Page 65 of The Reluctant Siren
Greer sighed. “He’s not seeing Uncle Leo, though you knowhe’s always been in that group Leo has with a bunch of the men in our circle.”
Harlow waved that off. “They play basketball. He’s playedfor as long as I can remember.”
Greer shot her a look that told her she knew something.“It’s not about the basketball. Think about who those men are. Uncle Leo, BigTag, Dad, Papa, Uncle Cole, Uncle Mason. Wade Rycroft. Alex McKay. What do theyhave in common? It’s not a love of basketball.”
She thought for a moment, and then tears pulsed behind hereyes. “They always play when Mom has her group. I thought…I thought they justwanted to be where she was so she didn’t feel alone.”
The one thing all those men had were wives who had sufferedhorrible abuse. Either at the hands of former husbands or boyfriends, orcomplete strangers in her mom’s case.
“From what I know they support each other and have for overtwenty years. It’s how Big Tag finally convinced Dad to talk to someone abouthis problems with anxiety,” Greer explained. “He won’t take anything yet, butthey’re working on it.”
Guilt swamped her. “And I’m setting him back.”
“That’s not true, and it’s not my point. My point is he’strying. I know he wasn’t the easiest parent in the world,” Greer began.
“No, I got lectures on how I could die while riding abicycle. Like he used physics and everything.” She sighed. “He also never oncetold me he was too busy to help me with my homework. He would sit and workLegos with me forever.”
“I did puzzles with him,” Greer said with a wistful smile.“But it was awful to watch mystery movies with him. Like dude I’m ten. Ofcourse I don’t know Goofy accidently stole Mickey’s sandwich.”
“I did.” She remembered that cartoon. Her dad was right. Thewriters had been asleep at the wheel on that one.
Greer nodded like she’d made her point. “Yes, you were apain in the ass, too. You and Dad would wreck every murder mystery by figuringit out two minutes in.”
They had been a menace to all who wanted a mystery solved atthe end. But was that her fault? Most mysteries were fairly easy to solve sincethe author—unlike real-life criminals—tended to follow some form of logic. So aperson with investigative skills could usually figure out a whodunnit. Oh.That’s where she was going. “I am not like… Fine. I’m a little like dad, but Ican function in the normal world.”
“So can he. Mostly. I want you to think about thedifferences. You are very much like Dad, and I’m Papa.”
Of course she was. “I think you’re more like Mom.”
Greer’s head shook. “I might have gotten her talent, but I’mnot as fierce as Mom. I’m more like Papa. I’m content to sit back and letthings come my way. I’m not the one everyone notices. I’m not the bigpersonality.”
“No, you’re the one everyone loves.”
“Uh, I’ve been dealing with phone calls all day from ourfriends and family who are freaked out that you’re in trouble. The twins askedif they should look into it,” Greer said like she hadn’t told her there was abomb waiting to go off.
“You tell them the CIA does not work on domestic soil.” Thelast thing she needed was to get the twins involved.
“I don’t think they know that. I’m pretty sure they run aton of ops at The Hideout,” Greer replied. “But my point is everyone loves you.You like to pretend you’re the tough chick who doesn’t fit in. The trouble isyou got born into a group where tough chicks are kind of the norm, and I’m theone who doesn’t fit.”
“You fit.” She couldn’t believe she was hearing this fromher always-confident big sister.
“With some, and when I say fit, I don’t mean I get left outof things. Our friend group is amazing and diverse, but I always think it’sridiculous when you pretend like no one understands you. It reminds me of…”
“Dad.” She felt a flush go through her system. “Because heoften feels like he’s in his own world and no one but Mom and Papa can be therewith him.”
“Sometimes he doesn’t even feel like Mom and Papa canunderstand him,” Greer continued. “I know it sounds dumb, but it’s hard to beas smart as he is.”
“And as picky as he is. And as weird as he is about sniperpositions and how clean a bathroom has to be before he’ll use it.” Her dad wasa weirdo. And she was a lot like him, which was why they clashed from time totime. It was inevitable, and she probably made it way worse because shewouldn’t sit down and talk to him about it. They went right into arguing. Shewasn’t patient with him, and he had been patient with her for so many years.
How hard had it been for her paranoid, obsessive-compulsive,genius dad to deal with kids? To deal with dirty diapers and getting thrown upon. He had a thing about bacteria, and yet she remembered him sitting with herwhen she was sick. “I’m sorry. I’ll sit down and talk to him. It’s the chasingme down thing that bugs me, but I will try to give him some grace.”
“I’m not even asking for that,” her sister said. “I’mbegging you not to go no contact with us.”
Harlow felt her jaw drop. “I would never do that. I havenever once said that to Dad. He’s been reading too many Reddit posts. We needto keep him out of certain parts of the Internet.”
Greer smiled and leaned over to take Harlow’s hand. “I’mglad to hear that. I know you won’t believe me, but I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve been right here,” Harlow insisted.
