But was it endless? Everyone had a limit and he feared he might have pushed Skylar to hers.
“Your card will get billed on the third of each month. After her three-month-stay is complete, your deposit gets refunded, as long as there are no damages.”
Rhett took the folder the woman offered. It looked like all the rest. “And she can’t sign herself out?”
“Not without your knowledge.”
“Thank you.”
Thoughts of his childhood and Addison’s preoccupied his mind the whole ride home. Every time he considered his daughter’s future and Adel’s role in her life, he was comforted by the idea that Skylar would be there to help with the things Addison might need a woman’s assistance with.
Then he wondered if that was true. What if Skylar didn’t come back? His first thought should be about Addison’s care, which it usually was. But, this time, his worries were more selfish. What if he lost Skylar?
An ache formed in his chest and he rubbed it as he drove. He didn’t like imagining a future without her.
Not bothering with the radio or paying attention to the exit signs, he drove on autopilot and somehow made it back to his house late that night. The house was dark and quiet when he let himself inside. Since Skylar left, it hadn’t felt much like a home, just a house made up of walls and furniture.
“Erin?” He set his keys on the table by the door. “Addy?”
The living room was clean, not a single thing out of order. Something didn’t feel right.
He went upstairs only to find Addy’s bed empty. “Erin? Hello?”
He pulled out his phone and called his PA, his stare falling on the door at the end of the hall, despising that no light shined from within.
“Hello?”
Shoving away his longing for the girl he’d become so accustomed to, he focused on locating his daughter. “Erin, where are you guys?”
“I’m home.”
He frowned. “Where’s Addison?”
She hesitated and the tension in his shoulders tightened. “Addison’s with Skylar. She picked her up this morning.”
His worry subsided, overrun by something unnamable. Hope? Fear? No, not fear. He trusted Skylar. But what did this mean?
“Where are they?”
“At the big house on the mountain. Her grandparents’.”
“Thanks.” He ended the call.
Ten minutes later, he was navigating the dark roads of what was known as McCullough Mountain and trying to find what her family called the big house. The place was literally like a compound with various homes tucked on cleared acres, secreted away and ensconced in the wilderness, blending beautifully with the wide-open mountainside.
None of the homes tucked in the slopes of rock and pine were what he would consider small. When he approached the sprawling log cabin with its wrap around porch and pointed dormer windows, he knew he’d found the place he was looking for.
He pulled the SUV beside an old Jeep Cherokee, and the front door of the house opened. Skylar stepped out, wrapped in a fleece blanket, and waited at the top step of the porch. She must have been expecting him.
He exited the car and approached slowly, fighting the urge to take her in his arms and apologize for the way he handled things. They needed to discuss everything that happened, but he wasn’t sure if now was the time.
He paused at the foot of the steps. “Erin told me you were here.”
She nodded. “Addison’s sleeping. I don’t mind keeping her until morning.”
He read the exhaustion in her eyes. Somehow, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever known.
She shivered and he wanted to wrap her in his hold and kiss her until her body warmed. The distance weighed him down like an anvil anchored to his neck. It was all he could feel, but he didn’t want to pressure her.
She was here because she obviously wanted space and needed time. He wanted to give her that, especially if it would help fix things. But she had to know this was killing him.
“She misses you,” he said, wanting to convince her to come home.
“Don’t.”
His eyes pleaded with her, confessing what he lacked the courage to say. I miss you…
Casting her gaze aside, she looked so sad, and he understood the repercussions of the other night had outlasted the party for her. He regretted that any sort of public criticism might have reached her.
“I’m sorry this happened, Skylar.”
“Which part?”
Unsure where they stood or if she was through with him, he hesitated. Did she regret everything?
He’d felt this terrible doubt before, usually the day before he returned to that brown building where he waited inside the plain brown walls for someone new to come collect the unwanted boy. He would never go back to that place, but tonight it felt like he might.
He didn’t want her rejection. He needed her acceptance. What if he had spoiled everything?
“I never meant to put our relationship on display. You have to realize that.”