A Father's Name(52)
Tyler didn’t miss the emphasis on right. “She deserves nothing less.”
George Tucker stood quietly, studying him, nodding. “I came in to ask if you minded me taking Jace fishing again tomorrow.”
Angelina’s father was an enigma. He gave Tyler a job when no one else would, helped him out with Jace, but recently gave him looks that said he didn’t trust him. No, that wasn’t fair. George trusted him with everything but Angelina, and Tyler understood that.
“Fishing tomorrow is fine. His grandparents are arriving on Wednesday.”
“The visit will do them both good.” The older man turned to leave the room.
“Mr. Tucker,” Tyler called.
“Yes?”
“About trusting me with the books. I swear I’d never—”
“I know that, son.”
“How?” Tyler simply didn’t understand the entire family. Mr. Tucker might not welcome the thought of Tyler with his daughter, but other than that, he’d treated Tyler well and made him feel like part of the family.
Angelina’s father gave Tyler a look that made him think of Angelina. “How what?” he asked.
“How do you know that I’d never embezzle from you?”
“Listen, second chances are important in life and I’m also a good judge of character. I don’t know why you did what you did, but I believe, at heart, you’re an honest man. And I believe you care about my daughter too much to ever steal from her.”
Tyler felt humbled by George’s faith in him. “Thank you, sir, I—”
Before he could sort out how he felt, George Tucker added, “And I come in every now and again and check your work.”
Rather than feel insulted, Tyler grinned. “Good for you. Angelina should do the same.”
“My Angel, she likes to think she’s all tough. But between you and me, she follows her heart every time. But that’s okay because she’s got a lot of people watching out for her. Me, Bart and any of the boys in the shop would take a bullet for her. We’ve all got our eyes on you.”
“Fair enough. I’m glad to know someone’s looking out for her, because frankly, she’s too trusting.”
“Or, she’s simply an even better judge of character than her father. I’m still trying to decide. Until I do, like I said, we’ll all keep our eyes on you.” George Tucker started for the door, then added, “And Tyler, it’s not the business that has me worried the most.”
“It should be.”
“It’s not. If we lost everything and the garage folded, we’d be fine. But if my daughter gets hurt…you won’t be.” That warning delivered, George Tucker left the room.
Tyler felt relieved that his work had been double-checked. But he felt anything but relieved about Angelina and her heart because no matter that he couldn’t seem to give her up, he knew he was the wrong man for her.
She hadn’t realized it yet. Hopefully, soon, she would.
When she did, he’d let her go with her heart intact.
He knew his wouldn’t be.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“THE MATTHEWS WANT to see you,” Tyler said without preamble Friday morning.
Jace’s grandparents had arrived on Wednesday as planned and Tucker hadn’t seen Jace since.
It had been a crappy couple of days.
She should be whizzing through her work without having to care for Jace; instead, she was putzing along, missing him. It felt odd to come into the shop first thing in the morning and stare at her sketch pad, trying to come up with some cool new design for Pisano Wholefoods Restaurant’s delivery van. They’d asked for something they could reproduce as part of a new logo. She loved the idea of taking her work beyond vehicles and really wanted to nail this one. But she couldn’t come up with a single idea.
Nada.
Zilch.
She wadded up the piece of paper she’d basically been doodling on and uttered the most articulate response she could come up with to Tyler’s proclamation. “Huh?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Matthews would like to see you. They remember you from Jason’s funeral. I’ve told them about you—about how much you’ve done for Jace,” he clarified.
“Of course you told them about me and Jace.” Oh, she could hear that conversation—Tyler raving about his benevolent employer who put herself out for Jace’s benefit with no mention of what was going on between him and her.