stop this.
I was always too fucking late.
So, I dismissed Dad’s comments, tucking them away with the other things that I didn’t want to think about.
Then I married Chelsea, entering into almost seven years of wedded misery.
I should have listened to my dad.
“Well, Chelsea’s mom is delusional, as is her daughter.” I drank my beer and watched my dad prepare the food.
“I figured as much. I told Delilah I knew my son, and when he’s had enough, there is no going back.”
My eyes widened. “You said that to Delilah Lemowitz, and you walked away intact? I’m impressed.”
He chuckled. “She did look as though she wanted to strangle me. I told her to have a lovely day and left her in the middle of the wine aisle at Whole Foods.”
I laughed. “Nicely done, Dad. I wished I could have seen her face.”
“It’s strange; her skin doesn’t seem to move. It’s like her face is frozen,” Dad mused, and I almost choked on my beer.
“It’s all the Botox,” I informed him.
Dad shook his head. “I’ll never tell you how to live your life, Adam, but I wouldn’t be able to keep quiet if you told me you were getting back together with Chelsea.”
“I would expect you to institutionalize me because I would have clearly lost my mind.” I clasped his shoulder, and he reached up to pat my hand.
I turned at the sound of Meg’s laugh. She sounded happy, or at least she put up a good front. I recalled her mom’s concerned whispers to my mother.
Was Meg unhappy?
And did it matter if she was?
Dad watched me from the corner of his eye. “It’s nice having her back.”
I didn’t say anything. There was nothing I could say. I wasn’t sure I agreed with his sentiment.
“I’m not sure what happened between you two, but I think it’s time to let bygones be bygones, don’t you think?” Dad made himself busy with the food. He was the kind of man generally uncomfortable with discussing feelings, so I appreciated the effort. Even if he was preaching to the wrong choir.
“I’m not the one you need to have this conversation with, Dad.”
“She’s a stubborn one. Just like her mother. And her father. David was always too headstrong for his own good. It seems they passed on that quality to their girls. Not that it’s always a bad thing. But pride is a lonely emotion,” Dad stated gruffly. He picked up the platter laden with raw meat. “Now come on and give me a hand with the grill.”
I followed Dad back outside.
He was right, bygones should be bygones. And he was also right about Meg being too prideful.
But so was I.
Meghan Galloway would need to learn a little about bending.
Chapter 7
Meghan
Being at Adam’s parents’ house proved to be a lesson in biting my tongue. I bit it so hard I nearly split it in half. I had purposefully not thought about seeing him. No good could come of obsessing over what I would say, how I would act.
I should have known it would be an epic fail on all fronts.
Adam Ducate was a thorn in my backside, always had been. His cluelessness had at one time been endearing. Now it was making me want to push him off something really, really tall.
Had I honestly come back home with the idea that I could avoid him? Did I really think I could exist in the same forty-mile radius and not run into him? It was obvious I was living in a delusional fantasy if I thought that were possible.
Stupid, stupid Meg.
And there was Adam looking beautiful in every possible way. The damn man had actually gotten better looking. How was that even possible? Shouldn’t there be some sort of plateau in hotness for men like Adam Ducate? It would level the playing field for the rest of us. He jump-started my hormones in every annoying way. My girlie bits tingled just looking at him. Why was it possible to despise him so totally but still want to strip him naked and touch every inch of him?
Ugh.
Dinner was a test of patience, unlike anything I had ever experienced. I wasn’t the kind to hold my peace; if I felt it, I said it. My quick mouth had gotten me into quite a bit of trouble over the years. Adam had to intervene on my behalf many times when I had lipped off to the wrong person.
Of course, his aw-shucks good ol’ boy charism had been the perfect antidote to my