Lilac Lane (Chesapeake Shores #14)(33)

He shook his head at that, a smile tugging at his lips. “Good to know.”

And then he was gone.

A moment later, Luke came out of his office to join her. “Did you and Bryan work things out?”

“Nothing to work out,” she said.

“That’s not what the shouts from the kitchen earlier suggested.”

“I believe his day got off to a wobbly start. It was nothing to do with me.” She studied her son-in-law’s worried expression. “Don’t be fretting about this, Luke. Bryan and I will find a way to work together. Today was a good first step in that direction.”

“Thank you.”

“No need. I’ve had a good bit of experience dealing with obstinate men. One more will be no challenge.”

Though this one was showing signs of being far more complicated than those she’d dealt with in the past.





Chapter 8



Though it was Saturday morning, Ash was already up and dressed for a construction site when Deanna joined him at the kitchen table. She poured herself a cup of coffee and reached for a doughnut that was a familiar part of their Saturday ritual. Ash was always out of the house at dawn to bring home the fresh doughnuts from their favorite bakery. She and her mom had loved that sugary treat. She wondered if he still followed that routine when she wasn’t home or if this was his way of trying to create normalcy on a day that was anything but routine.

“Going to work on a Saturday?” she asked as she selected a still-warm doughnut with maple icing. “That’s new.”

Ash shrugged. “The house is just too empty without your mom,” he admitted. “For a long time after she died, I used Saturdays as a chance to catch up on all the work I’d missed. Now it’s become a welcome habit. I was already dressed for it this morning before I remembered that today isn’t the same. You’re home.”

He studied her intently. “How did you sleep last night? I hope my dropping the news about your father like that didn’t keep you awake. I’m sure it was upsetting to be hit with it out of the blue.”

“Amazingly, I slept better than I had in a while,” Deanna confessed. “I don’t know if it was being in my own bed and away from all the craziness that comes with studying for finals or if it was finally having some concrete piece of information about my father that I hadn’t even realized I wanted.”

“Have you made any decisions about seeing him?”

“Will it bother you if I decide to go to Chesapeake Shores?” she asked, watching him closely. She wasn’t entirely sure that she wasn’t looking for even the slightest excuse not to go.

Though Ash hesitated, in the end he shook his head. “I always thought this day would come eventually. If I were thinking only of myself, maybe I would have kept that information from you, but I knew how wrong that would be. That’s why I dragged you home so close to finals, to get it out in the open before I could change my mind. As hard as it is for me to believe sometimes, you’re an adult now. You have to make your own choices.”

“Even when I’m afraid the choice I make might hurt you?”

“Even then,” he told her gently. “Dee, I’ll be fine, whatever you decide. You and I have had years as father and daughter. You’ve been an incredible blessing. How could I possibly begrudge the man who gave you life the chance to get to know you? You exist because of your mother’s marriage to Bryan Laramie. That’s an inescapable fact.”

She took a sip of her coffee to buy time, then dared asking, “Did Mom ever tell you why she left him?”

“Not really. She just said things had been going wrong for a long time and she wanted to start over.”

She nodded. “That’s pretty much all she ever told me. Do you think things were really bad? Could he have been an awful person? Would it be a terrible mistake for me to even consider letting him into my life or even meeting him? Like you said, I’m an adult and I’ve had you, an amazing stepfather, for all these years. It’s not as if I need a dad. Maybe there’s no reason to rock the boat.”

Even as she said the words that could let her, let both of them, off the hook, she wasn’t sure what response she was hoping for.

“You read that article,” Ash reminded her. “The people the writer interviewed in Chesapeake Shores seem to regard your father very highly. Their comments were glowing about him, about the excellent menu he’s created at that pub and about the pub itself. Don’t you think he sounded like someone you might like to know?”

She thought about how everyone interviewed had spoken of Bryan Laramie—or at least his food—in such positive terms. “That’s what I thought, too.” She hesitated, then admitted, “It made me wonder if Mom really told me the whole story. He seemed to have a lot going for him in New York in the restaurant business. If that’s true, though, how did he end up in some little town in Maryland?” The pieces just didn’t seem to mesh. “We must be missing something.” She looked to her stepfather for guidance. “Don’t you think so?”

An odd expression flitted across Ash’s face. It almost looked like guilt. Deanna frowned. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

He was quiet for so long, she thought he might not answer, but then he set aside his coffee and leaned toward her. “There is something you need to know, something your mother and I kept from you. I’m just not sure I can find the words to explain.”