Free Waiting for Love by Marie Force Page A

day, and it was going to take a while before words like that rolled off her tongue naturally. But she’d get there. Starting tonight, everything was going to be different.
    Dinner was the usual McCarthy family fiasco, and Adam loved every minute of the noise, the kids, the food, the love. Being surrounded by those who loved him best brought home once again how completely taken in he’d been by someone who hadn’t deserved his love.
    He volunteered for grill duty so he could have a minute to get himself ready for some lighthearted family fun. After the trauma of the accident, his parents and siblings had enough on their minds without taking on his crap, too. Adam was determined to keep his problems to himself for as long as he could. He was, however, glad he’d told his dad. It was nice to have one person firmly in his corner. Well, Abby, too. She’d been very supportive, which he appreciated.
    If only he could stop thinking about Sasha and trying to figure out when things had gone so wrong between them that she could sell him out for money without blinking an eye. Whatever had happened, he’d been completely oblivious.
    He’d pictured her here, planned to bring her home sometime this summer. Up until now, he’d kept her a secret from his family because he knew how his mother got her hopes up at the first sign of a girlfriend. His siblings falling in love one after the other had bought him some time to keep his relationship private for that much longer.
    Sasha … Adam hated himself for missing her, for wondering if she missed him or had regrets about what she’d done. He hated himself for thinking about the apartment they’d shared or what would become of all the things they’d bought together, back when they still planned a life together. Three whole days ago.
    Who cared about wineglasses or sofas? He’d cared about her and had thought she felt the same. That was the part that truly galled him—how he could’ve lived with, slept with, made love with and worked with a woman who cared so little in the end that she could slide a knife in his back without a thought about all they’d shared.
    “You cooking that steak or killing the cow all over again?”
    Big Mac’s voice brought Adam back to the present, where he discovered he was jabbing the barbeque fork methodically into the steak. 
    “I can’t stop thinking about what you told me earlier,” Big Mac said. “I’m sorry you’re hurting, son.”
    His dad had promised to keep the story to himself until Adam was ready to share his news with the rest of the family. “Shit happens.”
    “Shit like this doesn’t happen. You got screwed, and what I’ve been wanting to know since you told me is what you’re planning to do about it.”
    Adam flipped the steaks and stepped back from the smoke. “Nothing.”
    “You’re just going to let go of the company you founded from the ground up?”
    “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
    Big Mac leaned against the rail, arms crossed, beer in hand. “Why?”
    Back in the day, Adam would’ve wilted under the intensity of that stare. “Because I don’t care enough to fight for it.”
    “You don’t care enough about the business you gave fourteen years of blood and sweat and tears to?”
    “Nope.”
    “I refer to my original question. Why?”
    “I told you.”
    “Stop the bullshit and tell me the truth.”
    “It was a sign.”
    “Of?”
    “That it’s time for a change. In more ways than one.”
    “And what will this change entail?”
    “I don’t know yet.”
    “If you need a job, you can work at the marina.”
    Adam smiled at his dad. “I appreciate the offer, but the good news in all of this is they owe me a shit ton of money that they have sixty days to pay me. After that, I can do whatever I want.”
    “Which is?”
    “Don’t know yet. I’m assuming I’ll figure that out.” Adam looked at his dad. “Don’t tell, Mom, okay? She’s upset enough about the accident. I don’t want to