Island Affair (Keys to Love #1) - Priscilla Oliveras Page 0,29
thumb continued worrying his ring—“I knew I had failed you. In the previous years, in that moment. And since.”
“Dad, no.”
Aching at the sight of the pain rounding his proud shoulders, Sara covered his hands with one of hers. She curled her fingers around his palm tightly.
Her father’s blue-green eyes glistened, the crow’s-feet at their edges deepening with his grimace. “I know this will always be a struggle for you and I could be, should be, doing more. Your mother’s sickness . . . it overwhelmed me in a way I never expected. And . . . and I haven’t been there for you. Helping you find your way to recovery. Making sure you stay healthy. Mentally and physically.”
“I’m a big girl, Dad. As much as you might still think of me as your little Sar-bear who climbed on your lap to snuggle when you finally made it home after long shifts at the hospital. Or the sorority girl who knew something was wrong but was too afraid to verbalize it until Mamá Alicia confronted me.”
His eyes squeezed shut as if he sought to block out the past. Sara wrapped her other arm around him, willing him to feel her love. Her newly found strength.
“I’m not any of those anymore. I mean, I won’t lie, you’re right, it hasn’t been easy. And it was really hard when Mamá Alicia died, then Mom’s diagnosis hit us all. But I work at it every day. My therapist helps. As do the tools I’ve learned. I’m okay, dad. I’m gonna stay okay.”
The vow was an affirmation to herself, as well as him.
“And Luis, he’s good for you?” Her dad gazed down at her, hope mingling with a father’s conviction. “He supports and cares for you, like you deserve?”
The question pierced her chest with a poison dart that sent guilt burning through her. Unable to look her dad in the face, she pressed her cheek against his shoulder.
“Luis is a good man,” she told him, certain it was the truth. “Right now, what we have works for me. That’s what I’m focusing on.”
Her dad was silent for a few moments. Then he pressed a kiss to the top of her head like he’d done when she was a child. Her heart warmed.
“Okay then,” he murmured. “If you’re happy, then I’m happy.”
Content in this rare father-daughter moment, Sara sincerely believed that Ric Montez showing his true colors today by standing her up had been an act of divine intervention.
In the end, she’d swapped one ruse for another but come out for the better.
With Ric, she’d been kidding herself. On paper, they may have seemed like a match. But other than their desire to do well in their careers and traveling in the same social networking circles in Miami, they had very little in common on a personal level. She would have spent the next week pretending his braggadocious manner wasn’t a drag. That the self-confidence that had appealed to her in the beginning stages of their long-distance relationship hadn’t mutated into an egotistical arrogance that often rubbed her wrong.
And yet the guy could schmooze like the best of them. The skill served him well in commercial development. No doubt he would have been at his most masterful with her parents and siblings, maneuvering conversations to his benefit while bowling them over. In truth, though, she found being around him for too long draining.
On the other hand, there was no pretending about wanting to spend time with Luis.
This afternoon, hanging out at the beach, trading serious and silly questions, laughing with each other, being herself. No watchful eyes assessing her. The kiss that hadn’t been anything more than the whisper of his lips against hers, but had still made her pulse race and her insides quiver with anticipation.
Only, taking things further with him could prove disastrous.
Luis was here as a favor. Seven days from now she’d fly back to New York, nose to the grindstone, determined to close the deal with Foster Designs. Bringing her one step closer to collaborating on a new line of clothing with her own brand. One step closer to finally making her mother, her entire family, proud of her accomplishments. Gaining their confidence that she could indeed take care of herself.
When this was all over, at best she and Luis might wind up as friends who stay in touch. Maybe reconnect should their paths cross. She hoped so anyway. But allowing herself to fall for her own charade would be foolish.