. “Morning.”
She smiled up at him and said into the phone, “You know, Granddad, I think you might be right.”
“Always am,” he said with all his Sutherland confidence, and hung up on her.
She laid her phone on the desk, stood, grabbed a handful of Cody’s sweaty T-shirt, and pulled him down for a soft kiss. “Morning.”
He searched her eyes. “You look rested.”
She’d bowed out of their run this morning in favor of calling her grandfather and giving her body a rest after her ordeal yesterday. “I slept thanks to the meds your doctor friend gave me.”
“Good. I thought maybe we could hang out today, take things easy, maybe go for a walk on the beach later.”
“I’d like that.”
Cody grinned. “Looking forward to it. I’ll go shower.”
“Summer,” Natalie called from the doorway. “Can we talk?”
“Yes. Come in.” Summer kept her voice neutral, not wanting to discourage Natalie or make her think she was off the hook for what she’d done.
Cody brushed his hand down her arm. “I’ll see you soon.” He walked out past Natalie without a word and barely a look.
Natalie watched him walk away before turning back to her.
Summer waved her hand out toward the extra chair in front of the desk and took her seat behind it.
“It’s strange. Usually Cody’s the one in here all the time. But lately, it seems you’re always in here.”
“My grandfather has trouble understanding that most people don’t work on their vacations.”
Natalie sat and stared at her. “He relies on you.”
“Very much. Yes. You’re a little like him.”
Natalie cocked a brow. “How so?”
“You make me earn everything. My place here. A relationship with you. Your trust. The others were happy to let me in. You wish I’d never come at all.” Summer wanted to put it out there and see if Natalie was brave enough to admit it.
“You’ve known about Dad your whole life and you did nothing about it.”
“And that makes you angry. Why? Because I should have done something? Or because it hurtourfather that he was kept in the dark?”
“Both.”
“Thank you for the honesty. I just wish you understood things from my perspective.”
“You thought he didn’t want you, but you didn’t confront him about it.” Natalie had probably never had to put herself out there like that.
“If that had been true, that he didn’t want me in his life, what would have been the point of demanding that he see me? So he could say it to my face?”
Natalie shrugged that off.
Summer couldn’t make her understand something that seemed so foreign to her. So she stuck to their relationship. “You’ve made it very clear you don’t like me and you don’t want me here. It hurts my feelings and makes me sad, because I really want us to be close. But I won’t force myself on you. That would only make you dislike me more. But it also seems that you’re annoyed when I don’t makean attempt. I’m good for some things, it seems. I mean, you wanted to impress your friends, so you stole my car.”
