Page 35 of This Time Around
Allie nodded, not sure if he was testing her or genuinely unsure. “Yes. It had a combo lock.”
She waited for him to ask if she’d gotten into it. Her brain raced with how best to answer, how not to arouse suspicion with the guard.
But that’s not where her dad took the conversation. “Nah, the thing I’m talking about is a cardboard box. With some stuff inside that might be a little—” He cleared his throat. “Embarrassing.”
A little ripple of queasiness moved through her. “Oh.”
She waited for him to fill in the blank. To confirm what she’d just realized and give her an indication how willing he was to discuss it.
But he said nothing.
“So you’re talking about what was in the other box,” she tried.
She fixed her face into an expression of nonchalance and neutrality. No judgment here, she tried to telegraph. None at all.
“Right.” Her dad looked uncertain. “The other box.”
“Look, it’s no big deal,” she said. “Plenty of people have stuff like that lying around. Heck, I used to have these silk scarves?—”
She stopped herself, not sure why the hell she’d brought that up. She’d forgotten entirely until Jack mentioned it the day before. Now here she was discussing her history of bondage with her father.
That’s what you get for letting Jack Carpenter back into your head.
Allie took a shaky breath and looked her father in the eye. “Don’t worry about it, Daddy. I only glanced at it quickly, but it doesn’t make me think any less of grandma.”
Her dad frowned. “Why would it?”
“Um—I guess I assumed it all belonged to her. I mean, I saw her initial on something. Just a quick glance, though. Maybe I was wrong.”
He frowned. “Could it have been an N instead of a V? Nathan Ellington Ross?”
“Uh—I guess so.” Christ, what was her dad suggesting? And did she really want to know this? “Look, Daddy, I don’t need to know details. If that stuff belongs to you?—”
“Of course it belongs to me.” He lowered his voice, adopting an almost reverent tone. “Well, your mother and me.”
“Oh.” Allie bit her lip. “Right. Well, plenty of people are into that stuff.” She tried a casual laugh, not wanting her dad to feel embarrassed. “Paddles, whips, toys—all that stuff is pretty mainstream right now.”
Her dad blinked. “What?”
He looked genuinely baffled. What the hell? Allie leaned forward, lowering her voice again. “The sex toys. That’s what you meant, right?”
His eyebrows rose like white caterpillars arching to climb a tree branch. “What are you talking about?”
“Um—nothing.” Allie laughed, hoping it sounded less stilted to him than it did to her own ears. “I was kidding. Just—you’ve heard about Fifty Shades of Grey? Or Panty Dropper by G.G. Buckingham?—”
“I’m aware of it.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “A few of the inmates got their hands on a copy last year. Let’s say it was well-read.”
“Right. I was just making a joke. An erotic romance joke. A highly inappropriate?—”
“Sweetie, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’ve gotten a little weird lately.”
Allie sighed. “Thank you, Daddy.” She cleared her throat. “So what box were you talking about?”
“It’s not a huge deal or anything. Just—some old letters, okay?”
“What kind of letters?”
“Love letters.”
