Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 212

I glance anxiously towards the door. "I still think it's the best plan, Daniel," I say quietly.

"Are you sure that the end result is even what he wants?" Daniel asks, his voice tight. "And Fay - is it what you want?"

I hesitate now, honestly not knowing. Because I just tried to talk to Kent about all of this before my shower and...

Well. We got a little distracted. Which generally I don't mind, but now that I have a moment alone with Daniel to discuss it? A moment that we're probably not going to have a lot of for the rest of our time on this boat, unless we keep meeting by chance for secret horse-side rendezvous?

"See?" Daniel says, watching me as he crosses his arms across his chest and leans against the wall. "You don't even know if it's what you want."

"It is," I sigh, sure of it in my own heart as I grab a curry cob out of the bin against the wall and begin to idly brush Butterfly, mostly to have something to do while my mind turns. "I'm sure of that, Daniel. I just...I don't know what he wants." "Does that matter?"

"Don't be ridiculous," I snap, turning my face to glare at him now. "Of course it does."

"It didn't matter when you did the rest of this," Daniel points out, nodding his head to incorporate the whole boat, the escape plan. "If you had told him about it, he would have told you not to. That it was too dangerous. That you putting yourself in danger isn't what he wanted."

"That's different," I sigh, shaking my head. "Now we're...together, literally and figuratively. I had to do what I did to get him back to our side. And now...we should make decisions together. Right?"

A soft smirk comes to Daniel's face. "Sure," he says, "...except when you know that Kent won't let you do the thing you really want to do."

"I know," I moan, my hands dropping to my side as I heave a deep sigh. "Am I a bad girlfriend? I don't even want to tell him because I know he's going to shut it down in an instant. Even though it's the best choice - the only choice -"

"Well, you may be his girlfriend," Daniel says, skirting around the horses to come to my side. "But you're my wife. So. I think I still get some priorities there."

"You're the best husband a girl could ask for," I say, meaning it in my own way and grinning up at him. "Always so supportive of my insane ideas that might get us killed."

"Well, it helps that my boyfriend really likes your insane ideas. You keep life spicy for him in ways that cannot."

"Oh, Daniel," I say, my face falling a little bit sarcastically as I look up at him. "You're having trouble keeping things spicy for Jerome? Oh, you poor thing..."

He laughs then, realizing what I'm doing and gives me a little push that doesn't move me very far. "The levels of spice in my relationship with my boyfriend are none of your business, wife -" "Come on! Just like, two details! You never tell me anything!"

"Precisely," he says, grinning and bending over to taunt me a little. "And I intend to keep it that way -"

"What's all this?" Kent's voice rings out from the doorway as he frowns and peers at the two of us laughing together at the far end of the shipping container, the two horses between us.

"Hey, dad," Daniel calls, leaning back against the wall and smiling a little, clearly pleased to see his father but letting me decide what to say.

"Hi!" I call, waving to Kent with a big smile on my face, not wanting him to intuit that Daniel and I were talking about some pretty serious stuff a moment ago. It's not that I want to keep things from him but...

But then I stop myself in my own thoughts because, actually, I very much do want to keep just this one last thing from him. Because I've got a decision to make, and I need to know, genuinely, what Kent wants from our life together before I make it. "We were just checking on the horses," I say cheerfully as Kent comes around Heathcliff and Butterfly, patting each of them gently on the way.

"All right," Kent says, frowning a little and looking between us, perhaps intuiting that it's a little bit strange for us to be checking on the horses together, especially as he knows Daniel has no fondness for the creatures. "Are you...finished?" "Well, I'm never finished spending time with Heathcliff," I say, putting the curry comb back in the bin. "But I can pick it up later. Why? Is something going on?"

"Not in particular," he says. "Though everyone's up on the deck. You should come up. It's a nice day."

Daniel and I look at each other, each giving a shrug, and then we both smile and nod to Kent.

I start to step forward but I hesitate when I see Kent frowning between us.

"You two," he murmurs, more curious than angry or anything like that. "You've gotten even closer, haven't you? In the past two months?"

I look up at Daniel, considering the question. "We were always close, Kent," I reply as Daniel looks at me, probably considering the same.

"But yeah, I think we have," Daniel finishes, looking back at his father. "Is that a problem for you?"

"No," Kent says quickly, reaching an arm out for me. I move to his side, taking the final bite of my sandwich so my hands are free. "I just...hope you both saved a place for me."

And I beam up at him then, realizing that Kent isn't being suspicious - or at least, not wholly suspicious. He's being vulnerable, and trying to show Daniel and I how he wants to be part of our lives, whatever they are and however changed they might be. Kent laughs a little, looking down at me as I consider that this vulnerability - it must be intensely uncomfortable for him. "Don't over-think it," he murmurs, turning me towards the door.

"It's nice!" I laugh, glancing at Daniel behind us, who is also smiling. "I like open-emotion Kent! He's sweet!"

"No, I'm not," Kent growls, taking a deep breath as the three of us pass out of the stable container and Daniel closes the door behind us. "I take it back. I want nothing to do with either of you - let's go back to the way it was."

"Sorry, pop," Daniel sighs, clapping Kent on the shoulder as we make our way down the hall. "You opened that door. Now we know you're a big softie. You can't go back."

Kent just sighs, shaking his head, but I can tell by the quirk at the corner of his lips that he likes it too. This new closeness, between all of us? He likes it very, very much.

There is indeed a sweet little gathering on the deck when the three of us emerge from below, and I grin to see my dad and my sister lounging on two of six comfortable-looking plush chairs that I bought and arranged to have set up before we even arrived. I mean, it's not that nice out here - it's still the deck of a container ship and not at all a fancy yacht or a cruise ship or anything - the walls and the ground are all metal, painted white and grey. But still, seeing my family here sitting quietly in the sun, enjoying the breeze?

I have to admit, it's very nice.

Intuiting my happiness, Kent gives me a squeeze around the shoulders and leads me over to another lounge chair. To my surprise, he sits down first and then grasps my hand, tugging me downward and pulling me back against him.

I settle against Kent a little tense, uneasy with the public display of affection that he's never been willing to show before, which we worked for months to avoid.

"I know," he murmurs in my ear as I lean back against his chest. "It's weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I say, looking up at him and relieved to hear him acknowledge it. "Weird but...nice?"

"Weird but nice," he agrees, kissing me on lightly on the side of the head before looking around at everyone. Janeen grins at us, intuiting the awkwardness and loving it, while my dad sighs and looks away for a second, perhaps still getting used to it. Daniel, a little oblivious and still looking around, drops onto the lounge next to Kent and I. "Where's Jerome?" he asks.