Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
“Apparently, he didn’t rebuff you.”
She shook her head, but not to deny my comment.
“I’m sorry, you may think you deserve the details, but you don’t, unless your father decides he wants to give them to you. Do what you came here to do. Say what you came to say. I earned whatever that is. But your father’s still your father and that’s off-limits. At least through me.”
“He needed someone to listen?” I asked.
Another shake of her head.
“You’re an adult. I know what you’ve been doing. Cal called from back home. He told me someone came around, asking questions. You’ve been looking into me. I don’t have a private investigator doing it, like you do. But I looked into you too. It isn’t hard to find things about you. I knew you had someone before I saw that ring on your finger. I know who he is. Your father spoke of you, not much. That wasn’t who we were to each other. But I know he loves you. I don’t know the nature of your relationship with him. What I suspect is, there are things in your life that are not his business unless you make them his business. I’d also suspect that he expects the same.”
“Fair enough,” I murmured, still unable to get a lock on her.
I gave myself some time to keep trying while lifting the espresso cup to my lips.
She had good coffee.
And the aforementioned espresso maker.
Both pluses.
She was a plain talker, something else I liked.
I put the cup back in the saucer.
“Do you see him?” I inquired.
“Never.”
I found this hard to believe. They lived ten minutes from each other.
“Never?” I pressed.
She looked me square in the eye.
“I have lived an entire life of regret. I have done things to balm hurts that simply created more hurt, mine and for others. What happened with your father was the last.”
Obviously, she could be honest.
So could I.
“He’s lonely, and I don’t like the woman he’s seeing.”
That mask that was soldered to her face finally cracked, and out of it leaked surprised confusion.
“I’m sorry?”
“Paloma,” I said. “I don’t know what it is. She seems perfectly fine. Maybe that’s it. She’s perfectly fine. She’s perfectly everything. She’s perfectly perfect. It’s disturbing.”
She still did not hide her shock. “You came here to tell me that?”
“I came here to ask why, if whatever he had with you was something worth risking his family for, you two aren’t together?”
For a second, she appeared beyond confused. She seemed completely thrown.
Then, stiltedly, she queried, “You…came…you…I…”
I helped her out.
“He should be with you.”
Her eyes went round. “You want me to be with your father?”
“He must have felt deeply for you. That’s who he is. He would never have done what he’d done if he didn’t.”
She let that sit a beat before she decided it safe to agree. “He did.”
“He did? Or he does?”
“We’ve ended our relationship. It’s done. I haven’t seen him in years. I only spoke to him when that gossip person had your mother’s friend’s ex on her show to assure him I won’t say a word. I would never, not ever do that to Tom.”
“I know.”
Her eyes went squinty. “Your PI.”
“Yes.”
“Well, that particular information he shared is accurate.”
“There was also the fact that you didn’t come forward after the situation with Elsa Cohen and Samantha Wheeler on Elsa’s gossip show. Not like you talked to that reporter after you were kidnapped by Dennis Lowe.”
She winced, as she would.
And I was off my game. I should never have brought it up. The entire situation was horrible, and she’d been in the eye of the storm. Being in the clutches of a serial killer, it had to be terrifying.
I hadn’t come here to make her feel bad.
I’d come here to find some way to make my father happy.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” I said quietly.
She eyed me suspiciously, as she would since what I said did sound like an accusation. “All right.”
“Susan—”
“Susie.”
“Susie, have you met Paloma?”
“No.”
“Do you know who she is?”
“She was a supermodel, and as you know since you know about Lowe, I didn’t live in a cave until I met your dad. So yes. I know who she is.”
“I don’t like her for him.”
“I’m sorry, Chloe. I care about Tom. I hope your concerns aren’t valid. But I’m not sure I know what to do about them.”
“If you needed him, he’d come.”
Her hair shook, such was her surprise at my words.
And then she burst out laughing.
I didn’t find anything funny.
“I’m not joking.”
“Christ,” she pushed out, her mirth still uncontrolled. “Yes, you are.”
“Do you know how much it took for me to come here?”
Still smiling, she asked, “And you came here to try to get me together with Tom?”
“He chose you over my mother.”
The amusement swept from her face, and she said softly, “No. No, he didn’t. He made a mistake. After thirty years of being so perfectly perfect, anyone paying attention might find it troubling, he had a moment of weakness, and he did the wrong thing.”