Page 115 of Driftwood Daffodil

That’s not what happened.

My father was seated in his black leather chair while Romeo leaned against one of the bookshelves in the corner.

“Giovanni,” my father leaned forward to fold his hands on the top of his mahogany desk. “Explain to me why I had to cut my trip short and come back here.”

That made my brows rise. “No one asked you to come home.”

“Your school did.”

Oh.

I was kind of surprised that he answered his phone when they called.

“It’s not a big deal.” I got suspended, so what.

“Getting suspended isn’t a big deal?”

Was he seriously mad about this? Last summer I was arrested for fighting and he didn’t show up for that. One of his men bailed me out, then the paperwork mysteriously got lost so no charges were laid. And that was it. Nothing was said, and he sure as hell didn’t call me to his office for a lecture.

I shrugged, “It’s only three days.”

His dark eyes met mine and that’s when realization hit me. He wasn’t pissed about the suspension. He was pissed that I got in a fight with Nova. This wasn’t about me at all. It was about the job.

“Tell me Gio,” the leather chair creaked as he leaned back and let out a breath. “What was the job I gave you?”

I should’ve known.

When I got in trouble as a child, all my father really did was give me a stern look. And half the time I didn’t get that. His men however got their asses handed to them for letting me do whatever it was that I did.

Romeo was the one who stepped up and gave me some words of advice or lecture. So I wasn’t surprised when he was the one to pick me up from school. Our father wasn’t even home when we got back. Apparently there was some urgent business in New Orleans. Some things never changed.

Sometimes I wondered what it would be like if he actually did show up. What would it be like to be noticed? In that aspect I envied my brothers. He was there for them, I got the hand me down dad’s that were ordered to keep an eye on me.

I sighed, “To get close to Nova and find out…”

“That’s right.” He cut me off. “To get close to Novalee Ford, and you’ve decided to do this by picking fights with her? That’s an interesting tactic.”

The look he was giving me was worse than his condescending tone.

“She’s stubborn,” was the only explanation I could come up with.

“She’s stubborn, that’s the best you got?”

I didn’t say anything because there wasn’t anything to say.

There was a time when all I did was search for a way to get a moment like this. When I was nine I jumped off the roof of the garage hoping my dad would take me to the hospital. A year later I cut my arm just to see if he’d notice the bandage. For years all I wanted was for him to see me, then I gave up. Now that I finally had his attention, I didn’t know what to do.

After a few seconds of silence my father let out a long breath. “Did you even try to charm the girl?”

“She wouldn’t fall for that.” Nova was many things, stupid wasn’t one of them.

I’d never been more happy to hear my brother’s voice than when he lit up a cigarette and added his opinion, “He’s right. She wouldn’t fall for that.”

Though I was pissed that Romeo had obviously been checking up on Nova, I could’ve kissed him for backing me up.

Then my dad turned his attention to my brother, “Is she attracted to him?”

“She seemed to like kissing him,” Romeo nodded.

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