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He’d known the answer before Amanda left. Had known it on their last day together, when the hours ahead of them seemed to be disappearing too fast.

But this was his daughter asking, and suddenly there was something more important than admitting the truth. “Would it bother you if I did?”

Her brow furrowed, and she tilted her head to the side. “Why would it?”

“Because she’s not your mom.”

“Dad.” She closed the laptop, stood, and approached the island between them. “I know that. And Amanda knows that. Nobody’s trying to replace Mom.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” Her voice softened. “Because sometimes I think you worry about it more than I do.”

That stopped him. Maybe she was right. For years, there had only been the two of them. He’d never had to wonder how Rissa would feel about another woman becoming important to him because there hadn’t been one.

Until Amanda.

Rissa reached across the island and laid her hand over his. “I love Mom. I’ll always love Mom. And I know you loved her with all your heart too. But you loving Amanda doesn’t change that.”

For a moment, Grady didn't trust himself to speak. He'd spent years worrying about how Rissa might react if he ever fell in love again, and here she was, reassuring him that loving Amanda didn't diminish what he'd shared with Leah.

“You really like her, don't you?” he asked.

“Yeah, I like her a lot. And I think you two are great together. She makes you happy.” Rissa paused, then added, “At least she did when she was here. Now, you’re miserable without her.”

He couldn’t argue with that. Not when she’d spent the past month watching him wander around the house with no damn idea what to do with himself.

A hint of her earlier grin returned. “And considering I’m the reason the two of you finally went on a real date, I’d be pretty annoyed if you screwed it up now.”

That sounded more like his daughter.

He sighed, but some of the weight he hadn’t realized he was carrying had disappeared.

“So,” she said, “do you love her?”

This time, there was no reason to hold the words back. “Yeah, I do.”

Something softened in Rissa’s expression. “Does she know?”

“No.”

That answer earned him another exasperated look, but he ignored it.

“And I’m not telling her I love her for the first time over the phone.”

And just like that, the answer to a question he'd avoided for five weeks was right in front of him. If he didn't want to say it over the phone, he needed to go to her.

His daughter must have come to the same conclusion because she pointed to the front door. “So go tell her.”

For once, Grady didn't have an argument ready. His department wouldn't collapse because he took a few days off. His undersheriff could handle things in his absence, and he had enough unused vacation time to take a few months off.

Amanda might be busy. She might have meetings or plans he knew nothing about. Showing up unannounced risked him spending half his trip entertaining himself while she worked.

He didn’t care.

He wasn’t going there expecting her to rearrange her life for him. He wanted to see her and tell her what he should have told her before she left.

Pulling out his phone, he opened the department calendar. Friday was clear enough that his undersheriff could handle anything that came up, and nothing on the weekend required his presence. Monday could be covered if he needed the extra day.