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“I call bullshit.”
A few feet away, the concierge cleared his throat. My father glanced around the lobby, clearly uncomfortable with the attention.
“Can we talk somewhere private?”
“No. You can tell me what the fuck you’re doing here, and then you can leave.”
He sighed and fidgeted with an old beat-up baseball cap in his hands. “You still got that temper, huh?”
My jaw worked, and Vera gently squeezed my hand, reminding me she was still there. Suddenly, I wanted her as far away from the situation as possible.
“Hart—”
“Go upstairs, Vera.”
My dad stepped forward. “Hi. I’m Samuel Myers, Hart’s father.”
I saw red when he extended his hand to her and slapped it away before he could put his filthy hands on her.
“Don’t fucking touch her!” I exclaimed.
“Hart—”
“You don’t get to fucking introduce yourself to her and touch her. You don’t get to come into my building and start acting like we’re some happy family.”
“Hart, I wasn’t try to—”
“Fucking leave. I don’t want you here!”
“Sweet Hart—”
I whirled on Vera and pointed towards the elevator. “Go upstairs, Vera!”
The words came out sharper and louder than I’d intended, and her expression changed. I knew I fucked up and would be on hands and knees later begging for an apology if I had to. But at that moment, I felt like I was suffocating and the walls were closing in on me.
Worse part? Vera didn’t flinch or argue; she just looked at me for a moment, then nodded.
“Okay.”
“Sugar, I’m—”
My apology died tragically when she pivoted and left for the elevators. I watched her press the call button and wait for the doors to open. I shut my eyes when she boarded, and the doors closed.
“You don’t think that was a little unnecessary yelling at your girl like that.”
I inhaled deeply, released all the air from my lungs, then opened my eyes again. I became angry all over again because I’d been hoping my father’s unexpected arrival was just a bad dream.
Unfortunately, for me, it wasn’t.
“You’re the last person on earth I would take relationship advice from, and even then, I’d probably ask a rock before you.”
He winced. “Fair.”
“What are you doing here? And don’t feed me no bullshit.”
“I wanted to see you.”
“Great. You’ve seen me. Go back to Texas.”
