Chloe’s POV

After Jake’s proposal and the family picture we took, I knew it was time to let my father know about our plans to remarry again, this time around as Chloe and Jake. Telling my father felt like stepping into sunlight after years of rain.

He sat across from me in the quiet of his living room, hands folded, eyes attentive in that way that always reminded me he had seen too much life to be easily surprised anymore. Jake sat beside me, not towering, not guarded, just ...