She had a mug of coffee at her fingertips and was starting eggs and bacon when she heard a sound from the hallway. And she caught herself holding her breath as she listened, wondering if Adam would appear. Oddly, it felt a little like when she had met him for the first time, when she’d been so startled that her father hadn’t mentioned, amid all his approval of his new partner, that he was also drop-dead gorgeous. How could you describe him and not mention those stormy gray eyes and thick dark lashes, or that he was built like some walking, breathing example of her ideal male.

Not that she had ever told her father what her ideal male was. She’d been a little embarrassed to admit that he was the one all males in her life would be measured against, and that most of them came up far short.

I wish I’d told you that, Dad.

That, and so much else that she’d never gotten to say, because in her youthful ignorance she had thought they had all the time in the world.

She heard the bathroom door close, and breathed normally again. She’d told him there were clean towels in the bathroom, and he’d brought in a small duffel bag last night, politely thanking her for the chance at a real bed.

The rest of the brief conversation played back in her head.

If I’d known you were sleeping in your truck I would have offered sooner. The couch at least.

You wouldn’t have before Quinn told you about my arm.

Was he right? She hadn’t wanted him around, true, but would she really have been that ill-mannered when he was here to help?

Of course, she now knew he was likely only still here because he felt guilty. Which was at least partly her fault, so now she felt guilty.

Guilt’s a useless emotion, Mandy, unless it drives you to do something about it, to fix what you feel guilty about. And if there’s nothing to be done, resolve to do better and cut it loose before it drags you down.

God, she missed her dad so much. Unlike many of her peers, who had dismissed parental advice in the youthful certainty they knew better, she considered her father the wisest person she knew, and when he shared that wisdom she took it seriously.

She heard Adam in the doorway just as she was putting the bacon on a paper towel to drain. “Good timing, breakfast is—” she looked around, and her tongue stumbled. “Ready,” she finished with an effort.