Page 110 of A Fool's Game

I nod. “Yeah, I think I have.”

Chapter 37

Ainsley

“Dad,” I exclaim in surprise. “I…” It takes me a full second to process why he’s looking at me like that before I remember myself and stand aside so he can come in out of the cold spring rain. “Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting you.”

“Do you have company?” he asks as he hangs his coat on the back of a bar chair.

I search his tone for disapproval, as usual, but find nothing. He must just be hiding it well. “No. I was finishing up one of my last finals for the quarter.”

He nods. “That’s right. Graduation is just around the corner.”

I nod back. He’s got a trip planned in a few weeks for the ceremony, he and Vicki will be staying in the city for two weeks. That’s one of the reasons I was so surprised to find him here now. “It’s coming up quickly.”

“I didn’t like how we left things on Faraday,” he says, apparently finished with pleasantries and cutting right to the point. I expect nothing less.

“When you bailed on our breakfast date by sending me a text?”

The words surprise me as much as they clearly surprise him. I stand taller, claiming them. Proud of myself for saying them, even though I hadn’t intended to.

“Yes. I apologized for that.”

I nod. “In your text.”

Something flares in his eyes then, so briefly you’d miss it if you hadn’t been trained on those eyes since birth. He’s sizing me up, measuring my worth as an opponent. Deciding whether this conversation will be worth the trouble.But for once, it doesn't make me want to back down. Quite the opposite. I walk to the other side of the kitchen island and slide casually into a chair, leaning back and folding my arms across my chest in a move I learned from him.

After a long moment, he turns and takes a seat at the counter across from me. “I didn’t come here to fight.”

I consider him questioningly. “This isn’t a fight.”

“Then why does it feel like you’re preparing to battle?”

I let my gaze drop in concession. I know he’s right. I’ve been on the defensive since the second he set foot in this space. My space. The space I share with Taylor and Gem. “Why did you come?” I ask finally.

“I told you I wanted to apologize for how we left things back on Faraday. I want to talk. Catch up.”

“Go ahead then,” I respond, keeping my voice level, not flippant.

His eyebrows raise. “Go ahead and what?”

“Apologize.”

The word sits on the counter between us like a pot of poisoned tea.

He blinks at me, face characteristically unreadable, for a long moment. “I’m sorry.”

I can’t help the eyeroll that flares out of me as I shake my head and try not to get up and walk out of the room. He’s not sorry. He’s never sorry.

He sits stoically, watching me turn back into the child he thinks I am.

I shake it off, refolding my arms. “Okay, then. And you wanted to catch up, huh? Let’s catch up. My boyfriend and girlfriend are out right now, but they pretty much live here. I’m going to graduate in two weeks. I have tarot cards and incense. Maybe you can smell it. And no, I’m not going to cut my hair.”

He says nothing, amused.

For some reason, it only makes me angrier. “What about you? How’s that fiancé of yours doing? Surprised to still be a fiancé after all these years? Well, the rest of us are, too. And your giant empty house? How’s that doing? Staff still enjoying being the only ones living there? No, wait, how’s work, dad? Now there’s a topic you’re always happy to talk about.”

My second spiel does nothing to break down his impenetrable walls. He just watches me, an older, wiser version of my own face staring back at me as I start to sweat. I’m not sure what I thought my words would accomplish. It’s certainly the first time I’ve ever questioned him like this. I’d never have dared to in the past. Things are different now, though. I’m worth something all on my own. I’m not waiting for my worth to be offered to me by him.

---