Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1)(49)

He drops his gaze, understanding dawning on his face. “And you don’t know what we have in common anymore?”

“Yes. I’m sorry,” I say again because I really am. I’m sorry to see this chapter of my life end—it wasn’t all bad. But I won’t miss it and I’m not sad about the new one I’ve started.

“Rosie. Stop apologizing. It’s okay. We were young when we met. We both grew up, and I think in that process, we grew apart.”

I nod, expecting tears to well in my eyes. But they don’t. I could tell him all the ways he went wrong. But I don’t.

I’m sure he’d have a list for me too if we wanted to venture down that path. I’m not sure what else to say or do. So, I stick out my arm and offer him a handshake. He drops his watery eyes and flinches before slowly reaching forward to grip my palm.

Maybe a hug would have been nicer. But I don’t want to hug Ryan. Leave it to fucking Ford Grant Junior to ruin hugs for me.

I’ve never endured a more painfully awkward handshake and I sigh in relief when it finally ends.

“Are you okay?” he asks, swiping the back of his hand over his nose.

“Yeah.” His question takes me back to that moment with Ford before we left the office. Before he walked away.

“Are you?” I repeat the same words, but don’t hang on to his.

Ryan smiles good-naturedly, but the watery eyes remain. “Yeah. I am.”

I can tell he’s sad, but if I’m being honest, I’m not especially worried about Ryan being okay.

Instead, I’m stressed by the fact that Ford isn’t.

“I’d love to go pay your parents and your brother a visit while I’m here. You cool if I crash for the night? I’ll take off in the morning.”

“Yeah, of course,” I lie. But I’m not cold-hearted enough send a grown man who is now wiping at his eyes back out onto the highway.

I might feel relieved about ending things with Ryan.

But that relief is eclipsed by feeling downright sick over Ford and that parting no.





CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE


FORD





Cora went charging out of the office but clearly stopped short outside. I can see the uncertainty painted all over her face when her gaze snags on Willa in the distance, sitting on a stump beside the fire pit near the lake, stick held in her hand as she draws in the soot.

“Actually, I’ll… take a lap around the property and let you deal with this first,” Cora offers, voice just a little more timid than usual.

I gather her against my side in the world’s most awkward half hug and squeeze her shoulder. “Whatever you want. She’s not as bad as she seems. I promise.”

Cora’s eyes narrow like she isn’t sure about that, but if I know my sister, she’ll have Cora won over in no time.

“Why didn’t you tell them all about me right away?” Her voice is small and her face downturned, so when I peek at her, I can’t make much out.

I also can’t tell her about my father’s past—wouldn’t even want to correlate the two. Plus, knowing Cora, she can hit Google and find it all anyway. So I share only a piece, something she’ll understand.

“I’m just… I’m a private person, Cora. I’m close with my family in that I love them all very much, but I don’t want them in my business. Willa used to work for me at my bar, and it was torture. Constantly all over my personal life. If she hadn’t been such a killer fucking bartender, I’d have fired her ten times over so I could have a little peace. I grew up with the paparazzi around—having to consider every move I made and how it might look outwardly. I don’t like that feeling. I needed processing time with you, and truth be told, I didn’t want differing opinions or to worry about how bringing you into my life might be perceived. I knew it was the right thing to do, knew it was what I wanted to do. And now they can all just deal with it.”

She peeks up at me from beneath a fringe of dark lashes and long bangs with a soft smile.

“It has nothing to do with them and everything to do with you and me, yeah?” I say.

She leans into my ribcage now, squeezing me back.

“Plus, they’re all going to love you. I already knew that,” I add for good measure, because it’s true.

“Don’t let her push you around, okay?” is all I get back from her.

I clear my throat to cover a laugh. “Okay.”

And with that, Cora spins on her heel to walk away and I saunter toward my sister. When I get close, she doesn’t look up—just continues using the tip of a twig to draw in the ash.

“What are you drawing?”

She sighs wistfully, lips tipping up ever so slightly. “Hearts.”

I glance down and realize she’s made a repeating pattern of them along that side of the pit.

“You seem calmer.”

Her green eyes move up slowly from the ground and she drops the stick. “Calmer?”

“Looks like I thought wrong.”

She stands and heat splashes across her cheeks. “Of course you thought wrong! How could you not tell me this?”

“The sperm donation part or the kid part?”

“I don’t care what you do with your dick, Ford! But a kid? A niece? What the fuck, man?”