He crossed his arms and glared at Kane. Even without my glasses, I felt the heat from his stare and his menacing pose, made even more so by the fact he was in a business suit.
“Looks like I arrived in the nick of time,” he spat out.
“For what?” I questioned.
Auggie ran a hand through his hair. “Scarlett,” he sighed. “I think it’s time to say goodbye to Kane.” That sounded like a permanent suggestion.
“I don’t think so.” I threw a hand over my mouth. I wasn’t used to talking back to my father, but I wasn’t a child.
Auggie spluttered, at a loss for words. I imagined if I could see him up close, his face was probably bright red, ready to explode.
Kane looked between my father and me. He sweetly brushed my lips once with his. “I’m going to go. I’ll call you later.”
“But—”
He pressed a finger to my lips. “It’s okay . . . this time.”
Auggie gave Kane one more withering glare before saying, “I’ll meet you inside, Scarlett.”
Kane led me to the steps and helped me out of the water. I was so embarrassed by Auggie’s behavior, I forgot to be embarrassed by my less than perfect body. Kane went directly to the towel valet and grabbed two fluffy white towels—one for him and one for me.
Numbly, I wrapped myself in the towel, not knowing what else to say other than, “I’m so sorry.”
Kane wrapped a towel around his waist, covering up his Hawaiian swim trunks, which were clinging to his godlike body. His red splotched skin indicated he wasn’t happy about the turn of events. “Scarlett, it’s not your fault. Your father,” he growled, “is right to be worried.”
“Why?”
“Because, unlike you, I’m not innocent. And Augustus isn’t naive.”
“But I am.” I guessed that’s where this was going.
Kane stepped closer to me and ran a finger down my cheek. “It’s one of your finer qualities.”
“I’m not a child,” I said in hushed tones.
“No, you’re not. You’re a beautiful woman. And if you were anyone else, this would be a much different relationship.”
My eyes widened, thinking of the possibilities. Was he thinking like Facebook official?
“Don’t worry, darlin’, I have no plans on giving you that option right now.”
“What option?”
He chuckled and kissed my head. “The fact that you have to ask says it all.”
“Oh,” I eeked out way too high pitched. How did I miss that? Probably because no one in the history of the world had ever thought of doing, well, you know, with me.
Kane grinned. “Oh, is right. I think it’s time for me to go.” He pressed a kiss to my lips. “We will do this again. Soon.”
I bit my lip. “Promise?”
“You have my word.”
What if I wanted more than his word?
“Good night.” He turned to walk away.
“Kane.”
He turned back around.
“Does it bother you that I’m not ready for a different relationship yet?”
“Do you really have to ask?” He winked and walked off, leaving me feeling like I was floating on air. Until I remembered I had to face Auggie.
I took my time drying off before I put my cover-up back on. The entire walk in, I lamented that my father suddenly wanted to be all paternal. It didn’t help when I entered the sunroom and could hear Eva scolding Kane.
“My honeymoon got cut short because of you,” her shrill voice echoed through the house that was only halfway furnished now. “What are you thinking dating Augustus’s daughter? You’re practically related. And, well, she’s—”
“Be very careful how you finish that sentence,” Kane warned.
I stopped at the door before entering the main house and held my heart. She didn’t need to finish the sentence; I knew how Eva perceived me. It was the same way most of the world did.
“She’s not your type,” she finished. Translation: she’s not beautiful like you.
“You’re right. She’s too good for me. Good night, mother.” Kane slammed the front door.
I leaned against the doorframe, trying to reconcile who I was. Was I the woman Kane saw or the girl his momma disliked? My heart ached to be the former, especially when I had seen glimpses of her. Regardless of who I really was, I knew for sure I was Auggie’s daughter and he probably wasn’t happy I had kept him waiting. Truthfully, I didn’t really care, as I wasn’t happy with him at the moment. I wasn’t sure I was ever truly happy with him. Happiness didn’t seem to be high on the priority list in our family. I wanted that to change. These last two weeks had been amazing. For the first time, I was truly happy.
