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They sat there for a few moments before Agatha couldn’t take it any longer. “I’m sorry, dear. Was there something you needed?”
Grace shook her head. “Nope. I just wanted to come meet you. That’s all.”
That’s when the realization hit her. Grace wasn’t coming just to meet her. She wanted to meet the person who had broken her father’s heart. This little get-together could mean so many different things.
Agatha leaned forward, prompted by something she couldn’t understand. “I don’t know what your father has told you, but—”
“My father hasn’t told me anything,” Grace stopped her, but her smile remained. “I figured it out on my own.”
What exactly had she figured out? Was this about the relationship? The breakup? The fact that Agatha had made the biggest mistake of her life when she’d let Zeke walk away from her? Any one of those could be an answer to her question.
Grace reached across the table and took Agatha’s hand in hers, gave it a small squeeze, then pulled away. “I can tell you make my dad happy. And I wanted to come meet the person who had finally brought some light back into his eyes.”
A rock sunk to the bottom of Agatha’s stomach, settling like a stone at the bottom of the dark ocean. It made her nauseous to realize what Grace’s words meant.
She didn’t know her father had broken things off between them.
Agatha shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She laughed. “I might be the youngest in my family, but I’ve been doing this a long time. I can tell when something is going on, and it’s not just what I saw with my father. It’s what I’m seeing with you right now.”
“And what is that?” Agatha had meant for her voice to sound strong and firm, but it came out as more of a quiet squeak.
“You’ve been dating my dad,” she said triumphantly as she leaned back in her seat. “And for whatever reason, the two of you are trying to keep it under wraps.”
Agatha shook her head. “You’re mistaken—”
“The thing is, I get it. I can appreciate that you need to test things out before you tell the world about it. That’s just the way it is sometimes. There are good reasons and bad ones.” Grace’s smile shifted to something different and her eyes got a far-off look in them. “But in the end, it comes out either way. It’s for the best, really. Because then you can get the support of the people who love you. Sometimes we get in our own way, you know? And we make choices that end up hurting ourselves more than we realize.”
“Wait… did he tell you?”
Confusion flickered across her features. “I told you, he didn’t say anything about you. But that statement alone confirms my suspicions.”
“No, I mean…” Emotion filled Agatha’s throat. She had been caught, and now she had to admit to a truth she was quickly realizing wasn’t something she wanted. “Yes, okay, we were involved. But that’s changed.”
“Changed?”
Agatha sighed, then pinched the bridge of her nose—anything to avoid having to look directly at the daughter of the man she’d developed feelings for. “We decided to break it off. It simply wasn’t going to work between us.”
“Why?”
Why. Agatha nearly laughed, but only because it would keep her from getting emotional. “Because we’re just too similar and set in our ways. Neither one of us seems willing to change. And as I’m sure you’re well aware,” Agatha said, finally meeting Grace’s gaze, “relationships require quite a bit of compromise. It just wouldn’t work out, so we parted ways before we got too attached. It was for the best.”
Grace shook her head. “You can’t possibly believe that.”
“Actually, I do.”
“Then maybe you should reconsider things.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Grace inched closer to Agatha, then rested her folded arms on the tabletop. “Yes, it’s true people say that it’s harder to change the older you get. But that’s not a hard and fast rule. It’s like that old saying, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’—except you can. The dog just has to be motivated.”
Agatha pressed her lips into a thin line, trying not to be offended at the fact that this young woman had just compared her to a four-legged animal.
“Well, I think love is one of the best motivators. And if you and my dad truly care about each other, then you would agree that there is something both of you could do to make those compromises you’re so interested in.”
“It’s not that easy—”
