NICE GIRL TO LOVE (THE COMPLETE THREE-BOOK COLLECTION)(57)

It was time to break out the big guns.

“Seriously, dad? An ambush? Isn’t this a little unfair?” Skylar shook her head disapprovingly at him as she climbed in the car and buckled her seatbelt.

“A little? Are you kidding? This is enormously unfair. That’s the point. I’m going to lavish Abby with all her favorite things until she cracks and tells me what I can do to fix whatever it is I broke. Sushi, truffles from that little chocolate shop she loves in Mesa, board games, beer—”

“And me?” She gave him a knowing smile.

He chuckled. “Yes, you’re the biggest secret weapon in my arsenal.”

“Okay,” she sighed theatrically, “what do you need me to do?”

“You just be yourself, munchkin. We both know she just puts up with me so she can hang out with you.”

“What are you guys fighting about anyhow? Is it Uncle Connor?”

Brian whipped his eyes over to her and nearly swerved off the road. “What do you mean?”

She gave him a hooded look. “I know Abby and Uncle Connor had a thing. I saw some of her books and stuff at his house a few months ago. And I caught her sneaking off in her car a couple of times just before I got there.”

For cryin’ out loud, Abby was the only person on the planet who seemed to think no one could recognize her POS clunker with all the duct tape holding it together. “Honey, she was just trying to keep her relationship with Connor private. She would have told us if it became serious.”

A mocking snort shot out of his normally very tame daughter. “Uncle Connor doesn’t do serious.” An unforgiving frown clouded her expression. “He broke her heart, didn’t he?”

“Skylar, that’s not fair. We don’t know—”

“Yes, we do know. Abby’s been sad since like September and Uncle Connor gets fully weirded out now whenever her name comes up.” Arms crossed, she burst out bitterly, “Why’d she have to hook up with him anyhow?! She’s too good for him. He’s a total player that shouldn’t—”

“Hey! I get that you’re upset but you don’t ever have the right to talk about your uncle like that, you hear me young lady?” Honestly, what had gotten into her?

Her eyes rounded to the size of saucers before she quickly looked away. “Sorry.”

“You should be. Do you have any idea how much he’s done for us? How much he’s sacrificed for me and for this family over the years?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I really am sorry, dad. You know I love Uncle Connor. So much.” Her shoulders fell in a deep slump. “But I love Abby too. I can’t help but be mad at him for hurting her.”

Brian sighed. “For what it’s worth, I know for a fact that he never wanted to hurt Abby. He cares about her a lot.”

Skylar’s mouth dropped down at the corners again with worry. “Do you think she’s in love with him?”

Damn, that nailed him in the gut every time. “If she is, that’s between them,” he managed to get out without sounding affected.

“So you’re not trying to stop her?”

Is that what he was doing? “Why would you think that?”

“Because you’re in love with her too,” she said simply with a very matter-of-fact shrug.

After a shocked moment of silence, a wry grin tipped the corner of his mouth up. “It’s that obvious, huh?”

Abruptly, she turned to him and blurted out, “So why don’t you tell her?” With the candid wisdom that could only come from a child.

Brian pulled into a parking stall in front of the restaurant where their take-out order was waiting and studied his daughter carefully. “Sky-bug, tell me the truth. Are you upset about Abby dating your Uncle Connor because you want her to end up with me?”

Her lower lip quivered. “Is that so bad? You guys act like you’re practically married already. And…”

He watched her wind a long lock of strawberry blonde hair around her finger. Just like her mother used to. “And what, sweetie?”

“And, well, it’d be kinda cool for me to have her as a…you know...”

As a mom.

“Yeah…” he agreed softly. “That would be pretty cool.” God, he hoped he wasn’t wrong about all this. If he and Abby couldn’t make it work, without a doubt, there would be two hearts that would get broken in the process.

“Hey, do you need help winning her over? I could totally be your inside man!”

That startled a gust of laughter out of his chest. The kid could spin topics on a dime. “I don’t think we need to gang up on her, hon.”

“Dude, have you seen Uncle Connor? No offense. I mean, most of my friends totally think you’re one of the hot dads and all but Uncle Connor has got some serious game.”

Very true. Meanwhile, the last time he’d used any moves on a girl had been in his sophomore year in high school. To be fair, he did end up marrying the girl. That had to count for something right?

Looking at his daughter doing her silent, pleading, bouncing-in-place claps, he shook his head wryly. He wasn’t really considering taking dating tips from a middle schooler was he?

Sadly, he was. “Yeah, okay, what do you got?”

“Try and find a way to take your shirt off whenever you’re around her.”