Chapter 13

 

AS NAN HAD said, my dad was in the kitchen waiting for me when I got downstairs. To say he’d been shocked at what happened in Caprock was calling a mountain a mothball. He’d hugged me so tight before I’d headed upstairs earlier, saying how proud he was I’d helped break the kids out. It always confused me when he did stuff like that. I mean, I liked it, but it was like when Renee did the same, I didn’t know how to act.

“Take a seat,” my dad said, shifting my thoughts back to him. He was still in his boxers but he had on an old gray high school t-shirt. Most of the letters had peeled off. Guess he’d been a jock.  

He had plenty of energy crackling around him so I guessed he had a lot he wanted to say. “If you’re gonna tell me to be careful, there ain’t a lot of point.”

He smiled a sad smile. He gripped his coffee cup like a stress ball. “I watched them take you away from court and my heart ripped in ways that I didn’t think would ever heal.” He stared down into his cup. “Getting you back, seeing you laugh, smile . . .” He cleared his throat. “It repaired a lot of the damage.”

“Thought getting Lilia back did that?”

He nodded. “That too. It took me too long to realize that I have so much love for you all that I don’t know how to let it out sometimes.” He rubbed his hand over his chin. His hands were a furrier version but definitely a lot like mine. Explained why I had shovels for mitts.

“I hope you can forgive me for keeping it inside.” His nerves rippled through his aura.

“Nothin’ to forgive. Love keeps no record of wrongs anyhow, right?”

He blinked at me a few times.

“You ain’t meant to be dumbstruck.”

He smiled. “My mother used to tell me the same . . . it was her mantra . . . your Uncle Abe.” He sighed and waved his cup around. “Wish she could have seen you.”

I’d never heard him mention his parents before, ever. His aura filled and I could feel the deep ache in his heart.

“She was right,” I whispered, hoping it would help ease his hurt. “An’ you an’ me are a lot alike.”

He shook his head. “Oh no, you’re exactly like your mother. No one as beautiful as you comes from my genes.”

He thought I was beautiful? Go figure. I tried and failed to keep the smile in. “We are the same. Both of us are as soft as chocolate in sunlight,” I wagged my finger at him, “and don’t think I don’t see you talkin’ to Mrs. Squirrel.”

He chuckled and held up his free hand. I noticed he had a new wedding ring on. He’d always worn one from Iris and Jenny. He had a necklace from Lilia. This ring he wore like a trophy, like he’d grin just looking down at it, at what it meant. It shimmered with his love. “Then you’ll understand why I need to help you.”

I nodded.

“There’s an ex-friend of mine called Joey. He’s an idiot but he’ll help you out should you need it.” He pulled out a sheet of paper that had writing on the back. Looked like a list of contacts. “Grimes, I took care of him when he joined the force. Great cop, nice guy. He moved to Baltimore but he’s got great ties in organized crime.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“The unit,” he said with a grin.

Phew. I frowned at the first name he’d read out. “Ain’t Joey the guy who Iris married?”

My dad nodded, glancing up the stairs in case my mother was listening.

“She’s talkin’ to Nan.” I leaned onto the table. I didn’t get how two lawyers could help us find Frei. Iris hadn’t bothered representing me in court when I’d been arrested. “Why would my dear ex-step mother and her husband help me out?”

My dad sipped his coffee for a moment. “He will.” He smiled. “And you’ll know exactly what buttons to push if he isn’t as . . . helpful as he should be.”

I looked down at the list of contacts. “Only twenty states, you couldn’t find people in all fifty?”

He waved off my teasing. “Having someone to go to if you need help . . .” He sighed. “I just don’t want you girls to think you’re ever alone.”

I smiled and tapped my chest. “I got you in here.”

“In a more practical sense.” He sighed. “You’ll have your bullet-proof vests, won’t you?”

I nodded. At least I guessed we would. Renee’s car was normally a turret short of a tank. She had her own armory in the trunk.

“Take this . . . just in case.”

I cocked my head. It was a slab of metal or something. Thin enough to hold in his hand but the way his wrist flexed showed it was heavy.

“Your grandfather, my dad, went to war. His pop gave it to him. It kept your great-grandfather safe from a bullet.”

I frowned. It didn’t look like it had a scratch on it.

“The original is all crushed up. My dad never wore it but kept it in his pack.” He smiled. “He gave it to me when I joined the force.” He moved it toward me. “I thought it would be more practical to give you an un-dented version.”

I took it from him. It was solid. It didn’t feel as heavy as I thought.

“Should stop most projectiles,” he said.

It wasn’t a conversation I’d ever envisioned having with my dad. “Where am I supposed to put it?”

“Inside your vest . . . inside . . . well . . . you know . . .” He waved his hand in the vague direction of my chest.

I didn’t like to tell him I barely had room for me in my vest and definitely nowhere spare inside my bra. I’d figure something out. He needed me to wear it. “Thank you.”

He blew out a breath, relief shining in his eyes. “You know I’m here anytime. You need me to run checks . . . anything . . . you just call, you hear?”

I nodded. “Well . . . Renee will call. If I call, you’ll have no power for a week.”

He smiled. “She’s a wonderful woman that one. Fiery.”

I watched him finish his coffee. He looked more relaxed than he had when I’d been released from the institution but there was no mistaking that all the stuff with Sam had taken a lot out of him. “Will you be okay when Lilia is at the base?”

“Can’t say I won’t miss you both but we need to get that boss of yours back so she can keep you and the firecracker in line.”

I chuckled. Yeah, that was the long and short of it. “I care about Frei. I care about Renee. A lot.” I didn’t know why I was saying it but it bubbled up before I could clamp a lid on it. “Renee . . . It’s . . .” I rubbed my hand over my face. “It was nice to have somebody to vacation with.”

He smiled, pure light and love pouring through. “Your mother and I . . . we feel the same. Both are welcome here.” He held my gaze. “As in here too.” He tapped his chest. 

I was still in shock that I’d said that much. Soda. I weren’t shaking nothin’, nope. Nothin’. Nan had a lot to answer for. She was just putting thoughts in my head.

“You getting your wires twisted up?” I put the metal . . . thing . . . in my pocket, trying to look anywhere but his eyes. “Frei and Renee . . . They order me ’round all day is all.”

I didn’t know who I thought I was kidding but my dad was never gonna buy that lame excuse.

“We’re alike as you said.”

I looked up at him.

He smiled. “I know when you’re bluffing.”

He folded his arms. His gaze unyielding. I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling like I had a spotlight on me. Ah man, this is like being a kid again. What if Renee sees me?

She’s gonna think I’ve lost what marbles I had left. 

I cleared my throat, hoping that he’d stop interrogating me. “Next you’ll be telling me Nan is naggin’ you too.”

My dad chuckled. He perched on the edge of the table beside me. “Now she’s some firecracker herself.”

I wheezed out a breath. “I hear you.” I got up from my seat. I knew what thoughts flickered through his mind but it still didn’t prepare me. He got to his feet and wrapped his arms around me.

He clung on. I could feel all that he couldn’t say pouring from him, circling around me, and holding tight. I relaxed into it, soaking up the comfort, the love. My tears clogged up my throat and I couldn’t speak so I just poured every bit of love I could back at him.

Without a word, he let go and strode up the stairs. I watched him go.

I jumped, my heart clattering about in my chest.

Renee.

Renee was at the top of the stairs.

How long has she been there? Had she heard me?

Uh oh.