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ahead of him, he smacked me on the ass.
    “Always wanted a sister,” he whispered, breath warm on my neck.
    Reed walked past me as if he didn’t have a care in the world, and when I heard the back door close, I started wandering, in search of a bathroom. I ended up in the kitchen, where I found a woman just a few years older than I was, hard at work on what looked to be a fantastic meal.
    “Um, excuse me,” I said, timidly. “Sorry to disturb you, but I’m looking for the bathroom.”
    “Oh, no problem. You must be Tatum, Mr. Monroe’s daughter.”
    I smiled at her. “I am.”
    “It’s a pleasure to meet you. He’s been looking forward to your visit.” She rinsed her hands at the sink. “Follow me. I’ll show you where the bathroom is.”
    She led me to a powder room that was roughly the size of my bedroom. I thanked her and she returned to work, while I looked at myself in the mirror and tried like hell to figure out how I’d managed to get myself into the mess I was facing. Even though I felt like I’d been physically turned inside out in the half hour or so I’d been in my dad’s house, I still looked far more composed than I expected. I smoothed my hair, tucked it behind my ears, and gave myself a mental talking to.
    You will be fine. You can handle this. You will go out there and act like you don’t have a care in the world. You will be polite. You will let your father try to make amends for all the shit he put you through, and you will give his new wife a chance. You will ignore Reed if you can, and you will wait until you get home to completely freak the fuck out about the fact that you slept with your stepbrother. You will get the hell out of here as soon as lunch is over, and you will never, ever, make the same mistake with Reed again.
    “Understand?” I asked my reflection. I nodded and headed out to the terrace, bracing myself for the weirdness I was sure would follow.
    ***
    “We know one another,” Reed said, when his mother introduced me to him.
    Tina and my dad shared a puzzled look.
    “From school. We were friends until Tatum moved to Texas.”
    I sat down at the round table next to the pool, focusing on getting settled, smoothing my skirt, and taking a long, slow drink of the lemonade Tina had poured me.
    My father shook his head. “I’m sorry, Reed, but I don’t think I remember you.”
    I started to blurt out a comment about how uninvolved my father had actually been in my childhood, but in the spirit of mending fences, I moderated what I was going to say. “Dad, you were pretty busy with your campaigns and keeping voters happy. Mom would remember Reed.”
    Dad looked at me, and I couldn’t tell if his feelings were hurt, but I’d told the truth. There were years when it felt like the most time we ever spent with him was at public appearances.
    “I guess you’re right, Tatum,” he said. “I think I have a lot to make up for in the father department.”
    “That’s what today’s all about,” Tina said, taking my father’s hand. “I wasn’t always the best mother, but those days are over. I know you are both adults now, but better late than never. It bothers both Donald and I that we’re not closer to our children. We want to end that here and now.”
    The last thing I wanted at that moment was to start a trip down memory lane—rehashing past wrongs and listening to my dad promise me things I doubted he’d ever deliver on. Even though I was trying to keep an open mind, part of me didn’t entirely trust him. And I didn’t know what to think of Tina. Reed had been kind of a tough guy in school—he’d been a partier, and I knew his mother had been too. I was having trouble reconciling the young single mother with the calm, somewhat polished woman who sat next to Dad. I was mentally chastising myself for having noticed that her grammar wasn’t quite perfect, but I really couldn’t help it. I was at a loss for words—not the first time that day—and I was grateful