“Nope, but I’m not surprised. With him and my Gramps on a quest to get us all coupled up, they’ve apparently set their sights on us.” He looked down at her. “What’d you tell him?”

“That I’d think about it, but really… There’s just no way I could do it.”

“How come?”

“Many reasons, but mostly because I couldn’t leave my dad here alone. He’d be heartbroken if Simone and I moved away from him. And Simone is doing really well in school and has a great group of friends. Their parents are a huge source of support to me. I just… I can’t…”

He laid a finger over her lips. “I understand, sweetheart. It’s too much to even contemplate.”

“I want it,” she whispered, her eyes filling. “I want the job and I want you and I want Vermont and… I want it all.”

“Aww, baby.” He kissed away her tears. “Maybe you should talk to your dad and see what he says before you make any decisions.”

“I can’t. He’d tell me to go and that he’d be fine, but I’d never be able to do it knowing he’d be here by himself. We’re all he has, and with Lucy in Vermont more than she’s here these days… I just can’t.”

It meant so much to him that she wanted to, and it made him determined to find a way to make this work for everyone. That was what he’d done for his entire professional life—figure out the details and get people what they wanted. He needed to approach this situation as if it were the most important case he’d ever worked on.

“I need to tell you something,” he said, deciding to lay his cards on the table even if it was far too soon for such things.

“What?” she asked, her brows knitting with concern.

He rubbed the furrow between her brows with his index finger. “I love you, Emma. I love Simone. I want both of you in my life to stay, and I’m very determined to make that happen one way or the other. So I don’t want you to worry. We’re going to figure this out.”

“You…”