Page 100 of Protecting You
“A girl and a friend.” He blew off Callan’s correction.
“She’s bringing dinner. You can meet her if you want.”
Callan tried to make it sound as if he didn’t care one way or the other, but he had a feeling his father would adore Alyssa. And Alyssa would adore him. Dad was everything a father should be, everything her father hadn’t been.
He didn’t hate the idea of them meeting.
“Is she special to you?”
Callan needed to tell his father that yes, she was special to him. They needed to stay in character.
The problem was, if he said Alyssa was special to him, it wouldn’t be a lie.
But Hannah was right. Callan had no business starting up anything with a woman when he had a child he hadn’t figured out how to take care of.
“I’m guessing, based on your silence, the answer is yes.”
“It’s just that…”
That he didn’t know what he was doing. That he didn’t know how he could pursue Alyssa and care for his daughter. That he hadn’t realized until just this moment how badly hewantedto pursue Alyssa.
“She’s an old friend from college. Until Wednesday, I hadn’t seen her in years.”
“So this hasn’t been going on?—?”
“There’s nothing going on. And there’s not going to be.”
Dad’s gaze pierced through Callan’s armor. “Tell me about that.”
TypicalDadquestion. When it came to little things—weekend plans, short-term problems—Dad barely paid attention to what was going on. But he had a weird sixth sense with the things that weren’t so little.
“There’s nothing to tell.”
The slightest lifting of one eyebrow was the only indication Dad had picked up on Callan’s lie.
“It doesn’t matter what I think about Alyssa,” he said. “She’s in trouble, and I’m trying to help her out.”
Dad said nothing.
“I probably should’ve just let her figure it out herself, but I was worried. She was having dinner with a guy… She didn’t know who he was, and I thought… I shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
“Then why did you?”
“Because he’s dangerous, this man. And I didn’t want her to get hurt.”
“If she’d been a stranger, would you have gotten involved?”
Again, typical Dad, cutting right through his nonsense.
“You’re right. I have a child to take care of now. It was stupid.”
Dad smiled. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t say any of that. Unless I had a stroke nobody told me about.”
“That’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny.” Dad went quiet, giving Callan the opportunity to explain. But what was he supposed to say? After a moment, Dad continued. “I didn’t say what you did was stupid. You were raised to protect the vulnerable. I have no idea what the circumstances were, so I can’t say beyond that. But you’re a protector. You can’t stop being who you are.”
“I should be protecting my daughter.”
