“No. Of course not.” She shook her head. “I just think you should be cautious because he’s your father. You’ve kept most people at a distance because you’re not emotionally invested in them the way you are with your parents. I worry that your father will use your love for him against you.”
For years he had thought that opening himself up to people was a liability. A vulnerability he couldn’t afford if he hoped to hold on to his company and his wealth. Other people had tested him. Coworkers, venture capitalists, past girlfriends. The only person who had managed to get through was Heather. What if his heart softening to her had made it easier for his father to get through to him?
He shook that thought away. No. After that last fight with his father, he never thought he’d have a chance to fix things. To start over. Now he was getting an unexpected second chance. He had to see this to the end. Wasting this opportunity wasn’t an option.
“What if someone had said the same thing about you?” he asked. “Like you said, it’s not like our reunion was completely honest.” Simon hated using her own words against her, but it was the truth. When he first interviewed her for a job a Dover she had totally lied about who she was. She had let him think she was a completely different person.
She went quiet, suddenly deep in thought. After several moments she said, “I guess you’ve got me there.”
“I’m not trying to use anything against you. Just try to be more understanding with my father,” he said. “Besides, you said you were going to give my father a chance. I hope you meant that.”
“I did mean it,” she said. “I just don’t want to see anyone take advantage of you.”
Even though she insisted that she was going to give his father a chance, it was obvious that she still had her doubts. Which stung far more than he’d expected.
“I appreciate that,” he said carefully. “I guess I got my father that hotel room because I was trying to impress him.”
“Simon, you’re one of the richest men in the world. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone.”
“I do. You weren’t there for that last fight my dad and I had,” he said. “It was bad. Some of the things we said to each other were terrible. Especially the things he said to m
e.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?” she asked.
He paused. “Honestly, you’d just hold it against him. It would be another reason for you to dislike him, and you have enough reasons already.”
“Okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Only, the way she said it made it sound like she was more hurt that she wanted to let on.
But he didn’t want to dredge up the past. Not right now. He didn’t want to give her ammunition against his father. At least, not until he got the chance to have a real conversation with him.
Simon took her hand. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
“And I don’t want to fight with you.”
“These past few days have been stressful for both of us.” With the father of her child taking off, and his own father suddenly showing up, Heather was probably not in the best place at the moment. What they both needed was some time to themselves. Time to recharge and spend some time alone together. “Why don’t we do something this weekend?”
“Just the two of us?” she asked.
“Yup. We can have the whole weekend to ourselves,” he replied. “I’ve got this incredible houseboat on a lake. You’ll love it.”
Her hazel eyes lit up. “That sounds wonderful.”
“I don’t know why I haven’t taken you there,” he said.
“Things have been so hectic around here lately,” she pointed out. “After our trip to Florida the custody trial took up so much time. Plus, we never got a vacation to ourselves.”
“There’s no problem if you want to bring Finn along,” he said. “There’s plenty of room.”
She smiled. “Thank you, but it really would be nice if it was just the two of us.”
“I can set up childcare if you need help with that,” he said. “Dover has some great people who can babysit for extended periods.”
“My parents would never forgive me if I didn’t at least ask them to watch Finn,” she said.
“I’ll arrange everything and we can head out early Friday. Taking a half day off wouldn’t hurt,” he said.
“Sounds great,” she said.