Here With You (A Laurel Heights Novel) - By Kate Perry Page 0,54

in early in the afternoon with her baby Parker. Rachel had no idea what to do with him at first—she'd never been around small kids—but he was so cute with his big bright eyes and gurgly laugh that she decided he was okay, even if he did drool on her.

Olivia had been super nice, too. She and Nicole even discussed letting Rachel work there for a couple hours two or three days a week. Rachel had wanted to throw herself in Olivia's arms. It was contingent on her getting her father's okay, which was really iffy at the moment, but maybe if she begged.

She walked home shortly before her last period would have let out, feeling weird. It took her a moment to realize the weird feeling was happiness. For the first time since her mom died she felt like she wanted to live. She inhaled the air, and it smelled like roses. In New York, the streets never smelled like roses.

Maybe San Francisco wasn't as bad as she originally thought. She thought of Aaron and the way he held her hand and nodded. San Francisco definitely had good things about it.

Smiling, she let herself into the house and went to the kitchen. "Hey, Iliana, I'm home."

Except instead of Iliana, her dad was waiting for her.

She stopped abruptly, her smile fading as she saw the expression on his face. If she thought he was angry the morning after she'd snuck out, it was nothing compared to how he looked now. His arms were crossed and his jaw was tight.

He knew she'd been cutting school.

Of course he did. She hadn't done anything to keep him from finding out except erasing the automated message the attendance office left on their answering machine. Her therapist in New York would have stated that Rachel wanted her dad to find out.

Her therapist might have been right.

Which meant Rachel was crazy, because no one in their right mind would want to deal with a parent who looked like he was about to explode. She swallowed thickly, wanting to run.

But Nicole would tell her she was stronger than that. Besides, it was all her fault anyway. So she took a deep breath and said, "Before you yell at me, can I just say something?"

He just stared at her.

"I'm sorry." She hunched, feeling the weight of everything on her shoulders, wanting to cry suddenly. But she sucked it up so she could finish. "I know I've been a brat and that you're totally justified in sending me to boarding school, but—"

"How do you know about the boarding school?" he asked, his brow furrowing.

"I accidentally saw it on your tablet." She looked at him imploringly. "The thing is, I know I deserve being sent away, but maybe we could think out of the box and, um, negotiate a settlement or something."

She thought she saw a flare of humor make his lips twitch, but she must have been wrong because he just gave her that angry stare. "The settlement is going to have to be big. You've really screwed up, Rachel. I can't just let this go."

Sighing, she nodded mournfully. "I know."

"But I'm willing to accept some responsibility, too," he said, taking a seat at the table. "You were right. I haven't really been available, and I should have told you when I started dating Jennifer."

She sat across from him, mirroring his steepled hands, figuring this was how people posed when they conducted business. "You know the idea of you dating makes me want to puke, right?"

A ghost of a smile crossed his face. "You really have a way with words, Rach."

He hadn't called her Rach in longer than she could remember. Hearing it gave her hope. "Mom used to say that."

"Your mom thought you were a gifted writer."

"I miss her," she said, lowering her head to hide the sudden tears in her eyes. When her dad's hand covered hers, a drop escaped.

"I miss her, too, sweetheart," he said softly. "I'll always miss her. But she wouldn't have liked it if we lived in a bubble, sad for all eternity. She'd have kicked our butts."

Rachel smiled a little. "I guess."

"No, she definitely would have." He exhaled. "Like she would have if she found out I was even thinking of sending you away, which wasn't a serious consideration, but you've been on a self-destructive path and I didn't know how else to keep you from messing up the rest of your life."

"You weren't sending me away so you could be with