Page 19 of Wrong Number, Right Single Dad
“You don’t have to say anymore.” I swallow hard, keeping the tears that threaten to fall at bay. “You’re being the kind of father every girl deserves to have.”
He nods, but he doesn’t say any more.
“I’ll… I’ll get out of your way.” I stand and stare down at what I’m wearing. It’s another pair of his sweatpants and shirt. “I’ll change first.”
“That’s okay. I don’t need it back.”
Of course he doesn’t. He doesn’t want anything a retired sex worker wore hanging around his house.
I don’t spare him another look as I gather my bag and my coat.
It isn’t until I’m in the car, their home’s porch light in my rearview mirror, that I let the first tear fall.
And then they don’t stop until long after I’m curled up on the sofa in my cold, lonely apartment.
***
I don’t stir from my spot until the next morning. I answer the incoming call from Katie.
But it’s only because she’s threatened to call the police if I don’t answer.
“Okay, good, you’re alive.” She sighs in relief. Then her eyes narrow. “Wait. You look terrible.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Nannying really must have taken it out of you.”
“No that’s not it. Besides the dead goldfish, everything was great.”
“Then what happened?”
My face crumples and I bury it in my free hand. “I’m such an idiot.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” She croons on the other end of the line until I’m able to raise my tear-streaked face. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know what there is to say. Besides the fact that I did the one thing I swore I wouldn’t do when I downloaded that damn app.”
She winces. “You caught feelings for him.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“Did you tell him? And did he tell you he only wanted you two to keep things physical?”
“No, I almost wish he had.” I give a watery, humorless laugh. “He found out about my old job.”
“The virtual sugar babying?”
I nod. “And he said I wasn’t a good influence on his daughter. And that being around me would send her down a path of corruption and ruin their lives.”
She scoffs. “He said that?”
“Well, no.” I sniffle. “Not in so many words. But he implied it.”
“Then he was an ass.”
“He wasn’t. He was just being a good dad.”
Which is why, no matter how much I might want to, I can’t hate him for that.
