Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
DEAN
The apartment feels unusually full this afternoon.
The scent of cinnamon drifts from the kitchen, where Aubrey insisted on baking chocolate chip pumpkin bread in the morning even though we’re still a week away from Thanksgiving.
Soft jazz hums from the speakers tucked into the ceiling, blending with the occasional happy squeal from Liana as my father bounces her gently on his knee in the living room.
“I think she’s getting heavier every time I see her.”
Dad grunts dramatically as Liana grabs both sides of his face. Liana rewards him with a delighted laugh before patting his cheeks with both hands.
I smile from the armchair across from them. “That’s because she knows exactly how to manipulate you.”
“Oh, she’s definitely a Ledger.”
“Excuse me?” Aubrey asks with a laugh from the kitchen.
She appears carrying a wooden serving board with slices of warm pumpkin bread, her sleeves pushed to her elbows and a dusting of flour still clinging to one cheek.
I don’t think she realizes it’s there. I hope she doesn’t because it’s strangely adorable.
“What was that?” she asks.
Dad reaches for a slice. “I was telling Dean this little one has everyone wrapped around her finger.”
Aubrey glances toward Liana, whose entire focus is now fixed on the loaf.
“I don’t know …” She tilts her head thoughtfully. “I think she’s mostly interested in your pumpkin bread.”
Dad takes a bite and closes his eyes.
“Oh …” He points the slice toward her. “You’re hired.”
She laughs. “I already am.”
“Then you’re getting promoted.”
I don’t hear the rest of the joke because my attention stays on Aubrey.
She walks over to take Liana from Dad, tucking my daughter easily against her hip while brushing some hair away from Liana’s forehead.
The movement is effortless now, like she’s been doing it forever.
Liana immediately buries her face against Aubrey’s shoulder before reaching back to tug one of the drawstrings on Aubrey’s hoodie.
“You’ve got drool all over your face,” Aubrey murmurs, smiling as she wipes it from Liana’s chin.
Dad watches the two of them for a long moment before looking at me. He doesn’t say anything, though I wonder what he is thinking.
“So,” Aubrey says, shifting Liana onto her other hip, “I should probably disappear for a little while.”
I frown. “Why?”
She nods toward the hallway. “I want to get a few job applications submitted before Monday.”
The smile on my face disappears before I can stop it.
Applications—I almost managed to forget.
She notices the change immediately. “It’s just for an hour. It’s not like I’m leaving today.”
“I know.”
She studies me for another second. There’s sympathy in her eyes, like she knows exactly where my thoughts have gone.
She crosses the room until she’s standing beside my chair. “You boys have fun.”
Liana reaches toward me. I take her automatically, breathing in the familiar baby shampoo scent lingering in her soft hair.
Aubrey smiles. “I’ll come rescue you if Grandpa teaches her anything embarrassing.”
Dad scoffs. “I heard that.”
“I meant for you to.”
She laughs before walking down the hallway.
I watch her go before she disappears around the corner. Only then do I look away.
“Dean.”
Dad’s voice pulls me back.
My gaze drifts back to him. “Hmm?”
He isn’t looking at Liana. He’s looking at me.
One corner of his mouth lifts. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you watch someone leave a room before.”
Heat crawls up the back of my neck. “What?”
He nods casually toward the hallway. “Your eyes followed her the entire way.”
I shrug. “She lives here.”
“Mmm.”
I sigh. “What?”
Dad chuckles quietly. “I’ve watched you leave family dinners halfway through conversations because someone from work emailed you.”
I shift Liana higher against my shoulder.
“I’ve never”—he smiles to himself—“seen you look at anyone the way you’ve been looking at Aubrey.”
My heartbeat flutters. “You’re reading too much into it.”
His eyebrows rise. “Am I?”
“Yes.”
He leans back comfortably against the couch. “So, you weren’t watching her?”
I open my mouth, then close it again.
“I …” I clear my throat. “I was.”
He fights an obvious grin. “I know.”
Silence settles between us.
“I’ve also noticed something else.”
I already know I’m not going to like whatever comes next.
“Every time she picks Liana up, you smile.”
I blink. “I do?”
“You don’t even realize you’re doing it.” He looks at me kindly. “Every time Aubrey laughs, you look for the reason.”
My chest tightens.
“And every time she walks into a room”—he smiles knowingly— “you stop whatever you’re doing.”
I stare down at Liana. She wraps both hands around one of my fingers. Completely unaware that my father has somehow dismantled every defense I’ve built over the last two months.
I let out a slow breath. Neither of us speaks for several seconds. Finally, I ask the question that’s been sitting on my chest since he started talking.
“You’re … not angry?”
He actually laughs. “Why would I be angry?”
I stare at him. “Aubrey.”
“Yes?” he questions like he’s not understanding.
“She’s twenty-two.”
He doesn’t move. “And?”
I blink. “And … I’m thirty-four.”
He folds one ankle over his knee. “So, tell me what you’re really worried about.”
The words spill out before I can organize them. “She works for me. She lives here.”
He nods in acknowledgment but doesn’t say anything.
So, I continue, “Her parents trusted me. I have twelve years on her. I’m supposed to be the responsible one.”
“You are,” he interrupts.
“What if everyone thinks I’m taking advantage of her?”
The room grows quiet. Dad studies me for a long moment.
Then he smiles. “You know what I heard in everything you just said?”
I shake my head.
“A man trying very hard to protect a woman he loves.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
“I never heard you talk about controlling her,” he continues gently. “I never heard you talk about manipulating her. I never heard you say she didn’t have a choice.” He leans forward. “I heard a man terrified of hurting someone.”
I swallow. “I love her.”
The confession leaves my mouth so quietly that I’m not sure I actually said it.
Dad smiles immediately. “I know.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
He laughs. “I don’t think anyone ever does.”
I shake my head. “I fought it.”
“I can imagine.”
“I kept telling myself it wasn’t appropriate.”
“And yet?”
I glance toward the hallway. “She feels like … home.”
Dad follows my gaze. “Exactly.”
He lets the silence linger before speaking again.
“Do you know how old your mother was when we met?”
I think for a second. “Twenty-three?”
He nods. “And I was thirty-three.”
I look up. “I never realized that.”
“We had ten years between us.” He smiles at the memory. “Not once did your mother think I was stealing her youth.”
I laugh softly. “I don’t think Mom ever let anyone tell her what to think.”
“Exactly.” He points toward me. “Neither does Aubrey, from what I’ve seen.”
I can’t argue with that. She’s stubborn enough to challenge me almost daily. Usually, she’s right.
“Dean …” Dad’s expression grows thoughtful. “Love isn’t measured in birthdays.”
I listen quietly.
“She’s an adult. She is capable of deciding who she wants to build a life with.” He smiles. “If that person happens to be a stubborn billionaire who’s completely obsessed with her, that’s her decision to make.”
For the first time in weeks, the knot that’s lived in my chest loosens. Maybe I’ve spent so much time assuming everyone would condemn us that I never stopped to ask if they actually would.
Dad reaches over and pats my shoulder. “The only thing that concerns me … is whether you’re going to tell her before somebody else notices what everyone in the room can already see.”
I glance instinctively toward the hallway again. Toward the closed bedroom door, where Aubrey is probably filling out applications for jobs that could take her away from us.
What if she finds a job that takes her out of the city?
What if she plans for a future that doesn’t have me or Liana in it just because I didn’t say anything?
For the first time, instead of feeling guilty for imagining forever with her, I allow myself to wonder what it would take to make forever possible.