Instinctively, I knew Auggie would be in the library. He always went there when he was upset. As if the pieces of Naomi left behind in this house would help soothe him. Unfortunately, while I tiptoed in his direction, Eva and I crossed paths. She was wearing a white sundress that showed off the tan she’d gotten in Bora-Bora. Her caramel chocolate eyes, that looked just like her son’s, didn’t invoke any warm and fuzzy feelings. Instead, they were cold like frozen hot chocolate.
Eva looked me over from head to toe, shaking her head as she went.
I felt her scrutiny in the pit of my stomach where my insecurities were bubbling up. I was doing my best to stave off the nausea it was causing.
When she was done, she marched off like a soldier to war.
Thankfully, I didn’t feel like her prisoner of war. In fact, I so badly wanted to say something to her. Perhaps even tell her off, though I had no idea how to do that. I’d never told anyone off. Maybe there was a YouTube video about that.
I shuffled the rest of the way toward the library through the maze of scaffolding. The walls were looking a tad pinkish. I wondered what Auggie would think of that. If only I knew how my father truly felt. Sometimes I wondered if he had any real feelings.
Auggie was pacing the hardwood floors when I approached the glass-paned french doors. I took a moment to watch him as he ran his hands through his hair. He crossed back and forth in front of the black built-in cases that lined almost the entire room, only pausing when he came to the section of books dedicated to the classics. Those were some of Naomi’s favorites. Everything from Shakespeare to Austen and Melville to Fitzgerald. There were first-edition copies of several of them—all gifts from Auggie to Naomi. I’d asked her once why she hadn’t taken them with her when she’d left. She’d responded that she didn’t want the reminder. Apparently, my father had read to her late at night before they would go to bed. It was impossible for me to imagine Auggie being so romantic and thoughtful.
My father’s entire body seemed to sigh when he ran his finger along the prized books. Whatever his emotion, he shook it off quickly and went back to pacing until he caught sight of me. He stopped in his tracks and took a moment to gaze at me, confused. I wasn’t sure I had ever seen him so unsure.
I swallowed hard and opened the door to let myself in, closing it behind me so I had something to lean against. I twirled some strands of my wet and wild hair while Auggie composed himself. He threw himself into the paisley chintz chair closest to him and scrubbed a hand over his face.
“Scarlett, you are putting me in a hell of a position.”
“How?”
He hit me with his vacant hazel eyes. “Kane not only works for me, but you’re related.”
“We’re not related.” I held my ground.
Auggie exhaled loudly. “People won’t see it that way. And I don’t want to lose one of my best employees.”
“How about me?” my voice cracked.
He gripped the chair. “What are you implying?” His voice said to proceed with caution.
I was done being cautious. For once in my life, I had something worth fighting for—me. “All my life, I’ve done what everyone else has wanted. And the first time I do something I want, you’re trying to ruin it. Why?”
He took a momen
t and cleared his throat. “I’m trying to protect you,” he defended himself.
“From what? A man who has been nothing but wonderful to me?”
“Wonderful for now,” he scoffed. “Do you think this will last, Scarlett? You’re twenty-two years old. Your focus should be on other things.”
I looked up to the tray ceiling, trying to think of what to say. I wasn’t naive enough to think Kane and I were a forever thing. We had never even discussed being a couple or beyond the next few dates we had planned. But Auggie was right about one thing: I was twenty-two. With a brave deep breath in and out, I faced my father. “I’m an adult now, and honestly, who I date and what I do on those dates is none of your business. I can’t believe you interrupted us tonight. Worse, you asked Naomi to find out if I was sleeping with Kane. If you were that concerned, you should have asked me yourself. Better yet, maybe you should be the kind of father I could go to and tell you if I was having sex.”
Wow. Look at me, telling someone off. Except, maybe he was the wrong person to start with.
Auggie jumped up, and his tall frame seemed to fill the room. The look of shock and horror on his bright-red face didn’t help either.
I pushed back as far as I could against the door, but my eyes held firm on him, even if they were beginning to well with tears. Auggie couldn’t stand the show of emotion.
