“I assumed that’s why we’re here.” He moved his menu to the side, leaning his elbows on the table. “What’s going on? Do you have more ideas for Utah? A change in the design? What?”
I’d spent all day trying to come up with the best way to discuss this with him. How to approach the conversation. What angle to take.
But as my mouth opened, I forgot every goddamn thing I’d planned.
My mind went blank.
I took a deep breath, holding in the air. “I’m in love with your daughter.”
He looked at Jo and then back at me. “You’re … what?”
That certainly wasn’t the way I’d wanted to initiate this talk, but, fuck, it suddenly felt like the right way. The words he needed to hear first before I backtracked to the beginning.
“Hold on …” His eyes bounced from Jo to me, like we were getting cross-examined. “I need to make sure I heard you correctly.” His cheeks were beginning to turn red. “You said”—he exhaled, his head shaking—“you’re in love … with my daughter?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“What the fuck?” His face was now fully flushed, his voice getting louder.
“Let me explain myself—”
“Jenner, I would say you have a lot of explaining to do.”
I quickly came up with a starting point and kept my voice low as I said, “I met Joanna when I was in Vegas for March Madness. I didn’t know who she was. In fact, I didn’t find out she was your daughter until months later, during our first trip to Utah.”
His brows furrowed, and his fingers clenched, his knuckles sticking up like points. “I don’t understand …”
“Dad,” Jo chimed in, “we’re asking for your blessing.” She reached across the space between us, her hand resting on top of my arm. “He’s the man I want to be with.”
He lifted his glass and took a long, heavy drink. When he returned his scotch to the table, he wiped his lips with the back of his hand, his mouth turning into a thin line. “Let me get this straight. You, the man I’ve trusted with every business venture for the last—I don’t know—seven years, wants my blessing, so you can be with my daughter?”
My chest was so fucking tight that a finger tap would shatter it. “Yes.”
His stare shifted to Jo’s hand before he glared at me. “Looks like you already took what you wanted, Jenner, and it sounds like this has been going on for months.”
“I didn’t want to keep you in the dark, Walter. That wasn’t—”
“But you did,” he said, cutting me off. “Both of you did.”
“You’re right,” I replied.
“And you’ve looked me in the face how many times since then?” His voice was staying the same pitch but getting grittier. “And never once did you mention that you were fucking my daughter—”
“Dad!”
“What, Joanna? Would you rather me sugarcoat the fact that you’ve climbed in bed with Hollywood’s biggest playboy? Or maybe you’re about to tell me that he’s suddenly become celibate?” His eyes narrowed as he waited for a response. He didn’t get one. “Do you understand the type of information Jenner is privy to? The responsibility he has to my company?” His fist pounded the table, the glasses rattling. “The millions of dollars I pay him every year?”
He was right.
Every word.
But there had to be a way to fix this.
As I attempted to budge in, he added, “And now, he’s sleeping with my twenty-two-year-old daughter, who was in college at the time, and he’s what, ten, twelve years older than you?”
Her chest rose and fell so fast. “Dad, I’ve never been happier in my life.”
“At least one of us is.” He waved the air, like he was dismissing me. “Jesus Christ, Jenner, I expected more from you.”
He was disappointed.
An emotion far worse than anger and disgust.
I poured the rest of the scotch down my throat, my heart fucking pounding. “Walter, I know I’ve crossed boundaries—”
“Boundaries,” he hissed. “Had you brought that blonde with the big tits into the restroom and fucked her in a stall next to my daughter’s, that would have been crossing boundaries. This”—he exhaled loudly—“this is a goddamn invasion.”
I placed my hands under the table, squeezing them together. “I know I’ve put myself in a bad position with Spade Hotels. That’s the last thing I want. Representing your brand is a job that’s extremely important to me. But if you no longer want to work with me, I understand.”
The sound that came out of his mouth was almost like a laugh. But one that told me he found none of this funny.
“It’s important to you, huh? So important that you couldn’t keep your hands off my daughter?” His head dropped, like he was collecting his breath, and there was a temper in his eyes when he finally looked up. “I once told you, when you find the right one, you hold on to her. You put a ring on her finger, and then you make her a mother. I just didn’t tell you that the woman couldn’t be Joanna—goddamn it, I didn’t think I had to.”
“Dad, it’s not Jenner’s fault—”
“Stay out of this, Joanna. This is between me and my lawyer right now.”
There was no reason to convince him of the truth.
He wasn’t going to listen.
So, I would take the blame instead.
The last thing I wanted was for him to be angry with Jo, for this to hurt her career.
For there to be any ramifications because of me.
“You’re right, Walter. I wasn’t thinking about your brand. I was thinking about the woman I’m in love with.”
His stare intensified. “You have some fucking balls.”
“If it comes down to Spade Hotels or Joanna, I’m not willing to lose her.” I looked at my girl and added, “I will always choose her.”
He licked across his lips, his knuckles white.
The silence like nails stabbing me.
“I don’t know what to say to you right now, Jenner, but I will tell you one thing: there’s no way in hell I’m about to share this meal with you.”
His napkin stayed on his lap.
His ass planted on the seat.
He wasn’t moving.
That meant only one thing.
He wanted me to leave.
I got up from my chair and stood across from him.
I wasn’t going to make Joanna choose.
I would never put that kind of pressure on her.
This was her father.
Her employer.
So, I reached into my pocket and took out my credit card and dropped it on the table. “Call me when you’re ready to talk,” I said to him.
I didn’t wait for a reply, for the look in his eyes to worsen.
I just left the restaurant and got into my car and drove the fuck away.
Thirty-One
Joanna
The second Jenner walked away from the table, I gasped, “Dad—”
But he cut me off, holding his finger in the air, his face grim and stiff. “I need a goddamn minute, Joanna.”