Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“Oh, I know she did,” he laughs, shaking his head. “And now, here we are.”
“Here we are,” I agree. “She makes me happy, Dad.”
“I know, Quinn,” he says simply. “But what I want to know is why you got involved with Ava. Why did you propose to her?”
I forgot I’d said I did that. I press my lips together, looking away, ashamed. “I didn’t, Dad. Mom’s ring that you gave her when I was born is in a drawer in my place.” I can feel him staring at me. “I told her to tell everyone it didn’t fit and we were getting it resized, but that wasn’t the case.”
I don’t want to look at my dad, but I know I have to. When I do, I find him with his brows pulled in and confusion in his eyes. “What the hell is going on?”
It’s hard to breathe as I look out at the ice, but I know I have to tell him. “Emery leaving really fucked me up,” I admit quietly, my heart thundering in my chest. “I couldn’t focus on school. I wanted to drop out for a year, but Ava convinced me to stay in. Told me she’d help me, and since the world was shut down, it was easy to let her do everything for me.” I’m unable to look at him as I continue. “She got me through my classes, and things were fine. We were friends, I hung out with her and her partner, and we had fun.”
“Her partner?”
“Yeah. Yvette is her girlfriend.”
I feel his gaze, and when I look at him, he’s visibly shocked. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
I nod. “Her parents don’t approve and are holding her inheritance hostage if she doesn’t end things with Yvette. If she marries me, and we stay together for a year, then she gets her money and she can live the life she wants. With Yvette. She offered to get her uncle, Dr. Abrams, to take me in for my residency and even offered to pay me some of her money. I took her up on the offer with Dr. Abrams, obviously, but I declined the money because she’d helped me back when I needed it.”
I watch as he digests my words, his eyes searching mine. “Why didn’t you tell me or Mom you were struggling with school?”
“Because I shouldn’t have been. I was a pathetic mess. And instead of talking about it, I wallowed in self-pity and licked my wounds.”
“We could have talked about it.”
“Sure, but it wouldn’t have brought her back,” I counter, holding his gaze. “I’d already embarrassed myself. I didn’t want to embarrass you too.”
“Quinn, you were young. You should have let us help you.”
“I couldn’t,” I admit, emotion thick in my voice. My chest feels like it is cracking open. “Everyone else was off living their best lives. At my age, Owen and Evan were in the NHL, living away from home. I was home and I still struggled, all because I couldn’t handle being left behind by Emery.”
Dad grips my arm, and I meet his gaze. “I didn’t shower, didn’t eat, didn’t do anything when your mom left me. I tried to get over her with another woman and couldn’t get it up.” I grimace, and he laughs. “Sorry. But Quinn, hear me, please. When you hurt, it’s okay to do just that—hurt. I was miserable without your mom, and thankfully, I only had to wait a couple months. You waited three years. In silence, mind you, because while I knew you missed the girl, I didn’t know you had all this going on.”
I bite the inside of my cheek as I stare into my dad’s loving gaze. The man who is my hero. The man I strive to be. My chest aches as I admit, “I didn’t want to embarrass you or disappoint you.”
“Quinn,” he stresses, gripping my arm, “it wouldn’t happen. Life is fucking hard, kid. I get it. I’ve lived it, and now I’m doing it again with adult kids and grandkids. I’m sorry I was too consumed with my own life to notice you were hurting.”
I shake my head. “Dad, no. You are the best dad.”
He gives me a small smile, squeezing my wrist. “And you’re the best son. Quinn, no matter what, I love you, and I’m proud of the man you’ve become.”
I look away, remorse and guilt coursing through me, seeping into my bones. I know my dad loves me, and I knew that Emery would be right about how my dad would react, but he hasn’t even heard it all. In almost a whisper, I tell him, “If I don’t marry her, she’ll turn me in to the school, and I’ll lose my residency.”
He takes a deep breath in through his nose, his nostrils flaring with anger. Everyone is scared of a mama bear, but don’t fuck with Shea Adler’s kids. “I never liked her.”