Tori started to leave, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. “Stay,” he whispered. She shook her head, her mask firmly in place. She didn’t want to interfere in his family business. She pulled her arm out of his grip and went back to the bedroom.

“I’m okay, Daddy. I just wanted to go home for a while.”

“I’m going to come down and see you.”

“No. I don’t want you to do that! You need to focus on your job interview. I’d feel horrible if you missed out on the job because you left.” She pleaded with him.

Seth was torn. “Your mom says you’re upset about the divorce.”

“No, I’m not. I just don’t know if going so far away for college was the right thing for me. I couldn’t think about anything else except home. And it rains there a lot. It was always gray. I knew it was going to be wet, but I didn’t expect it to be that wet,” she said plaintively.

“You need sunshine like your mom,” Seth admitted. It was true. “Are you sure about me not coming down? I feel like I should see you.”

“When will you know about your job? Can you come after that?” Eden asked.

“It should be soon, and then I’ll head down. Are you sure you’re okay with the divorce? Why did your mom say that was a reason for you leaving school?”

“Dad, really?” Eden snorted in the phone.

Seth was relieved and saddened at the same time. Eden could see right through her mother’s tactics. Jennifer thrived on making Seth feel guilty for every little possible thing. He extracted more promises from Eden about calling him regularly and enrolling in the local community college.

He hung up the phone and sighed, rubbing at his eyes. He’d ridden a roller-coaster all morning. First signing the divorce papers, finding that horrible woman who might be Tori’s birth mother, making love to Tori, and then the absolute terror when he’d believed his daughter was missing. But the lowest of all was when Jennifer tried to make him think he’d emotionally ripped up their daughter by filing for divorce. Jennifer knew how to push his buttons. She never accepted blame for anything. She would twist every situation to make him look like the bad guy instead of sharing blame.

His relationship with Tori was a good thing. Even Eden would see that.

He wanted to introduce Tori to Eden. He wanted to show his daughter how two adults should have a relationship. Eden had watched him and Jennifer avoid each other for years. He fervently hoped her views of marriage weren’t too skewed.

He tossed the phone on the bathroom counter and went to look for Tori. A few minutes in her arms would bring the world back into balance. He found her fully dressed and making the bed.

He stared, stunned. “What are you doing?”

“I’m heading back.” She didn’t look at him as she arranged the pillows.

“Well, hang on. I need a shower, don’t you?” His stomach coiled in an odd sinking sensation. “I’ll just be a few minutes.” He turned to grab a rapid shower, but she touched his arm, stopping him cold. He met her gaze and saw she had all barriers at full attention.

“I’ll get a cab,” she stated.

“No, wait. What’s going on?” Seth could feel her slipping away. What just happened? “Are you upset I brought you up here? That we had sex? Because that was one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time. I don’t regret it one bit.”

Tori shook her head. “No, it was good.”

Good? “It was fucking fantastic,” he corrected.

Her smile didn’t touch her eyes. “It was good. But you have another life that you need to get back to. They need you.” She turned to leave.

He grabbed her arm. “I need you.” This wasn’t happening to him. He wasn’t letting her walk away.

She made a show of glaring at his hand on her arm. He relaxed his grip but didn’t let go. Neither of them had spouses now. He had no reason to let her out that door. He was going to fight for her.

“Your daughter needs you. I won’t stand in the way of that.”

“You’re not!”

“She should be your first priority!”

Seth heard an echo of his earlier words to Eden. “She is. I will be there whenever she has need of me, but she’s an adult now. She told me not to come, and I believe she doesn’t need me to hold her hand while she gets over her homesickness. I don’t need to wash her bloody knees when she falls.

“I love my daughter. No one will take her place, but she’s my daughter, not the woman I want to spend my life with. She’s learning how to navigate in the world, and she hit a stumbling block. Her mother can soothe her.”

Tori studied his face, her gaze flicking back and forth between his eyes.

Did she believe him? “Eden had a rough couple of months. She’s run back home. But I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to get this job and move forward with us.” He smiled. “I came here with the first goal, but the second was added the moment I saw you. We’re moving in the right direction, and you’re not going to run away again.”

“I didn’t run away. I was married. So were you! With a child!” She pulled her arm out of his grasp, but the determined look in her eye was faltering.

He was getting through to her. “Exactly. There’s nothing holding us apart. And I’m not going to let your fears damage the start we’ve made.”

“My fears,” she stuttered.