“Seriously quality stuff.” Jay nodded, impressed. “I looked at their pricing sheets. You weren’t kidding about profit potential for Colman.”

“Not bad for a college dropout with a pierced face?”

He grinned, hugging her again. “I do miss arguing with you every day at work.” He leaned close to whisper to her. “We heard from the attorney. I’ll talk with you about it later, all right?”

She nodded and then looked back down the way they’d all come. “Did Dad get held up too?”

Her mother’s mouth flattened into a line and Julie sighed.

That’s when she knew he hadn’t come. She’d waited over two hours and he wasn’t going to show up.

She wanted it not to matter. Wished it didn’t hurt as bad as it did. Even after he’d said all that stuff to her, she wanted him to come see her work. Because she was his child, if for nothing else.

“He’s not here.”

Asa came up, pausing to kiss her mother and sister before putting a hand at the small of PJ’s back. “I see the Colmans are in the house. Nice to see you all. Did you get the chance to check out PJ’s work?”

His body language changed once he truly took note of her expression. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I’m done now. I’d like to go home.” She wanted to pull the covers up over her head.

Her mom took PJ’s hand. “He wasn’t feeling well. He wanted to come.”

PJ just looked at her mother. “Stop making excuses for him.”

Jay shook his head. “PJ’s right. But we’re here. That’s what matters.”

“It does matter, yes. I’m happy you’re all here. It means a lot to me. I’ll talk to you all later. Call me about that thing, Jay.”

Her mother hugged her. “He doesn’t know how to be sorry. Don’t give up on him.”

They said their good-byes and Asa led her away.

Chapter Twenty-six

Asa wasn’t sure if he should keep to the plan, but then he decided, fuck Howard Colman. PJ deserved a special dinner in her honor for this, and he’d be damned if he let that asshole hurt her any more that night.

“I’m really hungry. You want to get some dinner? Celebrate you, my wild rose?”

She smiled, but it was sad at the edges. “Sure. I’m hungry.”

He shoved all his annoyance down as far as he could. Her mother should have warned him about this so they could have prepared PJ for it rather than have her great night come crashing down around her ears because she got broadsided by it.

“You don’t have to deal with all this Eastlake traffic. We can get something closer to your house, you know.”

He rolled his eyes; even though she couldn’t see, she’d know. “You said just a few days ago that you’d been craving Serafina, and that’s where we’re going.”

“Okay then. Thank you,” she said, her voice a little less flat.

He parked and took her inside and that’s when she saw his mom and sister standing with her friends.

“Congratulations!”

PJ took in the scene with a smile on her face. “Aw, guys.”

Asa just watched, approving of how her friends hugged her, excited for her success. His mom and sister hugged her and then Asa.

“You had this planned all along?” PJ asked him in a tone that made him so fucking glad he had.

“Your mother and sister did most of it. I just suggested the venue.”

PJ didn’t have to tiptoe up because she had on such high heels, but she kissed him, cupping his face. “I won’t embarrass you too much when I tell you I know this was all your idea. I thought we established that I know that you’re all soft and warm inside for me.”

Asa ducked his head to brush his lips against hers, flattered but not wanting to belabor who did what. She needed to feel like everyone she loved was concerned about how she felt and what made her happy. He didn’t need a blue ribbon to do it. PJ was pleased and felt cared for and that was the natural order of things.

Her family came in right as they were being seated. He tried not to be too hostile. Lenore had, as Asa had told PJ, taken care of preordering the food and had cocktails waiting for them, the flowers on the table and soft classical music playing in the background.

But she hadn’t protected her daughter again, and he really didn’t like that.

“What the hell is the deal?” he asked Jay later on. PJ was between Julie and Audra, listening to a story his mom was telling them at the other end of the table, so he could speak without worrying she’d overhear.

Jay shook his head. “I don’t know. I thought he was coming. I talked to him at work yesterday and reminded him of it. He didn’t say anything then.”

“You people are really beginning to piss me off. She’s important and she wants your goddamn love and you disappoint her over and over.”

“I get that you’ve seen a lot of bullshit, but you don’t know anything about us or our family. I love my sister; you don’t have any right to claim otherwise.”

“Yeah? I know your father called her a failure in a crowded restaurant. I know he didn’t come to an event that was incredibly important to his child. I know he let her quit without even trying to stop her. I know all she wants is his approval, so much she bent herself into a pretzel for years and it still wasn’t enough. And I know your mother could have given me a heads-up about this so I could have taken the time to prepare PJ for disappointment, and she didn’t. I know what I need to know. Which is that your sister wants to do the right thing. She wants you all to be proud of her and support her and she’s been let down right and left. You got some other way to spin any of that?”

Jay exhaled hard. “Chances are, my mom thought she could get him to come tonight and she worked up until the very last minute. She wasn’t raised to contradict her husband. It’s hard for her to stand up to him. She loves him and in a lot of ways is dependent on his affection and support. As for my father, you’re right. PJ’s wanted him to notice her since she was tiny and he just… I don’t know. It’s something about her in particular. We’re trying, Asa. Trying to do what’s right, not only for Colman and each of us, but for the four of us as the caretakers of something our grandfather built. None of us wants PJ hurt. None of us was happy our dad was a no-show. I like that you want to protect her, but cut us a break.”

Asa snorted. “Not my job. You get yourself someone who loves you and she’ll cut you a break when it comes to this sort of thing. But my job is PJ’s well-being.”

Jay nodded. “Fair enough. How about this? Give us a chance to do the right thing here.”

“I’ve been doing that.”

“We heard promising news from the attorney and we’re going to try to meet this coming week to talk about our options at Colman. We want to bring PJ back into the family and into the business.”

Asa knew how much PJ wanted this, so he clenched back the words he preferred to say and instead shrugged. “All right, but my patience is thin when it comes to this.”

“Mine too. It’s time for us to step out of the box, and PJ’s the best at that of all four of us.”

At the end of the night, as everyone was out on the sidewalk saying their good-byes, Lenore waited with PJ, speaking to her quietly. Asa walked his mom and sister to their cars and headed over to see what was going on.

“I was just telling Penelope that I was sorry for her father not being here tonight and that I wanted to invite you over. We used to do a Friday-night dinner once a month, but over the last two years or so we’ve fallen away from it. We’re in dire need of them again, I think. Would you come? This Friday?”

Asa looked to PJ. She needed to make this choice. He’d back whatever she said.

“We’ll be there.”

Her mother hugged her. “I love you, darling, and I’m so proud. I’ll see you both Friday night at seven.”