It had been a week since Trenton showed up on my porch, and in that time, I’d left about fifty messages for my father. What father does what he did to me?

He had finally responded to one of my voice mails and said he’d meet me at the diner. So there I was, watching Blue’s eyes dance from toy to toy that hung from his carrier handle.

Silas had wanted to come with me, but I’d persuaded him to help Ryker at the garage. Business had been picking up since I created a website for them, and while Ryker was keeping up with the motorcycle repairs, the books were a mess. That was something Silas had the skills to do, so he was taking over as business manager.

The bell above the door rang, and Hannah rushed in, looking pale and scared. She glanced at me and ran into the back room.

A few minutes later, she came out looking more like herself, but still harried.

“You okay?” I asked. Now that she’d gotten over the idea that the Savage boys were taken, she’d been a lot more pleasant to hang out with. At this point, I’d even call her a friend.

She approached, tying her apron around her waist. “Men can be such assholes.”

“You got that right, sister. Who’s the asshole this time?”

“Just some guy who won’t take no for an answer. I don’t understand how men haven’t been extinguished through natural selection.”

I glanced out the window and watched my dad approach the diner. “Speaking of assholes, here comes my dad. Can you bring us two cups of coffee?”

“Sure thing,” she said, “just give me a wink if you need me to bring out Rusty’s bat from the back room.”

The bell rang above the door, and my dad looked around the diner for me. He found me right away and slid into the booth across from me without giving Blue a passing glance. I wondered if that was how disconnected he’d been with me during my early years.

“I’m only here, Grace, so you’ll stop calling me fifty times a day.” He picked up his napkin and folded it into a neat square.

“I only called you fifty times this week. I wouldn’t have called you at all except I need to know why you would track down Trenton Kehoe, tell him an outright lie, and then give him my address.” I reminded myself to breathe. I looked left to Hannah, who mimicked the swing of a bat before she poured two cups of coffee and started our way.

“You’re just like your mom.”

I couldn’t suppress the roll of my eyes. Lord, I’d heard that phrase a million times over. “Why now, Dad?” He’d spent my whole life comparing me to my mother. If sadness consumed me, it was because I had her weak disposition. If happiness filled me, it was because I had her reckless spirit.

“You had a baby, and you didn’t even let the father know.”

I pounded my fist on the table, jarring the cups of coffee that Hannah had dropped off. I leaned into the center of the table so the whole diner didn’t have to hear what I had to say. “First off, he didn’t want the baby. He told me to abort it. Not him or her—it. Second, what in the hell does that have to do with Mom?”

Dad sipped his black coffee and stared at me. Every few seconds his eyes moved to the baby carrier next to me. “Your mom ruined our relationship. She made me out to be the bad guy all the time, and that’s exactly what you’ll do when Blue grows up and asks about his father.”

I raised my palms to the sky. “What are you talking about? I won’t lie to Blue. I’ll tell him the truth.”

“What is the truth? That you had sex with a married man, got knocked up, and kept him when his father told you to abort him?”

It didn’t sound all that appealing when he put it that way, but I would be honest with my son. “Yes, Dad, I’ll tell him the truth.”

“Well, the truth makes Trenton Kehoe look like an asshole.” He dropped a spoon into his coffee and stirred. It made little sense since he added nothing to stir into his black coffee. Maybe that was Dad’s gift. He excelled at stirring. Stirring up trouble and stirring up shit.

“Trenton Kehoe is an asshole. He pretended he wasn’t married. He took as big of a risk as I did when he didn’t wear a condom. I stepped up to the plate, and he stepped out of the stadium. What does this have to do with Mom?”

“He’s trying to make amends, and you’re punishing him for making a wrong decision. Your mom did the same thing.” He pulled the spoon from his coffee and laid it on the folded napkin square.

“Oh. My. God. This is not the same.” The dark liquid bled across the white napkin, marring the pristine white of the paper. “You’re punishing me because Mom punished you?”

“She turned you against me.” Dad clenched his jaw and stared at me.

“Listen to yourself. She didn’t turn me against you. You did that yourself. You were an absentee father. You were never home. Your family was the church. You didn’t raise me. Mom didn’t raise me. I raised myself.” I wanted to reach across the booth and give him a V8-commercial-style slap to the forehead, but instead I took a deep breath.

“I tried to make amends, Grace. Yes, I cheated on your mother just like Trenton cheated on his wife. It happens, and then you do what you can to make peace with it, but your mother … she never let it go.”

“And so now you’re trying to right your sin by guiding Trenton on how to mend his? What was your plan, Dad? Get him to fight for custody, mend his marriage, and help him take my son away?”

“No, Grace, I don’t want him to regret not being with his son. I regret not being with you.”

I tossed Blue’s things into the diaper bag and prepared to leave. “You know what? You’re a hypocrite. You sit here and talk about him missing his son—a son he never wanted—and now you lament about having missed me. That was on you, Dad. We were home waiting. Where were you?”

He dropped his head into his hands, and his shoulders shook. “I was hiding behind my deacon’s robes.”

I wanted to choke him and hug him at the same time. “While you cleaned and pressed and paraded around in that vestment, I grew up. Mom didn’t keep me away from you. You kept yourself away from me because seeing me made you feel farther away from her. Religion should help you face your life, not hide from it.”

When he lifted his head, his eyes were red and watery. “I’m sorry, Grace.”

I had a moment of clarity where everything made sense. I’d been what some would call promiscuous. I’d tried and tested lots of men. No one ever meshed with me because I wasn’t looking for what they were, which was a few minutes naked between the sheets. I needed more. I wanted a place to belong—a place where I could be loved for me. Not the deacon’s daughter. Not the hot girl at the bar. Not the sexy assistant. I’d been looking for someone to tell me I was perfect just the way I was, and I’d found him in Silas.

My dad’s remorseful expression could sway the least forgiving soul. “I’m sorry too, Dad, because what you did with Trenton Kehoe might end up ruining me and my life with Blue. I could lose him because of your interference.” I looked down at the sweet baby who had fallen asleep while his mother sorted out the mess she called her life.

“That wasn’t my intent.” He looked at me, and when the hurt in my eyes became too much for him to handle, he turned his head and looked out the window.

“Stop lying to yourself, Dad. In my living room, you told me I should have given him to someone who would raise him right.” I swiped at the tears that rushed from my eyes. “I may not be able to give him everything. I may not be a perfect parent, but at least I love him more than I love myself, and in my book, that’s all he needs. I’ll figure out the rest.”

“Trenton told me there was a man with you. Was that Silas?” His voice rose with something that sounded like hope.

“Yes, Dad. We’re important to Silas. He’s important to me. We’re figuring it all out.”

Dad nodded his head. “I like Silas, Grace. He’s not who I’d expect you to choose. He’s different.”

“He’s the kind of man who will do whatever it takes to make things right. He’s not a peacock, Dad, he’s a rooster.”

My dad didn’t understand what any of that meant, but I did. Silas was the exact opposite of everyone I’d ever desired, and that made him perfect.

I left my dad in the booth to think about what he had done to me. I wasn’t sure we would ever have a relationship. The lies about his past had created a problem for my future, and I wasn’t certain I could ever forgive him. All I knew was that there was a sexy man who promised to be home at noon, and I planned to be there because what I needed most was someone to tell me it would be okay. Silas was that man.

When I arrived at my house, I found two things I was unprepared for. One was Mr. Chambers sitting in my living room drinking a beer with Silas. The second was a summons from the District Court of Denver to discuss the paternity of Blue Faraday.