Page 58 of Book Club Confidential

“Uh.” He looked over his shoulder as he bustled around the space. “He knows. He gave me a pill. I’m fine.”

“I worry about you,” she said. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said and fixed her with a bright smile. “My little girl and my son are here for dinner. It’s the best night of my year!”

She sighed, resigned, but wishing he looked more like the thriving man she’d known in her youth.

Would he ever look that way again? She wondered. Could he?

Fresh silver hairs had overtaken her dad’s previously dark hair and beard. His cheek bones were more noticeable, his face not quite as round. He’d been nearly Tessa’s age when she was born, which meant he was over sixty now. A fact she knew, logically, but one she hadn’t quite let settle in.

Her dad could retire anytime. But people who retired were old. They stopped working because they needed the break. Her dad was the strongest man she knew. He’d been a soldier. A football player. Someone who’d once carried her on his shoulders.

“You okay?” he asked, turning to peek back at her.

“Yeah.” Her voice cracked on the little word, because her dad couldn’t get older. If he did, then one day she’d lose him, and she’d never be old enough for that.

“You’re unusually quiet.” He checked the oven, then raked a hand through his hair. The move parted his unbuttoned plaid flannel shirt to reveal a navy blue T-shirt beneath. When he picked up a can of soda from the counter, she laughed.

“What?”

“If Kate was here, she’d say you look like Charlie from Twilight,” she admitted. Though a slightly older version, and Charlie would be drinking a Rainier beer, not a cola.

“The vampire?” he asked, returning the can to the counter with a frown.

“No.” She waved a hand, still fighting her smile.

“The wolf?”

Tessa laughed. “The dad.”

His expression warmed. “That’s the best role.”

Tessa opened her arms for a hug. Her dad pulled her greedily into his embrace.

“I’m so glad you’re here, sweetie,” he said. “Thank you for coming.”

She opened her mouth to tell him how much she missed him, and that she wished he invited her more often, but an unexpected rock of emotion clogged her throat.

Maybe it was time she invited him to her place or out for a walk along the river sometime. Maybe she wasn’t too young to be the adult once in a while. “Dad—”

The back door opened, cutting off her words with the familiar squeak.

Her muscles stiffened as she pressed away from her dad.

“Hey,” Devin said, moving into the kitchen from the patio. A plume of gray smoke curled outside the window behind him. “The wind was picking up, so I put out the fire. It took longer than I expected.”

Something in his tone and expression made her believe he might’ve been allowing her time alone with her dad before making his appearance. If that was true, she appreciated it.

“It’s been a while, huh, Tess?” Devin asked, moving nervously forward.

His voice seemed a little deeper than she remembered. His shoulders slightly broader. Maybe he was just standing straighter or speaking slower. She couldn’t be sure.

Something was different, though.

He looked—cleaner. Freshly shaven with neatly cut hair.

It’d been more than a year since he’d last come to call.