Chapter 49

Ifelt hollow after he left. It was getting harder and harder to say goodbye. The apartment felt too quiet, in stark contrast to the lively chatter and laughter we got to enjoy at his mom's place. I touched my lips, missing him.

"Is Graham gone?" Sloane asked, coming out of her room in her pajamas.

"Yes," I replied softly.

"I really like him, Mom," she said. "You're right. He's really trying. It's nice."

I smiled softly, my heart swelling with pride. Graham had indeed made quite an impression on her, setting a great example. He had made a mistake but he owned up to it and had listened to his daughter.

I was so glad they were forming a close bond. "He cares about you a lot," I said.

Sloane hobbled to the fridge and pulled out some grapes. "I always wondered what it would be like to have a dad," she confessed. "And now that he's here, I wish he could live with us. If nothing else, we need a better couch."

I wanted to jump on the suggestion, but I had to play it cool. "I wouldn't hate that," I said nonchalantly.

"Why don't we just move in together?" she suggested. "Everyone has roommates these days. I mean, in this economy? It just makes sense."

I laughed and shot her an incredulous look. "You know we're rich, right? Money is pretty much the last reason for either of us to get a roommate."

"You're focusing on the wrong part, Mom. I'm just saying, we're already good friends with the man. It could make things easier for all of us. You've been cooking way more for a change, too, since he's been coming around."

"Okay, okay," I grumbled. "I might have gone a little takeout crazy for a while, but your grandfather had me working twelve hours a day. My job is much more reasonable now, and that's why I've been cooking."

Sloane nodded sarcastically, which I hadn't thought possible until I saw her do it. "Uh huh," she said. "I'm sure it has nothing to do with Graham. But hey, he wouldn't have to go home after all these dinners you're going to cook." She winked at me, the little jerk. "And we could see him more than once a week."

Despite the playful roasting from my daughter, the idea of living under the same roof as Graham appealed to me. I had thought about it a lot recently. As much as I wanted that, I didn't want her to know about us. Not yet.

Sloane didn't need to get her hopes up that Graham and I would get married and unite our broken family. Not until things were more certain between us. As deep as our feelings went, we had only been back in each other's lives briefly. Graham and I were still navigating this new relationship.

Today we felt rock solid, but tomorrow anything could happen. He could run away and leave me again without so much as a goodbye. I didn't believe Graham would do that to us but I hadn't believed it back then, either. He had still left.

Sloane had never asked me too many questions about what happened between us all those years ago. I preferred to keep it that way. It wasn't a time in my life I was interested in revisiting.

"We'll figure something out with your father, Sloane," I said. "We all need to ease into this."

Sloane nodded. "I get that, Mom, but the roommate thing is worth considering. I'm not seeing a downside."

The downside would be trying to control myself with him sleeping in my apartment every night, so close but impossible to touch. He'd have me walking around like a cat in heat.

"We should ask at least," she said when I didn't respond.

"Maybe," I hedged. Sloane was probably right. Graham deserved to weigh in on the decision. Having him around would be torture, but I wanted him here just as much as Sloane. Besides, my runaway sex drive shouldn't prevent my daughter from getting more time with her dad.

I was horny, not selfish.

"I'm going to text Todd," Sloane said.

"Well, he's definitely not moving in to be our roommate," I said, smiling at her.

She laughed. "No way. A girl needs her space."

"I knew I raised you right," I said, kissing her forehead. "Don't stay up too late, baby."

"I won't," she said, hobbling back to her room with her grapes.

Alone, I allowed myself to imagine Graham living with us. With me. No more nights spent alone on the couch for him, I mused, a faint smile tugging at my lips. The thought of waking up next to him every morning, of sharing our lives together under one roof was a dream I was too afraid to give any real thought to.

Yet again, fear kept me from jumping into the unknown. The idea of him sleeping in the guest room was ridiculous. There was no way we would be able to stick to that. And what happened when she inevitably caught us? Even with our clothes on, we couldn't keep away from each other. It was only a matter of time before we got busted.

If he moved in, it would be as my boyfriend, not my baby daddy. And if the sky ended up falling and things didn't work out between us, it would wreck Sloane. I wouldn't be much better, but I had bounced back from bitter disappointment before. My daughter didn't need to have her hopes raised, just for us to dash them to pieces.

I felt terrible that I had to keep sending Graham away. The man had the patience of a saint. Personally, I was struggling not to pounce on him every time he walked into a room.

I went to the kitchen to pack a lunch for tomorrow. The day's agenda was jampacked. I wouldn't have time to grab something from downstairs.

I pulled out the ingredients I needed for a salad, and on a whim, I decided to make two. Graham would be just as busy as me. We could have a working lunch. It would be another chance to spend some time with him. I hoped we could both eat quickly enough to have time for dessert.

It was strange how life could take a turn. Six months ago, I had been working my ass off to get a promotion. I thought for sure I was impressing my father, and he would give me the job. Fast forward and I was madly in love with the boy who stole my heart when I was a teenager.

