“That’s okay, I’m not here to see you. I’m here for Drea.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Drea, please, just five minutes. Please,” he begged.
Drea looked over at Simone, who was standing half hidden behind a chair in her white silk robe. Simone shrugged as if to say “your choice.”
“Hear him out. If you don’t like what he has to say, you have my permission to tell him to fuck off.”
Chapter Thirty
Drea stood there for a moment, trying to decide what to do. She really wanted to tell him to fuck off now. She was pretty sure there was nothing he could say that would make any of this better. Looking over at Simone in her robe, with her hair and makeup all done for her wedding, her heart softened a little. She’d given Miller and Grayson a chance to say their piece; she figured it was only fair that she did the same for Vaughn.
“Fine,” she said, shrugging. “You wanna go hide in the bedroom?”
Simone nodded, coming out from behind the chair. “Just, go gentle on him. I would prefer he be in one piece for our wedding.”
She squeezed Drea’s hand lightly and went into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. When Drea heard the little lock click into place, she turned to her uncle who was still standing just inside the door with his hand covering his eyes.
“I guess you can come sit,” Drea finally said.
Vaughn removed his hand from his face and looked around the room, making sure they were alone. He crossed the room and picked the chair closest to the door to take a seat in. He motioned for her to sit too, but she hesitated. She didn’t want him to get the idea that they were just going to have a nice little chat, but she also didn’t want to be too hostile to him. It was his wedding day. She finally sat down in an armchair that was about as far from Vaughn as she could be while still being in the little sitting area of the suite.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but you’ve been avoiding me all week and I figured this was the best way to make sure you couldn’t escape,” he said, laughing lightly.
“I really don’t have anything to say to you.”
“That’s okay, because I have more than enough to say for both of us,” he paused. “I’m sorry, Drea. I am really fucking sorry, and I can’t get married today knowing that you are still not speaking to me. I can’t go through with the biggest day of my life knowing that my little girl hates me.”
“I’m not your little girl,” she corrected.
“You’re right, you’re not. Although I’m not sure how I feel knowing that is the part of my statement you feel the need to correct me on.”
“Hate is a pretty appropriate word right now.”
Vaughn flinched at her statement. “That’s fair. That’s more than fair. I deserve that. I acted like a first-rate asshole at breakfast the other day. There is no excuse for the way I acted. I could drone on about how it’s hard to admit that you’re all grown up and that you’re your own person now, and it is. It’s hard to accept that the itty-bitty baby who used to nap in my office, or the little girl who used to sing everywhere she went, including while in the bathroom, is an adult, making her own choices. But you are. And despite the fact that you were raised by three ba
chelors making it up as they went, you turned into one hell of an amazing young woman.”
“Thanks.”
“And I shouldn’t have been as taken aback about you and Kyle as I was that morning. I knew how you felt about him. Simone has droned on and on for what feels like forever about how cute the two of you are together. Not that any parent type wants to think about their kid that way. And Miller was right—anyone could see watching the two of you that there was something there, and really, we were rooting for you too. Maybe rooting is the wrong word. Well, my brothers were all about it—I was maybe a little less enthused. But, believe me, I do want you to be happy and to find your person. Would I have preferred he come to us prior to just sweeping you away, sure. But I also realize this isn’t eighteen fifty-two and no one needs permission to date you. I like Kyle, I do. He’s a great kid, Drea, and he’s a hard worker and I know that he wouldn’t set out to hurt you. He’s exactly the kind of guy you want to date your kid. That’s why I invited him to join us for our pre-bonfire rituals. He has become part of this family.”
“And yet you said exactly the opposite to us at breakfast.”
“I did. How did Simone put it? Oh, I ‘lost my shit.’ I became a fucking lunatic.”
“You weren’t very nice last week, either, before we went away for the weekend.”
“I know. I have no idea why the idea of you two taking a weekend for yourselves bothered me, but it did. It shouldn’t have—it’s not like it’s something you two haven’t done a dozen times before. But somehow, this time seemed different. Oddly enough, that seems to have been exactly what your Uncle Grayson was pushing for, but still, it struck a chord. I felt the need to protect you and so that’s what I tried to do.”
“You don’t need to protect me!” she exclaimed. “I am not a child! I’m twenty-six—I can take care of myself.”
“I know. I know,” he sighed. He paused for a moment before speaking again. “Your mom went into labor while your dad and I were meeting with the pool diggers. We were standing out there, watching them dig away when she waddled out saying she needed to talk to your dad. I told her ‘not now, we’re working.’ She just looked at me and goes ‘okay, then I’ll tell the baby now isn’t a good time. Should I check your calendar to find out when would be better?’ Sofia had no problem sticking it to any of us.” He laughed at the memory.
“Miller will wax on about how you were just perfect from the moment you showed up, and yes, you were cute as a baby. But you were just a baby to me. Until one day Sofia sticks her head in my office as I was trying to figure out this booking software that we had just bought. She was just going to leave you in there with me because you were sleeping and she wanted to go see the new stove be installed. She was gone just as quickly as she appeared. About an hour later there was the loudest noise that I’ve ever heard, still to this day. I went running, and it wasn’t until Grayson looked at Miller and me and went ‘where’s the baby?’ that I remembered you were on the floor in my office.”
He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees, hanging his head. “When I got back, you were still asleep. I picked you up, and there you were in my arms, so small and helpless, and I knew it was my job to protect you from then on.”
