Business Casual (Lovelight, #4)

by B.K. Borison

“It’s too much.” “It’s really not.” I make a boatload of money. This is a drop in a very large bucket. “It is. It’s way too much.” Her eyes fill with tears. “Charlie, I can never pay you back for any of this.” I grab both of her hands with mine, plane tickets crumpled between us. “I don’t want you to pay me back. It’s a gift, Stella. You don’t repay those.” My throat tightens again and I have to clear it. My voice drops and I rub my thumbs over her knuckles. “Do you remember that day you came to the house? All those years ago?” Her mom had just died and she wanted to know her birth father. So she looked him up and found our address, brought all the letters her mother wrote over the years but never sent. She didn’t know about me, didn’t know about my mom, and didn’t know our dad was a giant disappointment with a track record of horrendous decision-making. “When you were walking out the door, you told me, ‘We can be family, if you want.’ Well, this is what family does. I know we’re both on a bit of a learning curve, but I have around twenty birthdays and Easter holidays and Christmases to make up for. Just…bundle it up together, okay? Let me do this for you.” She sniffles. “You don’t give presents for Easter.” “There are baskets, I’m told.” “Easter baskets don’t have plane tickets in them.” “Stella.” She grips me harder. “You don’t have anything to make up for,” she whispers. I shrug. She deserves to have a family member who’s not a disappointment. I want to be that for her....