My hand tensed on the door. His comment beyond annoying and not a little out of line, I was unable to think of what to say.

Then I thought of what to say. “I’m not Elsbeth. Not even a little bit.”

He leaned back, I heard him pull in a deep breath and his voice was less severe when he stated, “I’m his father. I’m going to want the best for him.”

“And I’m the woman who loves him. I’m obviously going to want the same. But, no offense, what I don’t want is his dad intimating that is not me. I understand you love him and want to protect him. But I made a mistake. It annoyed Jacob. It upset you. You were both entitled to those reactions because it was a big mistake. But now it’s over. Can I ask that tomorrow, when we wake up, we start over?”

He studied me through the dark a long moment before he agreed, “I can do that, Emme.”

“I’d be grateful, Rich.”

“Now, just to say, I just came on strong and Deck’s right, I’m nosy, especially when what I’m nosin’ around matters. But we just made a deal. I don’t go back on what I say, so even though we had these words, tomorrow, as I said, we’re startin’ over. So I want you to sleep easy.”

Like that would happen.

“Buford’s good at keeping me company,” I assured him on a fib. He was, just not when he was sleeping. “I’ll be fine. But thank you for saying that anyway.”

He held my eyes, nodded and murmured, “ ’Night, darlin’. Tomorrow will be a better day.”

“Thanks, Rich, I’m sure it will. And good night.”

He hesitated before he moved away.

I shut the door and moved to the bed.

As I settled in bed, Buford woke up long enough to roll to his other side, stretch out and start snoring again.

Back to the door, eyes open, I went over the day. And again. And repeat.

It made me all kinds of uneasy.

There were obvious reasons why.

And there were some that were not obvious.

Therefore, I stayed awake for a long time, turning it over in my head, trying to relieve the unease.

But I fell asleep before I could.

Luckily, I did it before Jacob joined me.

Chapter Fourteen

Game Changer

One week later…

I sat in the salon chair, hair in foils, celebrity gossip magazine forgotten in my hand, eyes on my face in the mirror.

This is a game changer, Emme.

Jacob’s words from last night assaulted my brain and I closed my eyes.

A game changer, Emme.

I opened my eyes and jumped when I felt a light touch on my shoulder.

I tipped my head back and looked at Dominic, stylist to practically anyone who lived in the county who had the money and good taste to go to him. He owned Carnal Spa. It wasn’t too far from Gnaw Bone but even if it was five hours, every six weeks I’d make the trip in order to have him give me a cut and highlight. He was that good.

“You okay, girlie?” he asked, his gaze moving over my face.

“Fine, Dom,” I assured on a complete and utter lie. “Just have a lot to do this weekend and prioritizing it in my head.” This was another lie.

Dom knew it, I could tell. But Dominic was a g*y man who spent his days around women and their problems, so with one look at my face he knew better than to push it.

He smiled, lifted his hands to my hair, checked a foil and murmured, “Five more minutes, darling.”

Then he wandered away.

I looked to the back of the spa where Dom had a couple of rooms where they did massages and facials and stuff. I knew Lexie was back there with a client. I’d seen her earlier. She’d also seen me. We’d gabbed for a bit between her clients then she’d disappeared.

I wished she’d had a free half hour. At a time like this, a girl needed a member of her girl posse. I’d never had that kind of time and I still knew this was that kind of time.

Definitely.

A game changer, Emme.

As his words filled my head, his face filled my vision. Surprise there, also disappointment, wariness and maybe even pain.

I never wanted to give Jacob pain.

I looked back to myself in the mirror, my hair out to there with silver sticking out all over. I looked ridiculous. But I knew it was worth it because the results would be astounding.

Why, when for years I didn’t give a crap about my hair, did I care about the results being astounding?

What was going on with me?

Having pushed it down all night and all morning, suddenly unable to fight it, I let it wash over me.

The last week had been good. Jacob and I had our messy discussion and got back on track.

It started on Sunday with his dad proving what he promised. To him, a deal was a deal. He did not act like an ass. He was friendly. He was funny. It was awesome.

However, Jacob was right, his pancakes sucked.

That said, things had turned so far to the light side, at Rich’s request, when I hesitantly shared this honest opinion, Rich laughed out loud for a long time.

Things got even better when we went to my house.

Karla wandered around with us during my tour trying to hide looking slightly aghast. Her wide eyes, hand lingering at her throat and hesitancy to touch anything meant she failed spectacularly at hiding it.

Rich had the exact opposite reaction. He loved my house and didn’t mind sharing. The tour, which usually took a while seeing as it was a big house, took three times as long because he was interested in everything I’d done, was doing and intended to do. He gave suggestions. He gave instructions. And as a retired electrician, he inspected the wiring I’d had laid and gave it his stamp of approval.

Better, by the end of the tour, I knew that stamp extended to me. Rich was a little surprised I’d taken on that kind of a project and it being so big, but it was clear he thought it was admirable.

And with me more relaxed and not stiff around them or Jacob, our natural affection with each other was something else Rich liked.

And he showed it.

So that was all good and a huge relief. The day was great. Jacob was right, both his parents were cool and the rest of the visit went well. I’d had to leave them to work on Monday and Tuesday but we’d had dinner together, I’d spent the night each night at Jacob’s and we’d had a fantastic time.

They’d left on Wednesday, and Jacob and I settled back into the good that had been us before I went wonky. I called him whenever. I picked up immediately when he phoned. And when I did, I couldn’t believe I stopped doing it. I liked connecting with him, even if it was just to discuss whether we’d go out for a meal or if we’d make something at one of our houses.