Page 24 of Justified Fear

“I know you know.The problem is you have never accepted it.”

“I don’t know why she wants to stay here.”

Monica cocked her head as she stared at him.He knew that look well, and she was getting ready to call him on his bullshit.

“I love you.”

“I know.”

“But you don’t want to do this.You don’t want to insist on her coming back to Texas.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No.You will break your bond with her.”

“She will understand.”

“You know that my father didn’t want me to go to college in California and tried to stop me.”

He understood where this was going.His daughter could be tough, but she didn’t get that from him.Keely was her mother’s daughter.

“What happened?”

He sighed.“You didn’t talk for over two years.”

“Until he came to his senses.”

He nodded.

“It will always hurt because of those two lost years, but they were his choice.What do you think Keely will do?Do you think she will happily dance back to Texas and be happy?Even when she had the restaurant, she wasn’t happy.”

“That was Chad.”

He spat out the name.

“No.He had nothing to do with it.Well, he had a little to do with it, but most of it was that Keely didn’t thrive in Texas.You even said she seemed happier here.”

He glanced back out at his daughter.She was sitting with her feet in the pool now.

“I know.”

“And besides, when the end came with Chad, I think she realized he was a symptom.”

Tearing his gaze away from his daughter, he looked at Monica.“What do you mean?”

“She cried a little bit, but she got over him pretty easily.If she had been truly deep in love with him, she would have fallen apart.Not our girl.She used that contract to remove herself from the restaurant, then walked away.”

She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist.“If you’re worried, get one of the boys to come over here.”

“Okay.For now, I’ll back off.”

But if anything else happened, he would put his foot down.And that was that.

“Finally!”Charity said as Ryan, Kap, and Maya walked through the front door of TFH.“What took you so long?”

She was sitting in the conference area where they had desks in a U-shape in front of a massive screen.

“I just texted you that we were parking,” Kap said.