Page 13 of Mr. B

“Of course.” She eyed him suspiciously as she pushed her glasses to the top of her head.

“I promise, I’m not here to harass you.”

“Okay.”

“Bailey came to see me yesterday.”

Cassandra got to her feet. “She did what?”

“She came to my door yesterday morning.”

“Why? She knows better than that.”

Wes folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the door frame. Cassandra had transformed Bishop’s messy office into a tidy space with minimal clutter and three plants. The music festival poster hung on the wall behind her desk. He looked at her for a moment. “You told her about us.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m going to…that’s it. She’s grounded.”

“That’s not what she came to talk to me about. Not directly, anyway.”

Cassandra shook her head, then sat back down. “Just tell me.” She removed her glasses and dropped them on the desk.

“She asked if I was her father.”

Cassandra stood again. “She didn’t.”

“She did.”

“I told her it was over long before Nick and I got married.”

“Apparently, she missed that part.”

She studied him. “I’m so sorry.”

“Is she having some issues with her dad?”

“That’s none of your business.”

He pushed away from the door frame. “I beg to differ. When she comes to my door on a Sunday morning, I think I have a right to know what prompted it.”

Cassandra went to the front of her desk and sat on the edge. “Nick is…” She glanced at him. “He’s not the most involved father. I guess when I told her about you, she… Most kids, from time to time, wish they had different parents.”

“I never did.”

“Well, sure. We don’t all have superparents.”

“Why did you tell her about us?”

Cassandra sighed. “We were talking about dating and mistakes. It just came out. I didn’t set out to tell her.”

“So, I was a mistake?”

She stood and took a few steps toward him. “You were the only part of that year that wasn’t a mistake.”

Wes cleared his throat. “Do you think that maybe you made the wrong choice?”

“I think about it every day.”

Wes fiddled with his tie. “Okay.”