Page 124 of The Heartbreaker

“You need to hear them. They’re important.”

She held my gaze for a handful of seconds and then leaned back into the couch, slipped out of her shoes, and crossed her legs in front of her. “Don’t make me regret this decision.”

I unraveled the story, starting when Addison and I had met at the strip club during Brady and Lily’s joint party and how things had gone down that night between us. Hell, I knew Addison’s stripping wasn’t my information to tell. Addison should really be the one saying this to Jana. But I also knew that Jana had a relationship with my friends and family, and if she mentioned something to them about my girlfriend, there was a chance she could find out anyway.

She was going to hear it from me before that happened.

Once I explained this, along with Addison’s motivation to strip and why she no longer worked there, I went on to tell her how I was shocked as hell to find out she was Daisy’s teacher—something I’d learned when I followed our daughter to her classroom on the first day of school. I told her that I was the one who had pursued a relationship, how Addison had fought against it for many reasons, and how I’d fallen for her first.

Jana said nothing as I spoke.

She didn’t even move.

Only when I finished did I take a drink, holding the vodka in my mouth, assessing what I was about to face.

She held her knees and said with just enough force, “You should have told me.”

There they were—the words I’d anticipated hearing.

I slowly shook my head. “Why?”

“Because she’s our daughter’s teacher … and a former stripper.”

“Don’t tell me the stripper part bothers you. She was a woman trying to earn money to do something nice for her family since all they’d ever done was sacrifice for her and she wanted to give back. She also wanted to get some of her student loans for her undergraduate and master’s degrees paid down. Given that you gave your own parents a gift, Jana, I’d be shocked to hear you have a problem with what Addison did.” I deepened my stare, recalling the moment during our relationship that was so similar to Addison’s situation. I adjusted my position and continued, “Do you remember how hard you worked for that down payment for their house? You wouldn’t take money from me, you wanted to earn it on your own. So, you took job after job to give them that. But you have that option with your job; you can take on all the gigs you want. Addison is on a teacher’s salary, she can’t make more than she’s already making, so she found a second job.” I dragged my fingers through my wethair. “It’s not what she wanted, but earning that kind of money quickly—we both know there aren’t many options to do that.”

She sighed. “It still wouldn’t have been my choice, but you’re right, Ridge, I didn’t mean to sound judgy, and I can look past that. Her role as Daisy’s teacher, however, affects everything?—”

“What does it affect? You’ve said multiple times to me how well Daisy is doing in school. How she’s advancing and how much improvement you’re seeing. How her reading and comprehension are getting so much stronger.”

“Will I be able to say the same if you two break up?”

“That’s not happening.”

“And if it does?”

“We’ll cross that bridge, if it does, which it won’t.”

A promise I really couldn’t make, but one I felt in my heart.

In all these years, my heart had never lied. It had never sent me in a direction it shouldn’t—not with Jana, and it wouldn’t with Addison either.

“What about when Daisy isn’t at school?” she said. “Don’t you think it’ll be confusing to her when her teacher is spending quality time with her at her dad’s house? And how is Addison going to play both roles? Dad’s cool girlfriend while disciplining her in the classroom? And do you think our daughter is going to understand the difference between those roles and respect them?”

“Jana—”

“This is a lot, Ridge. It was a lot to walk in on. It was a lot to have Daisy see.” She tilted her neck and looked up at the ceiling again. “It’s a lot to process since, up until tonight, I was satisfied with the way she’s been teaching my kid.” She looked at me again. “And, now, I don’t know what the hell to think.”

“Given Addison’s relationship to our family, I understand what that must have been like for you. Certainly a shock, I’m sure. And it wasn’t the proudest moment I’ve had in front of mydaughter, but it also wasn’t the first time something like that has happened.” I watched the recognition come across her face, remembering when a similar situation had gone down when we moved Daisy into a toddler bed and she decided to visit our room in the middle of the night. “The bottom line is, I’m human. We’re both human. Human things happen, and they did this evening. And I think Daisy was too sleepy to really understand what she was looking at.”

She pulled one of the pillows against her chest. “That doesn’t change the fact that she’s Daisy’s teacher.”

“She’s a professional, Jana, who’s as focused on our daughter as she is on me. Daisy’s best interests are all that matter to Addison.” I softened my voice even more as I said, “You need to trust that Addison will figure out how to balance these roles and?—”

“You want me to trust someone I don’t know? Who isn’t even related to our child? Because she’s your girlfriend? Come on, Ridge. I can’t even believe you have the nerve to say that to me.”

Mama Bear was still out, but I knew how to handle this side of her.

“Do you trust me, Jana?”