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“And sending me off to live with other people did?”
“I came to see you when I could.”
I snorted at that. “You came three times.”
“It was too dangerous,” he argued.
“You keep saying that.”
“I called you all the time.”
“Yeah, there’s nothing like a long distance father,” I said, tossing the covers up on the bed. I got down on my knees and searched under the bed, but it was clean.
“Sybil—”
“It’s Sarah. I go by Sarah now.”
“That’s not the name your mother gave you.”
“It’s also not the name I’ve gone by for the last twenty years,” I shot back. “Look, you helped me out today, and I appreciate that, but I don’t need you charging into my life now. Besides, isn’t it too dangerous?”
“You know I’d be here for you no matter what if I thought you were in trouble.”
“Right, just not when I actually need you to be, say, a father.”
He sighed heavily, resting his hands on his hips. “I just want to know you’re okay. I don’t understand why you would want to leave a man that cares about you so much.”
“So I can end up like Mom?” He flinched. “I meant broken-hearted because the man I love left me out of some kind of misplaced sense of duty.”
“You don’t know that he’s like me. In fact, he seems to be the opposite of me.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean I should be with him. I need to find myself a nice, skinny man that doesn’t have tattoos or bulging muscles…” I sighed dreamily. “Or is so magnificent in bed.”
“Again, I don’t need to hear that.”
“I mean, yeah, he’s wonderful, but just like you, he’ll leave for a job and I won’t see him again.”
He sighed and tugged on my hand, pulling me closer to him. “I know I’ve let you down, kiddo.” I rolled my eyes. I was most definitely not a kid. “I had my reasons for leaving, but that doesn’t mean he will too.”
“You don’t even know him,” I argued.
He averted his eyes for a brief moment, giving me all the information I needed.
“You already looked into him.”
“You called and said he was holding you against your will. What did you think I was going to do?”
I scoffed, walking away from him. Of all the overbearing men in my life, I really should have realized he would do that. After all, he was in the secret service. Looking into people was what he did.
“And so you approve of him.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. Let’s say I approve of him more than any other man you’ve dated.”
My eyes went wide with realization. “All the other men? Dad, how many men have you looked into?”
“All of them,” he said without an ounce of remorse.
“But how could you possibly know?”
