The Boss' Daughter

Chapter 11

Mr. Adams walked to the fridge and grabbed a water, acting like nothing had happened. I was so confused. Why would he tell me not to go?

"Mr. Adams, why do you not want me to go?" I waited and no reply. I didn't want to push him, as he was my boss, but I was upset with him. "I deserve to know." I waited again with no answer. Mr. Adams was fumbling through some papers from his briefcase. "If you can't give me a good reason why I shouldn't go out with him, then why would I not go?"

"It's your choice." I was furious at 5his point. He told me not to go on the date with Ryan and then refused to give me any sort of explanation.

"I don't understand you. You tell me not to go on the date, yet when I ask you for a reason why you won't give me one. Clearly there's a reason you don't want me to go or else you wouldn't have said anything." He put his papers back in the briefcase.

"Just don't do it. I'm asking you not to."

"I understand that you're my boss, but you can't control every aspect of my life."

"Ms. Burke..." He paused for a moment. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "How did you enjoy dinner last night?"

"You're talking about the business dinner I attended with you?"

"Yes. How did you enjoy it?"

"It was fine, but it was a business dinner. That's completely different than this evening with Ryan."

"What if I asked you to dinner...just the two of us?"

"Mr. Adams, are you asking me on a date?" He came closer to me and put his hand on mine.

"That's exactly what I'm asking." There was a knock on the door and I pulled my hand away from his. I walked to the door, looking back at Mr. Adams. What was I supposed to do? Should I go to dinner with Ryan or should I cancel? Should I say yes to a date with Mr. Adams or should I decline? He's my boss. Wouldn't that make it awkward if things don't work out? What if things didn't work out and then he fired me? I couldn't afford to lose my job. I needed the money. I was so frazzled. Regardless, I couldn't leave Ryan standing at the door any longer so I opened it.

"Wow. You look nice, Summer."

"Thank you."

"Are you ready to go?"

"Could you hang on for a minute? I forgot something."

"Of course. I'll be waiting at the car." I nodded. I shut the door and turned to speak to Mr. Adams but he was nowhere in sight. I didn't have time to look for him so I went upstairs. Molly was sitting on the bed, scrolling on her phone.

"Ms. Burke, shouldn't you be on your date?"

"Ryan's just outside at his car waiting for me."

"Well, go on. What are you waiting for?" Should I tell Molly what her father asked me? I wasn't sure. We had gotten closer the past couple of days and I didn't want her to go back to being a hellian towards me.

"Molly, can I tell you something?"

"Is everything okay, Ms. Burke?" I walked over and sat on the bed. "I hope this isn't because of my dad yelling at me downstairs. I'm use to it. You shouldn't worry." I shook my head, letting her know that wasn't what had me upset.

"Your father told me not to go."

"Not to go where?"

"On this date with Ryan."

"He did?" I nodded. "Why would he do that?"

"I questioned him about it." I paused, not sure if I should continue, but I did anyway. "He asked me to dinner, just he and I."

"My father asked you to dinner?"

"Yes. I was just as surprised as you. I wanted to see what your thoughts were on all of this before I did anything. I didn't give your father an answer yet and Ryan is still waiting outside for me. I don't know what to do." Molly sat up more on the bed. She put a hand on my shoulder.

"You're nice to me. Most people that know my father aren't. If you want to go out this evening with Ryan, I'm fine with that." She paused for a moment. "If you want to go to dinner with my father, though, I wouldn't be upset. My father would be lucky to be with someone like you." I smiled.

"What if the dinner doesn't go well and your father fires me?"

"I would hope that my father wouldn't do something so selfish. I've heard him talk about how good you are at your job. It would be selfish of him to fire you over a dinner not going well." I couldn't believe Mr. Adams had said that about me.

"I'm still unsure. I've got to go outside, though, and talk to Ryan." I stood up. "I don't know what to do about him. He seems so nice and he came all this way to pick me up for dinner this evening. It would be awful of me to decline now."

"Then go to dinner with him. My father isn't going anywhere. You can talk to him later. You don't have to make a decision so soon about dinner with my father. Go enjoy yourself." I wentbout to Ryan's car.

"Everything okay, Summer?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. You ready?" Ryan opened the door for me, shutting it once I was seated. He got in and started driving.

"How was your day?"

"Good. How was yours?"

"Relaxing honestly. After I left earlier, I stopped for some lunch and spent the rest of the day at home."

"That sounds nice." There was silence for bit and it was killing me because I was so in my head about what had just happened with Mr. Adams. "Thanks for picking me up."

"Oh, it was no problem. I wouldn't want to make you go all the way home once you got off work. I'm sure you're tired. I'm just glad I could make it a little easier on you." Ryan waited a minute and said, "So, how do you like watching Molly?"

"Molly has really started talking to me more."

"Well, that's good." He pulled in a parking lot and got out, opening my door. "I think you'll like this place." We went inside and Ryan got us a table. We were seated and I started scanning the menu for what I wanted to order. I ordered a water and salmon with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli. Ryan ordered a 6 ounce steak with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli. Everything tasted great. During the meal, though, I realized Ryan and I didn't have much to talk about. Honestly, I was kind of bored with our conversation. I wasn't going to tell him that, but it was true. On the drive back to Mr. Adams, neither of us talked much.

"Thank you for bringing me back here and picking me up earlier."

"Like I said, it's no problem." We got out of the car and he walked me to the door.

"I enjoyed dinner."

"I did, too." It was awkward for a minute. "We don't have much in common, do we?" I shook my head. "Well, it was still nice to go out."

"It was. Thank you. Have a good night."

"You, too." I turned and went inside the house as Ryan made his way to his car to leave.