Page 83 of When You Blush

I lift an eyebrow at Greg, who’s actually blushing. “An older woman?”

“Only by two years,” he reminds me. “She’s a nice woman, and I’m taking her bowling this weekend.”

I blink at him. I don’t know how I feel about this. Greg never dated when we were kids.

At least, I don’tthinkhe did.

“Wait. How often do you date, Greg? Is this something you’ve always hidden from us?”

He shakes his head. “No. I’ve been busy raising you troublemakers and running the ranch. Now my babies are grown, and my boy is taking care of the business. I have time.”

All five of us exchange glances, and Easton pats Greg on the back. “It’s time you did something for yourself, Pops. Just be safe. We don’t want any unplanned siblings.”

“Oh my God!” Ava and I exclaim at the same time, making all of the boys laugh.

We settle into our normal routine of working together to make dinner and telling each other stories from work, from life.

This is home. This is what I missed for all those years I was away.

Greg walks over and sits in one of the chairs at the table, and I join him, sitting next to him. He reaches over and brushes his hand over my hair, the way he’s done since I was a little girl.

“I’ve missed you, pumpkin.”

I swear, this man willalwayscall me pumpkin.

“Me too. How are you feeling?”

“Fit as a fiddle.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Tell me the truth.”

“Iamfeeling better. The medicine helps, and I’m watching what I eat. I don’t want you to beat me up.”

I grin and lean over to give him a hug.

“You’re mydad. You’re important to me, and I need you to stick around for about forty more years.”

“Only forty?”

I snort. “Maybe fifty. So you have to take care of yourself because I can’t do this life without you in it.”

He smiles softly and taps his fingers on the table. “I’m going to be here for a long while yet. Don’t you worry. Now, I hear you’re seeing a doctor.”

My eyes jump across the room to where Ava’s talking with Tucker, but Greg shakes his head.

“Xander mentioned it the other day.”

“He’s such a tattletale.”

Greg chuckles. “He better be nice to you.”

“Xander’s a pain in my ass, but for the mostpart, he’s fine.”

Greg shakes his head. “The doctor, not your brother.”

“He’s nice to me.” I squirm, feeling weird about talking with him about this. “He’s a good person. An excellent doctor. Comes from a good family.”

He nods, watching me. This man sees so much. It was why I didn’t come home when things were so bad with Nathan.