Standing By: A Knight's Tale #2 Read Free Page B

of months and things may not have progressed much, but he was my boyfriend.”
    There are things I don’t say, like: “ She snatched him right before we had sex. I seriously thought we were there… close to the x date where we decided to take the relationship to the next level. ” The images of Kevin and my sister having sex against my window continued to linger inside my head, which is why I moved to the studio located above the bakery. Thanks to the joy of having a… stepmom or half-mom—Mel. She owned the building and rented it out to me at a fair price. Mel, Dad’s first wife, died a couple of years ago, and now the building belongs to her son Ben, my oldest half-brother. God, I miss her.
    “Are you going to help them?” I ask him and then offer, “What can I do to give them a hand? Organize a baby shower?”
    “I’m buying them a house,” he says as he scrubs his face with both hands. I narrow my gaze, because that’s like giving them an award for their bad behavior. It’s just like giving them a fish as a gift, instead of teaching them how to fish, as he taught us at an early age. “In New Jersey, so they don’t have to worry about rent and they’ll be away from Manhattan.”
    “Thank you?” I spit the words in the form of a question because I have no idea how to take this information or why is he telling me. Then I change the subject to one I can handle. “Do you know anything about Willows ; is Parker definitely selling?”
    Willows is a trendy, organic restaurant down the street from my bakery shop. My brother, Parker, owns it but he can barely take care of it since he moved to Washington State. I provide them with fresh muffins, cupcakes and some pastries making him my number one customer. If he sells, and the buyer doesn’t care much for my bakery, my production will diminish by fifty percent, and I’ll be in trouble… the bank will now breathe down my neck and bye, bye dream.
    “Yes he is finishing the deal today. Are you going to be okay at the wedding?”
    “I guess so, why aren’t you going?”
    “They don’t want parents involved,” Dad shrugs, as though he isn’t bothered by the fact that he’ll miss Paige’s wedding. “And I know my children, Hayley, this isn’t her first and only marriage. She’s like her mother.”
    Her mother—who is searching desperately for husband number five.
    “Are you telling me I’m like my mother?”
    “No, never.” He pursues his lips. “I loved Caroline but thankfully you’re not like her.”
    “You loved her?” he bows his head and I take that as a yes. “Then why didn’t you marry her?”
    “Because I didn’t want to divorce her,” he answers with a flat tone. “Certainly you know she’s not an easy person to live with, and in truth, I’m not easy either… this way worked best for everyone.”
    “What way? Who is everyone?” I don’t let him answer. “I could have used a buffer while growing up, and I can sure use one now. Instead, you decided to leave me with your first wife—Mel—while you and Mom escaped to some strange destination for weeks or months on end didn’t help me much. Mom complained bitterly that you didn’t want her; that she wouldn’t put her body through another pregnancy to end up with someone like me. Which I thought was something I’d understand when I got older, yet the only translation I come up with is that she doesn’t like me. I love you, Dad, but I also don’t like you seventy percent of the times.”
    “I know, Pumpkin, I’m not a very nice person.” He pats my hand again and heads to the door. “However, I love all my kids, and you the most.”
    I stare at him not knowing what to say back, because there are days when he’s this loving man that I adore but then there are others where he also barges in and lists my flaws and failures.
    “You’re too hard with Caroline, Hayley.” Dad stops mid-way through the threshold. “You’re her only family. Perhaps you should try to be a