"For the love of God, answer the damn phone!"

I reluctantly pulled my phone out of my pocket and grimaces at the caller-ID. "It's just work, Dani. It can wait till we get back."

Even though Danielle was in the shower in our hotel room, I knew she had her do-what-I-say-or-you'll-be-in-the-doghouse expression on her face. And by doghouse, that meant that I would be bunking with Jackson while she spent the rest of the night girl talking with Harper about me.

"It's been going off all day."

I leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom. She wasn't wrong. My phone had been going off all day. We started the morning with our normal routine of the five of us meeting for breakfast. Then we did some sightseeing and more selfie-taking before eventually coming back here to pack for our train ride to Barcelona tomorrow.

"How did you even know it was ringing?" I asked. "I put it on silent."

When I heard the pop and smelled that familiar strawberry scent, I knew she opened the shampoo bottle.

"I can sense how stressed out you are. It's rolling off of you in waves."

"Be that as it may...I'm not answering it."

"Answer that phone and deal with it, Ryan Hale, or there will be a new definition of 'being in the dog house'."

Damn. I knew it.

I stared at the light blue shower curtain. I didn't want to answer the phone. Answering the phone was the last thing I wanted to do right now. I couldn't lie and say I did, either. She would know. Somehow...she would know.

And I thought Lanie was the physic of the group.

Lying wasn't the answer anyway. I didn't want to lie to her. If I learned anything from my sham of an engagement to Harper, it was that lying wasn't the answer. Harper warned me again today that I needed to tell Danielle the truth about the situation with my parents. It pissed me off at first. I didn't like that she was pushing me and meddling in my personal business with my wife.

But another part of me remembered that my wife was one of her best friends. They were closer than sisters—and if you lied to one, you lied to all.

"Fine," I said tightly. "I'll be on the terrace."

I pushed off the doorframe and started towards the open double doors before calling over my shoulder, "Be careful getting out of the shower, please."

"Yes, boss," she responded mockingly.

Once I was out of Danielle-hearing-range, I hit the accept button.

"What," I said curtly into the receiver.

"That's not how you're supposed to talk to your father, Ryan."

Okay, maybe I kinda bent the truth a little when I told her it was work that had been blowing my phone up all day. Technically, it was work since I worked for my father. So I was good...right?

"What is it, dad? I'm still on vacation."

There was a brief silence on the other line.

"In Paris?"

I sighed heavily. "How did you find out?"

"The itinerary you left behind was on your kitchen counter."

"What!" I barked before I grimaced. I glanced behind me to make sure Danielle was still in the shower. "How many times have I told you to please stay out of my personal life? How did you even get in my place?"

"You forget that I own those condos, son. I walked in the lobby and asked for the key."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I wasn't mentally prepared to deal with this shit right now.

"Why did you go there, dad?"

"What did you expect? I tried to get ahold of you numerous times. Through your email and by phone. Then you send a cryptic message that you're going out of town and would be unreachable. Did you expect me to be okay with you abandoning your priorities?"

"I know what my priorities are," I shot back. "You just don't agree with them."

"Damn right I don't," he yelled into the receiver, causing me to pull the phone away from my ear a little. "We had an agreement! You are the one who didn't hold up—"

"My end of the bargain? Really? You're bringing this shit up again? It was over two years ago! I'm married now and happy. I'm finally happy and you can't stand it." I scoffed at how ridiculous this all was. "Don't worry, dad, I'm still going to take over the company like you want."

"I don't know, son. Apparently things can happen. Plans change."

My face scrunched up in confusion. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that I need someone I can count on to take over my company. Not someone who has...other things on their mind."

"Stop beating around the bush and spit it out. I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"I'm talking about the nursery you have in that guest bedroom. I'm talking about the grandchild I had no idea was coming!"

Dead silence from me.

Shit. He went my place to look for me and saw the itinerary. He must have gotten curious and snooped around and found...

"Dad, let me—"

"What? Explain? Please do. Explain to me when you were going to tell me and your mom that your wife is pregnant with my grandchild?"

"That right there!" I barked. "The way you said wife. She has a name dad. What was I supposed to expect? You've never accepted my marriage to Danielle, so why would this baby be any different? That's why I haven't told you that we were expecting."

"What did you just say?"

I whirled around at the sound of Danielle's voice. My cell phone slipped from my hand and fell to the ground by my feet. My father and his ranting was forgotten.

Christ, the look on her face...

"I can explain."

"What did you just say?"

Ryan spun around and dropped his phone. The oh, shit look he had on his face told me I heard him correctly. He lied to me.

"I can explain."

I splayed my hands in front of me. "Really? Well, I'm all ears. Please explain to me why you lied to my face."

"Danielle, I didn't—"

"If memory serves me right, you said that not only did they know about the baby, but they were thrilled. Isn't that what you said, Ryan?"

