Luke shook his head. “That sucks.”

“Yeah. Anyway, my dad went on to a very successful career in finance, got married, and had a family. I have a half-brother, he’s seventeen and completely in love with what I do. He’s extremely talented with a computer. I hope he’ll finish college and come to work for me. I give him some of my products to test.”

“I feel like you’re leaving something out. Do you spend holidays with them? Does your dad’s wife accept you? Are you part of the family now?”

“Again, it’s complicated. He didn’t even know I existed until I was arrested and my uncle contacted him, hoping he could make right what I’d done with a big fat check. I didn’t even know my uncle knew who my father was, but the moment my dad saw me, he knew I was his, and he accepted me. He believed me when I told him what happened and told my uncle to suck it. My dad and his wife took me into their home, but it was awkward and difficult at first. He wanted to make up for sixteen years by being a parent to me, but I’d lived a lot of life in my sixteen years and had pretty much taken care of myself for most of it. I didn’t need someone to micromanage my life. I needed someone to help me move on. Once he figured that out, he let me lead and we became close friends. That was enough for me.

“He hired a top attorney to get me out of the trouble with my uncle’s ranch. Two years’ probation and community service. I was grateful. It still bothers him he didn’t know about me, and that I grew up the way I did. He has regrets. I have regrets. Our relationship isn’t like most fathers’ and daughters’ but it means the world to me to know that he’s on my side. He could have walked away from the whole thing when my uncle called him and kept his family in the dark that he had an illegitimate daughter, but he didn’t. He chose me and the harder path over taking the easy way out.”

“Do you and the boys spend time with him and his family?”

“Not as much as we’d like. Everyone’s so busy. But I really love it when we’re all together.”

“If you stopped working so much, you’d have more time to spend with them.” He said it with a teasing tone, but she heard the gentle reminder to take better care of herself and stop working like a maniac.

“I’ll take that under advisement, Counselor.” She smirked at him. “Tell me about growing up here with your brother. It must have been heaven.”

She leaned back in her chair and looked at the beautiful landscape. The ranch was really lovely. The old oak trees stood tall and green. She could imagine being a kid on the ranch and running around the pastures, climbing the trees, and just being young. She felt she’d never been a child. Not since her mother died and she’d been shipped from one horrible foster home to the next until she ended up working her childhood away on her uncle’s ranch.