“Are you having sex?” he spluttered.
That was all he got from that. I rolled my eyes and sighed. “I’m going to my room.” I turned to leave.
“Scarlett,” he breathed out.
I gripped the doorknob, not facing him. The tears I had been holding back began to fall. “What?” I whispered.
“Don’t throw your life away for a man who will eventually leave and hurt you.”
“Are you speaking about yourself?” I threw open the door and ran out before he had time to respond. I ran across the house, through the kitchen, and up to my room. The entire way there, it was as if my life flashed before me. It struck me that maybe I was throwing my life away for the wrong man—Auggie.
Why give him my dreams when I knew in my heart he would be the one to hurt me the most?
My Girl
Five weeks. How was that possible? Kane and I had been dating for five whole weeks, and we had crossed five items off our list. World of Coca-Cola, indoor go-kart racing, the history center, the art museum, and a tasting tour at a local Tuscan winery. Kane was quite the wine connoisseur. Tonight, we were doing something not on our list, that Auggie had been adamant I attend. He’d never cared if I came to Armstrong Labs’ corporate sponsor night at the Braves game before. I’d almost declined, but Kane thought it was important that we go. He said it was like our coming out party. Not that everyone at the office didn’t already know we were dating, but we had been careful not to advertise it while at work. No need to poke the bear, as Kane would say.
The bear was my father, who had been acting odd ever since he’d returned from his honeymoon. He was driving me to work most days now, and we would sit in awkward silence for the twenty-minute drive. Once in a while, he would say something like, “Did you get your med school application turned in on time?” I would give one-word responses like, “Yes,” before going back to staring out the window. I think Auggie figured if I was with him, I couldn’t be having sex.
Maybe I should have put him out of his misery and told him I wasn’t sleeping with Kane, but honestly, it wasn’t any of his business. And I figured if we had a real relationship, he would already know the answer to that question, or it would be something I wanted to talk to him about. I mean, he was my father. But I needed a dad. There was a distinction. I needed someone who wanted to work on our relationship in truly meaningful ways. Ways that would have me spilling my guts to him. Did Auggie know how badly I wanted that kind of relationship? Did he want that? If so, he needed to do more than drive me to work.
Apparently, he wasn’t too pleased with Naomi, either, for keeping my secrets. If only he knew the secrets I kept. Secrets like how I was seriously contemplating forensic pathology, and how I thought I was falling in love with Kane. Possibly. It was hard to be sure, considering I had no experience. Was there a timeline that dictated when that should happen? I wasn’t even sure what we were. We didn’t have a label. What I did know was that I’d never felt like this before about any other human. And whatever it was, I wanted to keep it. I should talk to Naomi about this. I knew she would want me to. And, unlike with my father, I did want to spill my guts to her.
Regardless of my relationship with Auggie, I still found myself sitting between him and Kane at the ballpark that night. It was odd, as Auggie should have been in the suite Armstrong Labs had reserved for all the executives and their families. But Kane had said the only way to watch a game was from behind home plate, out where you could breathe in the smell of grass and hear the crack of the bat hitting the ball. Kane obviously loved baseball. Really, there wasn’t much Kane didn’t love. He had this incredible zest for life. It was contagious and I wanted to catch as much of it as I could. Anyway, what all that meant was Auggie had decided he needed to sit with us. It felt like he was babysitting. What did he think Kane and I would do in public?
Not to say Kane was shy about public displays of affection. He was all about the kissing, no matter where we were. I didn’t mind. At. All.
So, there we were, in the heat of a July night, surrounded by Auggie, Eva, and a hundred of our coworkers watching the Braves take on the Pirates. At least I think that’s who they were playing.
