“Okay,” I whispered. “I’m really sorry if I embarrassed you, Dad.”
“There has not been one day, one single moment in your lifetime, that I have been embarrassed by you. You are the light of my life. And I’ve failed you if you feel differently.” He pulled back to look at me. “The only thing that upset me is that you didn’t think you could come to me with this. I would have been happy for you. For both of you. I would have told you and Clark to go to Human Resources and be upfront with them about it. We’re all human, sweetheart. It happens. But you can always come to me.”
“I should have. Clark wanted to. I was afraid it would put you in a bad position, being the coach of the team. I thought if we waited a little while, it would get easier. I didn’t expect to fall for him this hard,” I finally said, swiping at my eyes again. “I love him so much, and it’s scary enough to feel that way, but involving my father, my employer, and all the people I work with… I was scared to put that kind of pressure on us.”
“I get it. But from now on, you come to me for anything. It doesn’t matter if it involves work. I love this team, there’s no doubt. But I don’t love anyone or anything the way that I love you. I’d walk away from this team in a heartbeat if it meant protecting you, all right?”
I nodded. “You shouldn’t have to.”
“Well, neither should you.”
I sighed. “Okay. It’s late, and you look exhausted. Go get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day. Go to work, and I’ll take the next few days and wait to hear from Sebastian.”
“Randall is on leave, as well, so it might be a good idea for me to go to work. I can have my ears open and find out if anyone knows what’s going on. Maybe I can talk to Sebastian and see where his head is at.”
“Yes. And will you make sure Clark goes to practice tomorrow?” I asked, putting my hands together. “Please, Dad. Can you do that for me? Tell him it’s important to me that he goes.”
“Why don’t you tell him yourself?”
“I will. I just—I need to see how this plays out so I don’t pull him down with me. If I call him right now, he’ll want to come over, and he’ll refuse to go to practice while I’m being forced to stay away. I need to do this for him, okay?” My bottom lip trembled.
“Okay. I’ll make sure he goes. I’ll tell him that you want us both to be there tomorrow, and we’ll reassess once the decision is made.” He forced a smile. “But I don’t want you to be alone tonight.”
“I’m fine. I’m a grown-up, remember?” I chuckled, but the lump in my throat made it hard to swallow.
“You’re still my little girl,” he said, and we both turned when there was a knock on the door.
It was almost 11:00 p.m. now, and I couldn’t imagine who it would be. If it was Clark, it would be difficult for me not to fall into him right now. Because that’s what I wanted to do. But I needed him to stay focused on his team right now. He worked so hard to recover from his injury and get into the best shape of his life. I wasn’t going to derail that.
Dad moved to the door and pulled it open, and my mouth fell open.
Emilia, Lulu, and Henley wheeled in their suitcases, and Lulu held up two pints of ice cream.
“We heard our girl needed us,” Emilia said, and I rushed toward her.
I hugged her before turning to Henley and Lulu and doing the same thing. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Clark called us and told us what happened, and we came immediately. If our girl needs us, we show up,” Lulu said.
I gaped at them. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Yep. We’re all taking off work tomorrow, so we’ll be here with you,” Henley said. “And I’ll be reading that contract of yours and giving you all the legal advice.”
“Those bastards can’t treat you this way,” Emilia said, before turning to my dad and wincing. “Oh, sorry, Mr. Gable. It’s great to see you. You’re not one of the bastards, of course.”
My father chuckled. “Thank you. I’m not happy with how this was handled, but I do believe this is all coming from Randall. I have faith that the owners will do the right thing.”
“Men love to hate on women.” Lulu quirked a brow. “I mean, not you, Mr. Gable. But this Randall dude, he’s been jealous of our girl since the day she started.”
“Agreed.” Henley sighed. “Let’s have ice cream and talk about all the ways we hate him.”
“And that’s my cue. I’m going to let you have your time. Thanks for showing up for my girl,” he said, pulling me into a big hug.
“I love you, Ells. I’ll call you tomorrow. Try to get some rest.”
“I will. Love you, Dad.” I closed the door after he left and padded back over to the couch.
“Clark sounded pretty desperate when he called,” Emilia said, as she sat down beside me.
