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There’s a long pause that hums with tension. “You want me to tell him to back off?”
“No. It’s okay. Maybe he just wants to chat. Catch up . . . It’s probably nothing serious. Besides, it might be good to connect with him.”
But my guess is, Glen wants money, like all the other times he’s called to “catch up.”
Congrats on graduating from college, Kitty Kat. We could use a few hundred bucks. Times have been hard.
Or Seeing as it’s Christmas, could you spare some money for your old man?
My hands tighten on the steering wheel, my knuckles paling. “I was just wondering if you knew what he wanted.”
“He hasn’t called us, but we can do a three-way so you don’t have to talk to him alone.”
My gaze drops to the figurines gently rattling in their box. “No, it’s okay. Whatever he wants to say, I can hear. It’s probably not a big deal.”
Just a few hundred bucks not-a-big-deal.
Even though I have some choice words for my bio-father, the thought of striking up the courage to say them plunges me right back into that hospital bed when I was ten and powerless.
But I don’t want my dad to know that.
“You don’t have to do this alone, kiddo.”
“It’s okay. Really.”
He sighs. “If one of them was sick or in trouble, they’d call your mom, seeing as . . .”
He doesn’t finish, and doesn’t need to, because he was going to say they’re related.
Right on time, the road that leads to the resort comes into view. “Hey, I’m almost at work. Gotta go.”
“Cris, you can block his number. Okay?”
I do my best to tamp down my emotions, but my voice quakes. “Okay.”
“Just remember that.”
“I will.”
He exhales as if relieved. Then my dad says, “Have a great day, kid. And if you need anything—anything at all—you call. Day or night.”
A lump lodges in my throat. It takes effort to talk around it. “You got it, Dad.”
“Love you, kid.”
“Love you.”
I hang up right as my eyes begin to water. I blink away the tears and pull into a parking spot, taking several deep breaths to right myself.
My dad’s right. I don’t owe that man anything. It should be the other way around.
After thinking about it for a moment, I pull up my bio-father’s number and block it. There. Now he can’t contact me so easily.
I sit in my car until the last shaky exhalation vanishes, then grab the box of figurines and head toward the front door.
Just my luck—at the same time as Rhett Maddox.
Chapter 7