Kane looked beautiful in his khaki shorts and Braves T-shirt which showed off his godlike figure. I especially liked the baseball cap he was wearing backwards. But he wasn’t as relaxed as he typically was when we would go out together. I noticed his leg had a slight bounce to it and he kept stretching his neck from side to side. Our family and work situations were awkward, and it was on full display tonight. On the drive over, Kane maintained that he could keep his work and personal lives separate, and he was proud to be anywhere with me. Regardless, I knew our relationship, or whatever it was, had caused some tension between not only him and Auggie, but also Kane and his momma. She was worried that Kane was ruining her chances of beating the odds of becoming the last Mrs. Armstrong. And people thought I was naive.
Despite the awkwardness of it all, before the game started, Kane pulled out his phone and smiled at me. “We need a picture to post.” He’d been documenting all of our dates on Facebook. He tagged me in all the photos, which meant I’d had comments from people I had no idea I was even friends with. Their shock disguised as playful comments jumped off the page. Believe me, no one was more shocked than me. I was still wondering if the space-time continuum had malfunctioned and I was in some weird alternate reality where Kane’s brain was scrambled causing him to choose to spend all his free time with me despite his crazy work schedule. I swore Auggie was purposefully sending him on more business trips. In the last few weeks, Kane had to cancel on me a couple of times for emergency meetings back East. I wasn’t upset with Kane—I understood he was in the middle of trying to close the biggest deal of his career and Armstrong Labs’ existence. I was frustrated that Auggie kept sending Kane to in-person meetings for something that probably could have been dealt with during a conference call.
I knew the drill by now. I took off my glasses to prevent any glare and leaned into him.
Kane held out his phone in front of us and snapped a couple of shots. Then he pointed to his cheek. “Lay one on me right here.”
I knew what that meant now. Thankfully, Mindy had clued me in before I embarrassed myself even more around Kane. Mindy and her date, Reese, happened to be sitting behind us. In fact, most of my stepsiblings were here, scattered nearby with their dates. Good times.
I tried not to concentrate on all the weirdness. Instead, I focused on how happy I was to oblige Kane. My lips landed on his stubbled cheek as he captured the moment on his phone’s camera.
While Mindy oohed and a
ahed about it, Auggie cleared his throat. He did that a lot when Kane and I were together in his presence.
Kane ignored him and made his post. I read the caption as he typed. Nothing better than being at a ball game with my girl.
My girl? Did he really mean that?
He caught me reading his caption and smiled at me. “Is that okay?”
I nodded, speechless. It was more than okay. It was perfection. The only thing I could think to do was kiss him. Chastely, of course, given our audience. I pressed my lips against his for a stirring moment. No lips parting, just a, Please, feel how much you mean to me. I think he did, as he pressed harder and didn’t seem to want to move. I’m not sure we would have, except Mindy said way too loudly, “Knock it off already. Some of us came here to watch the game.”
We broke apart even though Kane looked entirely put out by it. I was, too, but couldn’t be upset—Kane had just declared I was his, and it was incomprehensibly exhilarating.
Kane settled for taking my hand, despite the humidity making it feel as if we were swimming in hot pea soup. I didn’t mind drowning in the heat with him.
Our little display of affection didn’t go unnoticed by Auggie. He glared at Kane’s and my clasped hands as if profits had plummeted at Armstrong Labs.
“Did you know the Braves’ nickname is the Bravos,” Auggie said out of the blue.
I squinted to make sure it was my father sitting next to me. Auggie never threw out random facts.
Auggie tugged at his starched collar. The CEO couldn’t even dress down for a game out in the blazing heat. To be fair, he’d thought he would be in a suite.
“I didn’t know that,” I replied into the uncomfortable atmosphere. Everyone was surprised by his odd behavior.
However, Lady Deathstrike, a.k.a Eva, laughed and swatted his arm. Her makeup was melting off her face, showing that she did indeed have wrinkles. She, too, had thought she’d be in an air-conditioned suite. But she was glued to Auggie like a fly to flypaper. Always touching him and looking at him adoringly. I could understand the need to be close to the person you loved, or thought you were falling in love with. There was something wonderful about each touch. But, sadly, I noticed that it was never my father who initiated the affection. He didn’t shun it, but it almost seemed mechanical for him. Almost as if he were afraid to put any real emotion into it.
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