The moment Christopher said her name, something in me flicked, sharp and immediate, and I gave him my full attention in a way I hadn’t managed all morning.
I like her.
The words sat there between us, simple, straightforward, exactly the kind of thing Christopher would say without any pretense wrapped around it. That was who he was, direct, unhurried, a man who’d never needed to dress up what he wanted in anything softer than the truth.
How could he like my stepdaughter.
The thought came before I could stop it, and I sat with the strangeness of it for a moment. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with it. Christopher was a good man, successful, respected, the kind of man any father would consider more than acceptable for his daug
