Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 37781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
The door swings a quarter way open, and in a split second, I feel all my insides tied up in a knot. It’s not my dad. It’s Lucy’s dad, Bowdie. He’s a couple of days early. His dark eyes dart to mine as I feel them getting wider, my mouth hanging open, making me look like a moron. He creases his brow and has a brief look of concern, almost the same look Lucy had just a moment ago. It’s supposed to be a happy occasion, so I wait for Lucy’s shrieks and squeals at seeing her dad back home again, but she stays silent.
An awkward silence fills my entire room as I find myself wanting to go to him—to hug him and have him hug me back. Instead, I sit cross-legged in my sweatpants and T-shirt with a hole in the pits, gaping at him like he’s from another planet, which I guess he kinda is. The perfect man—the ruler of the planet “HOT.”
“Daddy!” Lucy sniffs, forcing a smile and lifting herself with some effort. She’s half my size, but whatever’s on her mind has her almost bent over double like a little old lady as she struggles to put on a more cheerful welcome for her dad, doing a poor job of looking excited to see him. The thrill in my chest at seeing him makes up for it if I could somehow let him know how I feel.
“I-I thought I’d surprise you,” Bowdie murmurs. “I flew in a couple of hours ago,” he adds, looking directly at me and making butterflies start churning. A slight sound escapes me, and I feel a flush of heat in my groin. My chest instantly stiffens as the deep sound of his voice vibrates through me, plucking every heartstring as it does, adding to the intensity of the sudden and inappropriate state of arousal he’s given me simply by existing.
My dad appears behind him, craning his neck to see past his best friend. “What’s the matter, Bo? Girls not recognize ya because it’s been so long?” he asks, nudging his way into my room and making Bowdie take a firm step closer to my bed.
His eyes are still on me, and the resting pant bulge of an eighteen-hour flight only inches from my face makes me gulp hard again before I feel my face flush and my mouth dry up, every bead of moisture in my eighteen-year-old body flooding to the one place I need touching right now.
“Lucy? Beth? What’s the matter?” my dad asks, his cheerful expression falling as he studies all three of us, saving his most puzzled expression when he looks at his best friend, Bowdie.
“Daddy!” Lucy exclaims a little more convincingly, shifting her mood for a moment. Suddenly, she’s happy to see her dad and gushes that it’s a shock to see him so soon and unannounced.
“I thought we’d keep it a secret. Your dad coming back early, I mean,” my dad observes, glancing toward me and then at his best friend for what feels like the hundredth time. The thought maybe flashes in his mind, but only briefly before it vanishes. I know what he’s thinking. It’s the only thing I know I’ll ever truly wish for because I know it could never happen.
No, of course not! As if my best friend would be making eyes at my daughter. She’s young enough to be his daughter.
The longer I stare, transfixed by Bowdie’s gaze, I swear I can’t help seeing the same thought in his mind, but in reverse. Or am I just losing my mind?
CHAPTER TWO
Bowdie
The hospital director was stunned. My clinical trial patients and fellow research team were even more so. I signed a two-year contract and bailed after six months. It cost me more than some professional reputation, too. They don’t hand out research grants and expect the head of research to quit on the spot without good reason. The hospital already told me they’d be taking legal action for breach of contract.
Thanks for playing, Doctor Bigg, but we’ll have all our money and then some back now. Thank You!
I’ve got a reason, and money be damned. They can have every cent of mine if they want. I couldn’t go one more day, one more second, without her. It’s stupid. I know it is. I’m having a midlife crisis, and all this will become painfully clear once I’m stateside again—once I see the girl I’ve somehow convinced myself all this is really about.
Beth… my daughter’s best friend and my best friend’s daughter, to boot.
At first, it was her friendly hug goodbye at the airport when I left. I was ashamed for two weeks, even seeing a therapist in a foreign country. I spilled my guts about how hard a girl young enough to be my daughter made me, and she still does, more than ever.