I saw the ashamed, defeated look on his face; but I couldn't let it faze me right now. The one thing I couldn't stand in a relationship was lies. Trust didn't come easy to me. I've had my share of cheating ex-boyfriends that lied as easily as they breathed. I thought all that was over when I got together with Ryan.

I knew he wasn't a cheater. But lying was still a very big deal for me. Especially when it came to this baby.

"Well?" I prodded when he remained silent.

Ryan raked a hand through his blond hair. "Shit. I didn't mean to lie to you, Dani. I just didn't know what to do." He dropped his hands and exhaled a deep breath. "I wanted to tell my dad about the baby, but he still wasn't very accepting about our marriage. I just couldn't bring myself to tell him and risk hearing that he wanted nothing to do with our baby."

I gasped a little at that last part. When I heard his voice crack a little, I knew this was really killing him.

"Did he say that?"

It wasn't a shock that Ryan's parents were still pretty pissed about the fake wedding between him and Harper—and I knew they weren't too thrilled about me—but would his dad really say that about his grandchild?

"No, he didn't. Honestly he might have but you walked out here." Ryan started pacing back and forth on the terrace, oblivious to his cell phone that he stepped on and cracked. Pacing was something I've noticed he's done a lot of lately. "Work hasn't been blowing up my phone all day," he confessed. "It was my dad."

Somehow that wasn't a shock to me. Every time his damn phone went off today, Ryan would get this weird look on his face when I asked who it was. I should have known it was one of his parents. Only they made him tense and stressed out like that.

Well, besides Harper's parents, of course.

"Why was he calling?" I asked.

I wanted to know the answer to that question the most. Ever since the 'fake' wedding, Ryan and his dad drifted apart. On one of the very few drunken nights that we shared together, Ryan told me how broken up he had been about that. He and his dad were pretty close before all that.

Apparently I was also one of the reasons they were on the outs.

"He went by our place," Ryan answered quietly. "I originally told him we were doing a stay-cation type of thing in New York. When he saw the itinerary for our trip on the counter, he realized I lied to him. Then he saw the nursery."

"The nursery," I repeated lamely.

Our beautiful baby nursery was something I was so extremely proud of. When we found out we were pregnant, we both got a little too excited and started buying the essentials.

Crib. Bassinet. Rocking chair. Changing table.

Obviously we had to wait before we could get any clothes or picked a color/theme for the nursery until we knew the sex of the baby. Ryan was convinced it was going to be a girl. I thought the opposite. Honestly, I would be happy as long as the baby was healthy.

"So what did he say? About the baby?"

Another heavy sigh from my husband, followed by him rubbing his hand over his face.

"We didn't really get that far."

My eyes widened and I took a few steps toward him. "You're lying. Again. Tell me what is going on right now, Ryan Hale, or so help me I will call your father myself and—"

"He said he doesn't want me to take over the company anymore!"

That stopped me cold. "What? He can't do that. Why would he say that?"

I waited for an answer. Seconds turned to minutes.

Nothing.

I closed the small distance between us and cupped the side of his face.

"Tell me, baby. Be honest with me. You told me once that we could tell each other anything."

A corner of his mouth lifted. "That was when we were first together. And we were both pretty drunk. I can't believe you remember that."

I smiled at the memory. On the night he mentioned I showed up at his apartment, drunk and upset. It took a good our of him holding me and telling me it was okay before I told him the truth about why I was so upset.

My parents told me they were getting a divorce. They always seemed like the perfect couple and the news hit me hard. Thankfully they reconciled since then.

But that was the night Ryan told me that I could tell him anything. That I was safe with him. And he was right. He just needed to understand that that worked both ways.

"It's true, Ry. Now tell me what's going on. Please."

Just like he did that night, I stroked his back. That seemed to get him talking.

"I hated lying to you," he whispered. He looked up at me with glassy eyes. "I hated it. I know how you feel about that, but I just..."

"Just what?"

"I was so scared of telling them. I was so scared that they would take out their anger on our child." He looked away from me. "I didn't know how to tell you that."

"Listen to me," I said softly before turning his face back towards me. "If they don't accept me and the baby, then we'll deal with it. If they do, then great. But never forget that you and me are a team. We're partners. We're in this together."

I exhaled a weary breath. "I know losing your parents scares you, but maybe there's a chance we can fix it."

"How do you mean?"

I glanced at his phone. "Use my phone tomorrow to call him back. Talk calmly. No fighting. I want you to setup a time for you and I to meet up with them for lunch or dinner when we get back. Maybe we can all out our cars on the table and try to work through this. How does that sound?"

Ryan looked deep into my eyes with so much love.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?"

I brushed my lips against his. "Not a damn thing, Ryan Hale. You deserve to be happy."

I pulled back with.a sudden thought.

"But no more lies! Or else—

"I know, I know," he laughed. "I'll be in the doghouse."

"Exactly."