Gabe (Steele Brothers #6) by Cheryl Douglas

will find hundreds of reasons to hate you. At this stage, it’s because I won’t buy her a toy she wants or I make her clean her room when she wants to go out and play.”
    He smiled, nodding. “I guess so.”
    “Later it’ll be because I tell her she’s too young for her own phone or I make her work for her spending money instead of just handing it over.” I remembered what I’d been like as a teen, so I couldn’t blame my daughter if she followed in my footsteps.
    “I guess I never really went through that phase. You know, hating my mother. I was too worried about whether she’d be around for my next birthday or Christmas to get caught up in that trivial, day-to-day stuff.”
    I knew Gabe had never fully recovered from his mom’s death. He’d been young when she died, only nine years old. He was a scared little boy who still needed a parent. Thankfully, he’d had older brothers to take care of him, but losing that maternal figure in his life had taken an unspeakable toll on him.
    We were silent for a few minutes and I was sure he was trying to recall something, anything about his mother. Her smile. Her laugh. Her unique scent. Anything that would bring her back to him, even if only for a moment.
    “My point is,” I said quietly, when I was sure he was back with me, and no longer lost in his memories, “being a parent is hard. And being public enemy number one goes with the territory. I’m dreading it, but I’m pretty sure there will come a day when my daughter tells me she hates me more than she loves me.”
    “Are you trying to tell me I need to develop a thick skin if I want to be a part of Char’s life? That I can’t be so sensitive, worrying about whether she likes me all the time?”
    “Something like that.” I leaned forward, resting my chin on his shoulder. “I don’t know where this thing between us is going, Gabe. And neither do you. Maybe we’ll go on being friends and neighbors, nothing more. Or maybe we’ll fall in love and you’ll be Char’s step-dad someday.” I knew which one I’d vote for, given the choice, but he had to feel the same way I did. My days of trying to convince a man how to feel or behave were long over.
    “No pressure, huh?” he asked, obviously wrestling with how he felt about that.
    “No pressure.” I linked my arm through his, resting my cheek on his shoulder. “In my experience, these things have a way of working out the way they’re supposed to.”
    “What about you and Jason?” he asked, seemingly surprised by my philosophical take on relationships. “That didn’t work out the way it was supposed to. You must have gone in to your marriage hoping it would last forever, didn’t you?”
    “Don’t we all?” I asked, trying to let go of the last vestiges of bitterness. “In the end, sometimes, it’s meant to last forever, and sometimes, it isn’t. But I’d never say it didn’t work out as it was supposed to.”
    “I guess I don’t follow,” he said, looking confused. “If you—”
    “If I’d never met and married Jason, I wouldn’t have Char. I know, without a doubt, that little girl was meant to be a part of my life. Because of her I’m a better person. So, even if Jason only came in to my life to give me Char and teach me some tough lessons, I’m okay with that.”
    “You’re pretty amazing, you know that?” His full lips turned up in a half-smile. “Most women would want to castrate the bastard who cheated on them and turned their family upside down.”
    “There’s no place in my life for hate or regret,” I said, reciting the words I’d written in my journal dozens of times since the separation. “I have to let go of all of that. It’s the only way to make room for the life I want.”
    “I have to ask again,” Gabe said, entwining his hand with mine. “Are you sure you want to take a chance with me? I’m not very good at this whole relationship thing. Like Jason, I could be a really lousy risk.”
    I kissed his