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"Not really hungry."

He grunts. "Since when aren't you hungry?" He tosses the plate on my lap. "Here. Eat." He takes a bite of bacon and stares at the pasture.

I pick up the fork and put scrambled eggs into my mouth, barely tasting it.

"You're doing good, Son."

I glance at him in question.

He continues, "With Lainey. And Charlie. Hell, even her mama is starting to like you. So don't let the small stuff bother you."

I sit up straighter. "What small stuff?"

"Whatever's got you sitting out here alone instead of in there with your family."

"I'm fine," I lie.

He arches a brow and adds, "I raised eight kids, Son. Something's up. So fill me in."

I cave. "Alright. I want my daughter and Lainey in my house. Under my roof. Not living in a guesthouse on our ranch."

"Ah. I see."

"What does that mean?" I ask defensively.

He holds up his fork. "You're impatient. Give it time. Good things don't need rushing."

I grumble, "Easy for you to say. You raised all your kids under your roof."

"Oh, you want to play that game?" he asks.

"What game?"

"The game where you don't act like you did things wrong and that's why you're in this predicament."

I grind my molars, taking deep breaths.

He puts his half-eaten plate on the table and points at me. "You've been a playboy your entire life."

"I'm not⁠—"

"Don't lie to yourself, Son. I know what you and your brother do when you stay in town at your apartments. You've had too many women to count, and you finally had a woman catch your attention for longer than two seconds. So now you're ready to have everything you want at your fingertips without doing the work," he accuses.

"I'm not trying to skip out on anything with Lainey or my daughter," I declare.

"Didn't say that," he claims.

"Pretty much sounds to me like you did," I counter.

He gets up and shakes his head. He grabs his plate and glares down at me, motioning toward the guesthouse. "You expect that girl to just kneel in front of you and give you her life. Well, that's not how it works. And she has a daughter to protect in addition to her heart."

"That's my daughter and my job to protect them both," I seethe.

He grunts. "You haven't earned that right yet."

"I've done everything I can to step into my role as a father the minute I found out," I argue.

His tone softens. "Yes. And I'm proud of you for that. But it's going to take more than several days of being in their lives, Son. Lainey's a high-value woman. She needs space to know she's making the right decision for her and her daughter. So if that's the type of woman you want in your life, you're going to need to earn her. And it's not going to be overnight." He yanks the door open and marches inside. The metal slams shut.