She’d worked hard and long to get rid of her feelings of anger toward her father. But the hurt was harder to let go.
However, she made the pretense of hugging him back, not wanting anyone in this room to see any cracks in their relationship.
When it came to this family, you had to show strength. Never weakness.
“I’m sorry. I’ve been busy.”
“Too busy for your old man?” he snapped, pulling back to frown down at her.
Kathryn cleared her throat. “I’m sure that Maya tried her best, but she’s a young woman with a full life. You know what young people are like. Their social life always comes first.”
Social life?
What social life?
That coffee that she’d had with Millie and Livvy the other day was the extent of her social life for the last year.
And now Kathryn was making her sound selfish and childish.
“Actually, I’ve had a lot going on at work. I don’t have time for a social life,” Maya said.
Kathryn tensed. “Yes, I’m certain that teaching yoga is very time-consuming.”
It was said without a hint of sarcasm. But the blow still landed. And she could tell that everyone saw it.
Except, perhaps, her father.
But she had often wondered if he was blind to his wife’s criticisms and actions toward her.
Or if he just didn’t care.
“It is. You should try it sometime. You might find it helps relax you. And it’s good exercise when you’re older and youno longer have the flexibility and level of fitness.” Maya made certain to smile at her.
Blow landed.
“That’s very kind of you to be worried about Kathryn, Maya,” her dad said, patting her back.
Yeah, either he was a great actor or he was completely blind to what was going on here.
He led her over to the sofa and sat next to her, taking her hand in his.
“Perhaps Kathryn would like to attend one of your classes.”
They both gaped at him in shock.
“Although I’m afraid that won’t be able to happen for a while,” he added. “We have a bit of a crisis, dear.”
“What sort of crisis?” she asked suspiciously. “Why did you keep calling me? What’s going on?”
“This is going to be upsetting,” her father replied. “I’ve received death threats.”
Hmm. Right.
That did sound scary. And she tightened her hold on her father’s hand. “Credible ones? I mean, you must have a few enemies, right? It could be just someone blowing hot air? And how long have you been receiving them for?”
Okay, so there was a part of her that still loved her dad. She certainly didn’t want anything to happen to him.
“They started about three weeks ago. At first, we thought they were just hot air,” Marlin replied. “Like you say, Dad has enemies. There are a number of people who could threaten him. But we still took them seriously, of course.”