Living with Graham was something I'd yearned for when he and I were young, desperately in love, and hopelessly na?ve about what life had in store for us. We were two kids totally unprepared for the harsh realities of what was about to happen.

I remembered the hurt I felt when I realized he was gone and wasn't coming back. Even though I was hurt and angry, I never stopped wanting him. I always found myself circling back to dreams of a happy reunion. And when it happened, the magnetism that had drawn us together all those years ago was still there. It was stronger, more potent, and had matured like a fine wine, just like him.

As I chopped the vegetables for the salad, I allowed myself to ponder what our future might hold. Would we get married one day? Would our daughter be in our wedding? Would he get cold feet and run away again?

My thoughts were interrupted by the doorman buzzing the apartment. By the time I was able to answer it, there was a knock on the outer door. Confused and thinking it might be Graham, I stepped into the foyer and saw my dad step off the elevator.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"We need to talk."

"I don't think we do," I said calmly.

"Isadora, I am your father, and you will do what I say."

"I'm not your employee anymore." I faced him with a steely resolve, my jaw set in determination. "And I don't want to see you anymore. I thought I made that clear. And stop harassing Graham."

"I didn't harass him," he said with a scowl. "I simply made my feelings about him clear. Assertively."

"Then let me make my feelings clear," I said, straightening to my full height. "I'm not coming back to the company. I gave you more than enough chances to make things right. You refused to acknowledge all the hard work I did. You saw me as the daughter you gave a job to out of pity, like I'm just some nepo baby. I was really good at what I did but you refused to recognize it. Your disrespect set a terrible example. Those people looked at me like I was trash. They treated me the same way you did."

His face turned a deep shade of crimson, veins bulging out at his temples. "You are my daughter, and you will respect me," he spat out. But the icy anger in his voice didn't scare me. Not anymore.

"I am your daughter, yes, but that doesn't mean you get to control my life. You don't get to decide who I work for—or who I love."

He shook his head, utter disbelief on his face. "Is this about that boy, Graham? Isadora, he is just going to leave you again. Talk about disrespect? Maybe point the finger his way."

"Dad, if you want to be a part of my life, you need to accept that Graham is a big part of it," I told him. "He is Sloane's father, and they will have a relationship."

"I'm just looking out for you, Isadora," he insisted. "You don't know that man like you think you do."

I found that pretty funny, considering I had the man's baby. "You only know the kid he used to be. You don't know him like I know him. At least, I should hope not."

"Oh, I know him," he hissed. "I've known his type all my life. You've been protected from men like that."

"I'd rather be protected from men like you," I insisted.

He reeled back like I had slapped him. A look of smug cruelty soon replaced his shock. I just knew he was about to say something awful. "Ask him why he left you," he said with a smirk that made me sick. "Ask him what his price was to walk away from you."

"What?"

"You heard me. Ask your precious Graham how much you are worth. Ask him how much it took for him to abandon you."

The ground was yanked from beneath me. The implication of his words sent a chill snaking down my spine. My heart pounded in my chest.

"No," I finally managed to whisper, shaking my head in disbelief. "You're lying. You're just trying to drive us apart."

But even as I defended Graham, a seed of doubt had sprouted within me. I remembered his abrupt departure, the confusion and pain it brought, and I wondered if my father's venomous words had a grain of truth.

"Ask him," he said. "And then call me after he tells you. I'll still have your job waiting for you, if you ask nicely. I know you'll be back. Assuming he's man enough to tell you the truth."

I watched in stunned silence as he walked away, leaving me standing there alone. In the elevator, he turned to look at me with a coldness in his eyes that told me he wasn't lying.

As the elevator door closed behind him, I was left in the echoing silence of the foyer, his words still ringing in my ears. My hands were trembling as I reached for the door to let myself back in. Deep down, something told me this wasn't just some cruel trick.

I couldn't let Sloane see me like this. I quickly went to my bedroom and sat down, taking slow, deep breaths as I replayed every minute I could remember from the last time I had spoken to Graham before he left. And then I remembered my father's reaction when I was devastated to have been abandoned by Graham. He had seemed relieved.

I needed to talk to Graham, and I needed to do it now. I would know if he was telling me the truth if we were face to face. Taking a deep breath, I tried pulling myself together. When that didn't work, I went to the kitchen to pour myself a shot of tequila.

It burned my throat on the way down, distracting me from the pain in my heart. I walked to Sloane's bedroom door, knocked once, and pushed it open. She was lying in bed with the lights off and her phone in hand.

"Lights out, kiddo," I said.

"Fine, five minutes."

"Five minutes," I agreed, the shot already relaxing me.

I returned to my room with my phone in hand. My fingers hovered uncertainly over Graham's contact before I finally pressed the call icon.

I had just jumped without a parachute and I had no idea where I would land.