We both fell silent and looked at each other, both of us processing everything we’d just shared.
“I don’t want to be responsible for cutting you off from your father and his money.” She shook her head. “You get that, right?”
“You never would be,” I assured her, pulling her into my arms. “He never supported me, anyway. Not like you do. I never even spoke about any of this stuff with him before, which should tell you a lot.”
“Still,” she countered.
“I guess we can talk about it.” I sighed, and she let her head rest on my shoulder, apparently satisfied.
“You know what else we should talk about?” she asked, crouching down as Betsy came hurtling back across the sand toward her. The dog leaped into her arms, and Aria buried her face into her fur, grinning.
“What?” I humored her.
“That place we saw on the waterfront,” she reminded me. “You remember? The one we were going to open your restaurant and my store in.”
“Are you serious?” I cocked an eyebrow at her, grinning, and she nodded.
“Hell, yes,” she said. “I want to move down to this beach house and live here with you and run the place together. Sounds like a dream.”
“That’s a big step,” I pointed out, and she cocked her head at me, getting back to her feet with Betsy in her arms.
“I think we’ve been taking quite a lot of those lately,” she said playfully. “What’s one more?”
“I guess you’re right.” I felt a punch of excitement in my chest and looked out over the ocean. For the first time in a long time, I felt at peace.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Aria
I lounged back on the bed and let out a long sigh. It was a good feeling, having nothing to do. But there was something I wanted to get done, something I couldn’t ignore any longer. I needed to talk to my father.
The weekend had passed gloriously, with the two of us spending most of it in bed or walking Betsy on the beach. We weren’t hassled by photographers, and I wondered if Dad had put out a word to make sure the two of us weren’t bothered. I’d never been happier in my life, being so close to Elliott and knowing my family wasn’t going to leap in to try and fuck things up for us again. I wouldn’t have changed anything; except the one thing we couldn’t ignore forever.
I picked my phone up, pulled up Dad’s number, and called him. I drummed my fingers nervously on my thigh. Elliott was out walking Betsy on the waterfront. I’d told him I needed a nap, but really, I had a plan I was aching to put into motion. It had been a few days since I’d seen my father, and he must’ve been worrying about me. After a few rings, he picked up.
“Aria?” he greeted me, and he sounded a little shaky like he wasn’t quite sure how he was meant to address me now that things had changed between us.
“Hey, Dad,” I said, and he seemed to relax upon hearing my voice.
“I haven’t heard from you all weekend,” he said, sounding a little annoyed. “I was worried.”
“Dad, it’s totally normal for a grown woman not to call her father every day,” I reminded him, and he shut up. He knew I’d taken things into my own hands now and wouldn’t be afraid to do it again if he tightened his grip on me. I had to admit it was a nice feeling, knowing I had some of the power for a change after so long under his thumb.
“You’re right,” he sighed and maybe he meant it. “So, how are you?”
“I’m doing great, thanks,” I said. “Hope you guys all are, too.”
“Yeah, we are,” he said. “So, what’s up?”
“I want to talk to you about Elliott’s father.” I figured it was best to dive straight into this before I had a chance to back out from nervousness. My father sucked in a sharp breath, and I could tell even the mention of him was getting him wound up.
“Look, I’m sorry,” he said. “I can handle a lot, but—”
I cut him off again. “Hear me out.”
He fell silent, and I could tell it pained him to actually sit back and listen for once in his life. He was used to being the one with all the power, and it must have been a shock for him to accept I had power now, too, and it meant he actually had to listen to me instead of dismissing everything I said.
“This business you had with Elliott’s dad,” I began. “How old is it? From before I was born?”
“Yeah, it goes way back,” Dad muttered, as though he could see where I was going with this. And well, he’d have been stupid not to. He knew how strongly I felt about Elliott, and I wasn’t about to let the chance to fix things slide when I had my dad’s ear for the first time in my life.
“You have to know how stupid it looks, don’t you?” I went on. “From the outside? The fact that the two of you, after all this time, are still holding this ridiculous grudge against each other for no good reason?”
“It’s not a grudge. He stole from me. For no good reason,” he said. “We were supposed to be partners. We could have made a lot of money together. I don’t get why he turned on me like that.”
“But there was never any proof, right?”
“That’s because he covered his tracks so well. If I knew about forensic accountants, I could have figured out how he did it. One day, the bank accounts had dried up. Everything, gone. We couldn’t even pay the electricity bill.”
“Okay, I know it pisses you off. But look at you. Maybe it was for the better. Would you have been happy in New York in the real estate world? You found a better life out here in the industry. You have money and power,” I pointed out. “The two of you don’t even live in the same city, for goodness sake. Why not be the bigger man and let it go. He knows what he did. Just rise above it.”
“And how exactly do I do that?” he said, obviously grumpy. A smile curled over my lips.
“I want you to meet with Elliott’s father,” I announced. I spoke quickly again before he could dismiss me. “And I know that makes you uncomfortable, but I’m not asking for the two of you to become best friends or anything like that. I just want you to meet. That’s it. That’s all. Do you think you can manage that?”
Dad fell silent and then heaved in a deep breath.
“For you, I’ll see what I can do,” he muttered, and I felt like punching the air in triumph. That was all I needed to hear.
“When do you think you’ll be coming home?” he asked, and his voice was tinged with such hope, I almost didn’t want to dissuade him, but it was unfair of me to pretend when I knew the truth. It was my turn to let out a long breath, preparing myself for what I was about to say next.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’ll be by to pick up some of my stuff tomorrow, but then, I think I’ll be coming back up to the beach house to live for a while.”
“What about your job?”
“I’m thinking of taking a break from that for a while,” I said. “All my contracts are in between renewals right now, and I think I could do with the break from LA in general.”
He went quiet again. It had to be a lot for him to take in, but he’d have to get used to it. One of the hardest things over the last few days had been coming to terms with the fact that my life had changed completely and there would be no turning back. It had been so easy to let my father coddle me, to allow him to guide me down this path of simplicity and complete lack of autonomy. I could have let him lay my life out for me piece by piece until there was nothing left that was anything of my own. But I’d finally taken a stand and done something different, and no matter how difficult things got, I had to stick with that. I couldn’t run away now. I had to stay strong.