Chapter Two
“I have a business dinner tonight. Do you want Italian or Mexican?” Everett Hale asked.
He stood in the doorway of his daughter’s sanctuary, wing-tipped shoes not crossing the threshold.
The room was a change from the one they’d left back in New York.
He was used to unicorns, the color pink, and butterfly bedding.
Now, he faced blue-green shades, sea turtles, and trendy pictures of sunsets and skylines.
Even though it was a rental, Everett allowed Kelsey free rein to make it her own, and she’d gone full force.
He had no issues with the design changes. It was the other stuff that confused him.
The towers of makeup containing endless powders, creams, and brushes meant to attack and mar her young skin.
The vanity holding irons, dryers, and bottles of spray she used to punish her beautiful curls into pin-straight strands.
The litter of clothes that were too short and too tight.
God, he’d found a lacy bra drying in the bathroom and almost choked.
Even worse? He’d caught her rolling her eyes at him. Kelsey had always been easy to deal with. Her personality was cheerful. Her spirit was kind. She flowed with the current rather than fighting it, and fatherhood had been a smooth sail for these past thirteen years.
But now he was in a hurricane, and no one was coming to save him.
She sat on her bed, surrounded by leather journals, open books, and endless tiny colored sticky notes. Her gaze narrowed and those innocent blue eyes gleamed with a bit of . . . meanness?
No. He was imagining things.
“Whatever. Just leave me money and I’ll get it myself.”
She pulled her focus away and back to her books. Properly schooled, he shifted his weight. “Kels, I know I’ve been busy lately and I’m sorry. I promise we’ll do something together this weekend.”
A shrug.
He sighed and rubbed his head. “What did you do today?”
“Nothing.”
“Did you check out a few beaches? I told Tom he’s at your disposal. If you want to visit Pearl Harbor or Dole Plantation or any interesting places, just let me know. He’ll drive you anywhere.”
She mumbled something, but Everett couldn’t catch it.
Dammit. He thought she’d love being in Hawaii for break.
The city was a desolate hotbox in the summer, and all her friends were gone on vacation.
When the opportunity to lead the team for his company’s newest luxury hotel arose, Everett grabbed it.
He didn’t know what was wrong with Kelsey lately, or why their relationship was slowly disintegrating.
He figured a change was what they both needed, but it’d been two weeks and she was just as miserable here.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Annotating.”
“School stuff?”
Her sigh was pure suffering. “No, Dad. My romance novels. I go through and make notes, mark and highlight passages, all sorts of stuff.”
Everett hesitated. “Are romance novels appropriate at your age?”
There it was. The eye roll. Should he discipline her?
Snap back about manners? But did he have a right?
He’d been MIA for a while, caught up in the stress of getting a luxury resort ready for opening.
There were a million tasks to organize and all eyes were on him.
If he did it right, it meant he got to choose his next assignment, and he had his eye on the prize—a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with one of the best designers and brand names in the world.
It’d be one of the jewels in his company’s crown of luxury hotels, and his name would finally be recognized.
All he had to do was prove himself and he’d get the job.
And now that Kelsey had been accepted to the exclusive private school every kid dreamed of?
She was pretty much guaranteed to get into an Ivy League college.
This summer was simply about keeping the foundation strong, then moving into the best part of their lives.
Since Kelsey’s mom took off when she was just a toddler, Everett knew he couldn’t afford to make many mistakes.
Growing up without a mother was hard enough.
He’d sworn to do whatever was necessary to guarantee his daughter had a good life.
Everything he’d been working hard for was suddenly right there. He wouldn’t fumble the ball this late in the game. Not this time.
He refused to fail either of them.
Everett tapped the doorway to get her attention. “You haven’t tried the Mexican place down the road. Pick what you want and Tom will drop it off. Want to watch a show when I get home?”
“If you can stay up,” she muttered.
Yeah, he’d bailed the last time but not tonight. “I will. I’m ready to pick from Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah.”
She looked up with a tad of disgust. “Dad, the show ended a long time ago. Everyone knows which team won. I just like to watch it over. It’s comfort food.”
“Got it.”
A grunt. Then pure dismissal as she went back to work. Hopefully she wasn’t highlighting inappropriate scenes and getting ideas in her head about men. He’d heard the term used before. Age gap.
Hell, not on his watch.
Everett slowly walked away and reminded himself it was the age.
Puberty, right? He’d known it’d be rough.
He needed to be patient and give Kels more space.
It was probably good he was going out tonight.
She’d prefer filling her time with things she wanted to do.
She’d probably made friends already, even though she pretended she was miserable.
He’d leave, and Kelsey would Snapchat or TikTok or whatever. They’d bond when he returned.
His guilt assuaged, he headed to his room to shower and change.
These dinners were important for networking and keeping abreast on progress, but he was getting tired of the grind.
Opening a hotel in a new state wasn’t easy, but he’d do whatever was necessary.
His company was counting on him. Even if it meant sacrificing personal time with his daughter.
The future was the most important. He’d learned his lesson and didn’t need it repeated. The thought caused a flare of pain, though the wound was scarred over and crusty. He refused to give it any further power. Everett walked out the door and headed to his meeting.
When he got home, he sat down to watch TV with Kelsey but fell asleep on the couch before the opening credits.
In the morning, he told himself Kelsey didn’t care. He’d make it up to her later.