“French toast,” Lola answered.
“Where did you get off to?” My father pinned Ethan with a suspicious look that made me squirm in my seat.
“Sorry about that. Phone call.”
He seemed mollified by Ethan’s answer, and I sighed in relief.
“Lola mentioned that Lilah is moving in with her friend tomorrow morning.”
“Unfortunately, yes,” my father grumbled. “We’ve tried talking some sense into her, but she refuses to listen to reason.”
“Don’t you usually have a big staff meeting first thing on Monday mornings?” Ethan asked.
“Yeah, but I’m going to move it.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I protested. “I’ll be perfectly fine. There’s no need for you to miss an important meeting because of me.”
“What kind of a father would I be if I let my little girl move without help?”
“Why don’t I step in and give her a hand?” Ethan offered, the sly devil.
“No, it’s kind of you to offer, but she’s my daughter and I want to do it.”
“Samuel,” Lola chided. “It’s the logical choice, and aren’t you the one always telling me to be more reasonable?”
“Fine,” he huffed. “But I want her to check in with me once you’re there.”
“Sure, Samuel. Whatever you want,” Ethan agreed.
“What I want is for my little girl to live under my roof. I missed the first eighteen years of her life, already. I don’t want to miss anything else.” He turned to me with a soft expression. “I’ve pictured you in every stage of childhood throughout your life. But, you’ve never really grown up in my mind. I know you’re technically an adult, sweetheart, but you’ve only just graduated from high school a few weeks ago, and then losing your mom…I—I can’t help wanting to take care of you.”
I felt guilty. Horribly guilty. So much so that my stomach started turning. Then the scent of the bacon Lola was cooking wafted towards me, and the turning changed to full out rolling. And nausea. I tried to breathe through my mouth instead of my nose, but it didn’t do any good. Bile crept up my throat and I leapt out of my chair to run towards the bathroom.
I barely made it in time, dropping to my knees and flipping the toilet seat open to puke my guts up. As if that wasn’t bad enough, everyone had followed me. Lola made soothing sounds as she pulled my hair out of the way and patted my back. My father grumbled about me not moving when I needed to see a doctor immediately. Only Ethan remained silent. But he didn’t need to say anything because his eyes did all his speaking for him. They burned with triumph when his gaze dropped to my belly. It looked like he might just have accomplished what he’d set out to do—knocking up his best friend’s daughter.
Chapter 9
Ethan
“We should get you to a doctor, sweetheart,” Samuel said, frowning at Lilah with concern.
I opened my mouth to respond, but shut it when I saw the pleading look in Lilah’s eyes. I narrowed my own in warning, I wasn’t going to keep quiet much longer, but for the moment, I didn’t speak.
“I’m fine, Sa—Dad,” she assured him with a minute smile.
Samuel’s face lit up when she called him Dad, and he carefully helped her up from the ground. I itched to push everyone out of the way and scoop Lilah into my arms. Instead, I stood back as Lola and Samuel led her out of the bathroom. I fucking hated that I had to pretend she wasn’t mine, that she didn’t mean everything to me.
“I probably just ate something bad yesterday,” she insisted. “Maybe there were carrots in the salad and I missed it somehow. I’m allergic.”
Samuel started to argue, but she placed her hand on his arm and patted it lightly. “I’ll make an appointment if I get sick again, okay?” He looked like he wasn’t going to let it go, but Lola jumped in.
“Why don’t you go lay down, Lilah,” she suggested. “If you feel like eating later, I’ll whip up some lunch.”
Lilah nodded and with a last, quick glance at me, she headed off to her suite. I practically glued my feet to the floor to keep from following.
“Ethan, let’s go into my office,” Samuel said, breaking me out of my intense focus on Lilah. “I want to talk to you about something.”
He kissed Lola’s cheek and then turned in the direction of his office. I walked slowly behind him and pulled out my phone to send a text.
Me: Make that doctor’s appointment today, Lilah.
My phone didn’t vibrate with an incoming text until I was seated on a small couch, with Samuel at his desk. He was shuffling through some papers, so I looked down to read the text.