Forever Too Far (Rosemary Beach #3)(7)

“I’ll go with you,” Rush replied.

“No you will stay here with your dad. Y’all could go play a round of golf or something. I can pick up what we need by myself. Besides, I think Bethy wants to tag along. She’s making the corn casserole and pumpkin pie for tomorrow.”

“I refuse to f**king golf. But spending the day catching up sounds good. We could go over to Destin and catch the new Bond movie. I’ve been wanting to see it. I’ll even take you to lunch.”

I could tell by the look on Rush’s face that didn’t want to go and I knew it was only because he hated to get that far away from me. I reached over and squeezed his hand tightly. “That sounds like fun. Y’all go do that and I’ll have time to spend with Bethy.”

Rush nodded but I could tell he hadn’t wanted to give in.

I took a bite of my eggs and smiled over at Dean. “These are so good. Thank you.”

He beamed at me. I was glad he was here. This holiday we wouldn’t be completely without our parents.

“Please, Blaire. I am begging you, please.” Bethy stood in front of me bouncing on her toes with her hands folded in front of her like she praying. The pleading look in her eyes almost made me laugh.

“Didn’t you grow up here? How is it that you’ve never met Dean before now?” I asked as I took a grocery bag out of the back of the Range Rover.

“I’m the poor folks. You know that! I work for the rich; I don’t socialize with them. Come on, I know I’ll see him tomorrow but I want to meet him now. While Jace isn’t here to see me swoon.”

I made a gagging noise. “He’s too old to swoon over. Gross!”

“You are kidding me, right? Dean Finlay’s last girlfriend was like twenty-one. Someone like him never gets too old to swoon over.”

I disagreed. Dean was close to fifty years old. He had to be. Why was he dating someone younger than his son? That was disgusting. “You planning on leaving Jace to become a notch on Dean’s bed post?” I teased and headed for the front door of the beach house.

“Of course not. I just wanna,” she stopped and grabbed a bag then scrambled up the steps behind me. “I just wanna meet him. See those eyes and breathe the same air.”

This time I did laugh. I couldn’t help it. She was cracking me up. “He’s a normal guy. He’s also Rush’s dad and I doubt Rush will want you coming into the house acting like a complete and total fangirl. So you need to get it together before Thanksgiving dinner. It’s not a place for you to be swooning over my future father-in-law.”

“That is just crazy. You know that, right? Just flipping crazy! Having Dean f**king Finlay as your father-in-law. Women around the world want to f**k the man. You’re gonna be his family.”

I cringed and unlocked the door to the house. Sometimes Bethy could be too much. This was one of those times. “Let’s unload the groceries and talk about tomorrow’s menu. Then I can tell you all about how I’m leaving this weekend to head to LA with Rush and his father. Nan is causing problems with Kiro.”

Bethy hurried inside after me. “You’re leaving? This weekend? You can’t leave me! Not even for Dean! No!”

At least I had her mind off of humping Dean. I put my bag down on the counter and turned to look at her. “Rush needs to go and so I’m going with him. Besides, if I don’t go, I don’t think he will. His dad asked him to help deal with Nan.”

Bethy pouted and sank down on the bar stool across from me. “This sucks. I don’t want you to leave.”

The more I thought about it the more I didn’t want to leave either. But I wasn’t letting Rush go to LA without me. I would miss him like crazy. This would also be a chance for me to get to know his dad. We were about to have our own family and I wanted his dad to be a part of that. I hadn’t heard from my dad but once since he came by to tell me that he wasn’t Nan’s father. He had called me a week after he left to tell me he was heading to the Florida Keys to find a boat and live on it. He wanted to be alone. He also told me he loved me.

I tried not to think of my dad much. It only made me sad. I should have told him I wanted him in my life but I hadn’t. I’d let him go. Now, looking at the holidays without him I felt sad. I had found my home but he had lost his.

“Have you heard anything I just said?” Bethy asked breaking into my thoughts.

I glanced over at her. “I’m sorry. I was thinking about my dad,” I admitted. Then I grabbed the can of green beans and started putting it away.

“Oh. You thinking of inviting him?”

It was too late now. I wasn’t sure Rush would be okay with it if I did. We hadn’t discussed my dad that much. I shook my head and turned to get the box of powdered sugar. “No. Just thinking about him in general. Wondering what he’s doing,” I replied.

RUSH

My dad was singing in the kitchen while preparing the turkey. I stood back and watched as Blaire mixed something in a bowl and smiled happily. My dad kept trying to get her to sing with him and she would just laugh as she shook her head no. Today was going to be hard on her and I liked seeing her smile.

All week I had debated on telling her I’d invited Abe. He would be here in an hour. I’d gotten a text from him when his plane landed. I couldn’t decide if surprising her was such a good idea. I wanted to make this special for her. It was our first Thanksgiving together. I knew that the fact it was her first Thanksgiving without her mother was going to overshadow it and I understood that. But if I could make this a good memory, one she would cherish, I would move heaven and earth to make that happen.