Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(85)

“I can’t do therapy.”

“Okay, Grant,” he said, resigned. “Well, I’m glad that we’re talking again. That’s a step.”

It was.

I stared down at my hands and tried not to think about all the emotions rushing at me head-on. I was sitting here, talking with my father. He had apologized for what had happened. He still loved me and wanted to get to know me.

The reason I was sitting here right now was because some part of me knew that if I hadn’t at least tried, I’d regret it. One day, my dad would be dead—just like my mom. One day, he wouldn’t come back into my life. He’d be gone forever. Then, what?

Then, I would be f*cked for the rest of my life—again. No mother, no father. And as much as I loved the rest of my family, my brothers, Ari, it would be different. I had this man’s blood. He was the only parent I had left. I didn’t live for regrets.

I sighed heavily. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. “Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked.

“I’ll try it out—on one condition.”

His face lit up. “Anything! Of course.”

“You try my therapy.”

His eyebrows rose questioningly. “What do you mean?”

“The one thing that always had my back, that always listened, that always made everything better while I was all alone was my music.” I glanced away from him and then back. “My band has a show this weekend…I don’t know if you…you know…want to come?”

He beamed at the invitation. “I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Okay. Well then, I guess we’ll figure out the other stuff later.”

I glanced down at the time on my cell phone. I couldn’t believe nearly an hour had passed. The time had flown by. But I needed to get out of here. It was too much all at one time.

“I’m going to head out now, but, uh…I’ll see you Saturday at The Ivy League.”

We both stood. My father stuck his hand out at me, and I slowly placed mine in his. We shook hands. Tears welled in my father’s eyes. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. My own resolve was weakening.

“Thank you for giving me this chance, son.”

“Thanks for proving that you deserve it.”

“I have a surprise for you,” Grant whispered in my ear as we stood backstage.

“What is it?”

His nose trailed down the soft contours of my neck, making my skin break out into goose bumps. His lips landed on my shoulder as his fingers made a line up the waist of my light-pink sundress.

“It’s not a surprise if I tell you, Princess.”

“It’s a tiara, isn’t it? You’ve finally realized that I need a tiara with this whole princess routine.”

He laughed and nipped at my skin. “Cheeky tonight, aren’t we?”

“Every night.” I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck. “So, what is it?”

“Later. It’ll come in parts throughout the night.”

“Parts?” My eyebrows rose. “This sounds complicated.”

“Well, part of it just walked through the door,” he said, pointing through the open stage door that led out into the audience.

My eyes searched through the sea of people already out there until I saw where he was pointing. My mouth dropped open and I gasped. “Are those my parents?”

“Yep.”

“Oh my God! And Aaron and Sarah?”

“Yep!” he said, sounding smug.

“They said they couldn’t come down for the show this weekend!” I cried.

“Aaron got a hold of me to keep it a surprise.”

“That’s…that’s amazing. Let’s go say hi.”

I grabbed Grant’s arm and pulled him out through the excited crowd, heading straight to my parents, who stuck out like sore thumbs and looked uncomfortable as hell, even from a distance. My mother was in a square neck dress with a cardigan wrapped around her shoulders. My father was in a very expensive-looking Tom Ford suit. At least Aaron and his girlfriend, Sarah, were dressed more casually.

I threw my arms around Aaron. “I can’t believe you guys made it!”

Grant shook hands with Aaron when I moved to hug my mom and dad.

“Hey, man.”

Finally, I turned back to Sarah. She giggled and stretched her left hand out. On her ring finger was an enormous rock. My mouth dropped open for a second time, and then I was squealing and jumping up and down.

“You’re engaged? Oh my God, I’m so happy for you. I’m so excited. Tell me everything. How did it happen? Where did it happen?”

Grant wrapped an arm around me and squeezed. “Maybe give them a chance to answer your questions.”

“You’re right. Wow. Just…wow. Congratulations! Both of you.”

Sarah launched into all the details about the engagement, which had happened at a romantic dinner a couple of nights ago. They had been waiting to make an announcement because they wanted to tell me in person. Grant had been the catalyst behind keeping it a secret from me. And I was surprised and thrilled. It was good to see my brother settling down with Sarah and not gallivanting off with anyone else. It would definitely do him some good.