Bring It Home (Nashville Assassins Next Generation 3)

When I shank the ball to the left toward the cart path for the second time this morning, I try not to slam this stupid club into the ground. Instead, I turn to my future father-in-law with a bashful look on my face and confess, “I may suck at this.”

Shea laughs from where he is lounging in the golf cart. He’s entirely too big for it, but he somehow fits with one leg on the front and his coffee cup in his hand. “I wouldn’t say suck… You are super tense. Nervous. Am I making you nervous?”

I scoff. “No.” Fuck yes. The last time I was this close to him, he popped me one. “I’m fine.”

Great, now I sound like Ross Geller from Friends. I’m fine. Fine!

“Yeah, you’re totally fine.” He laughs as I start toward him. “Get in. We’ll drive a bit and drink some coffee. Maybe make them Irish, calm you a bit.”

“You are a great man, Shea Adler.” I get in, taking a thermos cup from him. He then fills mine before I add, “As your daughter tells me often.”

Shea beams. “Posey. Man, that’s my baby girl,” he says proudly before handing me a bottle of Jameson. I open the bottle with my teeth as he continues. “She’s always had a special place in my heart. I think it’s because she reminds me most of Elli. Both my girls are like their mother, but especially Posey. Headstrong, stubborn, gorgeous, and frustrating as all hell.”

“Yeah, Posey is all that,” I say, laughing before taking a sip of my now very strong coffee. “She is the most unconfident confident woman I have ever met.”

Shea grins. “At least she’s unconfidently confident. Elli was unconfident, and man, it drove me crazy.”

“Really? I would never imagine that from her.”

“Not now that she is loved right. But she went through some real issues with weight gain and then weight loss, her family was awful to her, and then she had this shit dude she almost married. She didn’t know how to love herself, and it took me loving her really hard for her to learn how to do the same. Since then, I’ve never looked back. Made it my mission to love her enough that she could do it for herself.”

“Wow,” I say, studying his profile. The love of Elli and Shea Adler is one for the movies, but listening to him speak of her, just him and me, it’s amazing. Do I look like this when I talk about Posey? I want to love Posey enough that she loves herself even more than I do. She deserves it. She’s stunning!

“With Shelli, it was different. She knew what she wanted and went for it. Aiden Brooks. Did I want them together? Nope. As you know, Aiden didn’t have a very good reputation before Shelli, and it worried me. But to my surprise, he is perfect for her. Shit, anyone who can handle her and her bridezilla ways is worthy of marrying her.”

I laugh loudly. “Man, that wedding is a shitshow.”

“And expensive. So fucking expensive,” he says, laughing with me. “I’m ready for it to be over.”

“I think we all are,” I say before sipping on my coffee. The air is warm against my face, but if Shea’s drinking coffee, I’ll drink coffee. “They’re really good together, though. I watched that happen. They’re solid.”

“I know,” he agrees. “He loves her more than I ever thought he could, and it’s nice to see her in love and happy with the man she always wanted.”

“Yeah. They say it takes the right man to help a woman grow.”

He nods. “I like that.”

“My mom used to say that.” I swallow hard around the lump in my throat.

My mom taught me so much about love. How to love a woman, how to treat them and make them feel worthy. She raised me to be a man who could be a good husband, which is why I don’t understand why she is having issues with Posey and me. I ignored all my mom’s texts and her voice mails. Wes told me she was pretty upset, but even he told her she couldn’t be acting like that. He told her Posey was it for me, and I appreciate that. That’s what I need, support, but Mom doesn’t know how to do that. The thing is, if she had a good reason—Posey was cheating, or she stole my money or something—it would be different. That’s not even close to the issue. She doesn’t like Posey because she has money.

What the ever-loving fuck?

“Speaking of your mom—”

I hold my breath, the cup at my lips as I wait for him to ask me the question I really don’t want him to ask.

“What happened with her yesterday? You seemed pretty upset.”

I blow out a breath as I lower my cup. I stare at the black liquid as it sloshes a bit from the bumps on the cart path. “Can I ask you something?”