Page 109 of The Wedding Situation Romance

“Yep.”

“Not impossible,” I tell him.

“No. But not easy. Hence, the drink.”

We are quiet for a respectable moment. Despite our differences over the years, we can’t deny that we have both been in the trenches of our line of work. They are muddy at best.

Grant takes another sip and clicks his tongue.

“Now that I’m here and my belly is good and warm, maybe I’ll offer you my blessing,” he says.

“Blessing for what?”

“Dating my daughter,” he says and my eyes scrape over to meet his.

“Seriously?” I ask skeptically.

“Hell no,” he laughs.

“You’re such a piece of shit,” I mutter. “I thought you didn’t kick men while they’re down.”

“And I thought you didn’t fall in love.”

“Yeah, well…she’s different, your daughter. She’s a gem,” I admit.

“She is. A gem that deserves the world,” he agrees. “Tell me, I don’t think we have ever talked about why you do what you do.”

“You mean why am I an attorney?” I ask.

“Not just an attorney. A divorce attorney. It’s no walk through the tulips,” he says, and I snort.

“More like a minefield.”

Grant chortles. “Truth.”

“People have the wrong idea about lawyers…” I start, and he nods. “We aren’t all snakes. Even if we do questionable things from time to time. It’s not like Iwantto fuck people over, you know?”

“Not usually, anyways,” he chuckles and I smirk.

Am I actually shooting the shit with Grant Bowen right now?

That’s how you know I’ve hit an all-time low.

Either way, I’m low enough in the aforementioned gutter not to care.

“I think I let my own pain fuel a lot of my cases, though,” I admit. While I expect him to be a cock about it, Grant just nods.

“I get that. It’s a tough job. No doubt.”

“I fucked up,” I admit. And I’m not just referring to the job. But his daughter. Quinn.

“You know,” he says. “I can relate more than you think. Quinn’s mom was the love of my life…but she wasn’t my first love.”

“Oh?” I ask with slight interest. Not because I care about Bowen’s love story, I don’t. But because I care about Quinn. By default, I guess I have to care about him too.

“My first love was younger. Brief. But whirlwind. It was enough to break me, that’s for sure. I thought that girl was it. It’s laughable now that I had the honor of being with Quinn’s mom.”

I remember in context that Quinn’s mom died years ago and suddenly feel petty. Pettiershould I say.