Jeb nodded. “Your mother would give me pictures every now and then. When I came with a check she would give me one. I only have a few. I...wasn’t the best father figure and she had every right to hate me.”
Paisley crossed her legs and smoothed her dress down. “Why didn’t you get in touch with me in later years?”
“I was ashamed, embarrassed, afraid.” He shrugged and glanced out the window as if gathering his thoughts. “I’d say you were about fifteen when I really thought about approaching you, but then I figured you and Lynette were set in your ways. If she hadn’t told you about me, there was a reason. I couldn’t just come waltzing in and blow up the only world you knew. Then after she passed away...”
His focus came back to her. “I wasn’t sure you’d want anything to do with me. I had no clue what she ever told you about your father and I didn’t want to disrupt your life.”
He might have had a terrible excuse when she’d been young, but as time went on, Paisley fully believed he’d stayed away out of shame and fear.
“Maybe we could have a relationship now,” she suggested.
Jeb smiled, the gesture crinkling the corners of his eyes and enhancing the deep lines around his mouth.
“There’s nothing I’d like more,” he told her. “I hate that I’m sick, that we may not have years left. I’ve missed a lifetime.”
Paisley’s throat clogged with emotions, but she truly wanted to be strong for him. “Then we’ll have to cram in a lifetime of memories in the time we have.”
His smile widened. “Do you have dinner plans?”
Finally, hope spread through her. “I’m having dinner with my dad.”
Seventeen
Lucas stared at the computer screen, but the words kept blurring. He’d been focused on the same sentence for the past hour and he was getting absolutely nowhere.
His cases were not taking top priority like they always had. He couldn’t focus, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t function, because his entire world had blown up and he was wading through the bits and pieces trying to find his new normal.
And if this was it, he wasn’t going to make it.
The penthouse was too quiet, so he’d been staying in his office. But on his desk sat the mall photos they’d had done in the photo booth and he couldn’t stop staring at them.
He and Paisley looked so ridiculously happy—like the couple they’d once been.
Lucas pushed away from his desk and came to his feet. He shoved his hands in his pockets and glared down at the photo mocking him. This was what he could’ve had, this was what he’d thrown away all for the sake of revenge.
Now he was left with no revenge and no wife. Well, she was technically his wife until the divorce was finalized. He hadn’t heard from her attorney and she’d left his home four days ago.
Four damn days. The longest days of his life.
If he thought he’d been crushed and broken the first time she walked out, that was nothing compared to this time. Both occasions had not been her fault, but she’d been pushed out just the same. Both instances she’d trusted him, confided in him...loved him.
Lucas’s eyes started to burn and he blinked as he glanced away from the pictures. Apologizing didn’t seem to be enough. How could the words I’m sorry cover a multitude of sins?
But he couldn’t go on like this. He couldn’t go on without her or let her walk out of his life again, because he knew this time would be for good.
Lucas closed out the case he was reading on his computer and sent an email to one of his top guys to take over. The company wouldn’t suffer—he’d spent too long making a reputation for himself, but he couldn’t put himself on any job right now and give it his all.
The only job he wanted was that of husband to Paisley Ford. She hadn’t actually changed her name, but damn it, he liked the sound of it. He wanted to be married to her, for real, without any pretenses or lies. He wanted to build that life they’d dreamed of so long ago. He wanted kids with her, not just because he wanted a child to pass his legacy to, but because he wanted children with the woman he loved more than the world.