There was silence. “You tell me when you’re going out and where and with who and you text me when you leave and when you get home.”
“Yes, Mom,” she said teasingly although it filled her with warmth to have someone worry about her. “It will be fine. I might meet Prince Charming.”
Ellie snorted. “You’re more likely to meet Jack the Ripper.”
“Thanks, that makes me feel so much better.”
“What friends are for,” Ellie said cheerfully.
Hopefully this would be the start of something. She could have something for herself. A new start.
Yeah, she liked the idea of that.
* * *
He’d been a jerk.
These last few days, he’d done a lot of thinking and that was the conclusion he’d come to. He’d been taken by surprise, probably overreacted and he’d had no right to tell her to leave town. He’d wanted to think the worst of her. He hadn’t wanted to look at her and see vulnerability. To see her sweetness. To see hurt in her eyes.
Hurt that he caused.
Yep. Class A jerk.
Her searching him out now because of his inheritance made little sense. Plus, she’d seemed genuinely angry when he’d accused her of being after the money. Christ, that damn money was a headache. He had no idea what to do with what his grandfather left him. He didn’t need that sort of cash. So he’d just been sitting on it.
He hadn’t expected the sight of her to hit him so hard. For there to be this sharp stab of longing. Of arousal. Of need.
His phone rang as he entered his cabin and he took the call even though it was the last thing he felt like doing. He’d just gotten home. He was exhausted. He wanted to shower, eat and sleep. Maybe not in that order.
“Jed. It’s Bear.”
“What’s up?” Jed asked, moving into his cabin and dumping his bag on the floor.
“It’s Daisy.”
“Daisy? Is everything all right? Has she left?”
It’s for the best.
“No, she hasn’t. Ellie convinced her to stay.”
Something filled him, something that felt like relief.
“Bear?” he prompted when the other man said nothing more. “Is Daisy all right?”
“Ellie just told me she’s gone on a date tonight. With some guy she met. Online.” Bear sounded horrified and disgusted.
A knot formed in his gut. “She fucking did not!”
“She did, man. Was going to go track her down myself, but thought I’d see where your head was at.”
“Where my head is at?”
“I don’t know everything that happened between you two. Daisy has told Ellie some of it. I do know that you don’t react the way you did to someone you feel nothing about.”
“Does Ellie know where they’ve gone?” he asked, not about to go there with Bear.
“Yep.”