Page 226 of The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The Second Collection
The club. Long night. Long story. I’m really glad your daughter is okay. Good night.
Fuck, I haven’t felt so dismissed since my C.O. signed my discharge.
Good night, bold girl. Sleep well.
I leave it at that. I want to say more, but I fucking hate texting. Well, except with Amy. Texting is by far the best way to communicate with my ex. But with Bren, I need to be face-to-face, to look into those big, brown eyes and see where the shadows lie. Because I have a feeling they’re back.
But I don't need to push her. There’s a better way. She told me when we met that she does scenes with club guests. All I have to do is ask Logan to take me to their club tonight. He’ll probably jump at the chance. He didn’t like the way I had to leave any more than I did.
More settled now that I have a plan, I take one last look at my sleeping daughter before I tip my head back in the chair again and close my eyes.
Naomi inherited more than Amy’s hair and addictions. She also inherited the manipulative brand of submission that her mother used to twist me around her finger for decades, and it is out in force this morning.
“Dad, of course I’ll go if that’s what you want. I know I fucked up.” She steals a glance under her lashes at the man in the white coat standing beside her bed who is taking her blood pressure and making notations on an intake chart. “But a residential facility? I mean, I’ll lose so much time at school.”
“We’re accustomed to liaising with your college,” the man murmurs, never taking his eyes off what he’s doing. “We’ll make sure you keep up with your class work. You’ll have plenty of time each day to study between sessions.”
Naomi’s pink, bow lips twist before she smooths them into a smile. “It’s all the way in Poughkeepsie, Dad. It’ll be so inconvenient for you to visit. Mom’s recommended several that are closer.”
“Patients aren’t allowed visitors for the first seven days anyway,” the doctor says smoothly.
I let him field Naomi’s passive-aggressive objections while I shave in the room’s tiny sink. Her college health serviceswere able to provide her a private room, but the shared full bathroom is down the hall. I’m not complaining. They were able to start treating her within fifteen minutes of me finding her unconscious in one of the frat houses, rather than the long wait we might have faced at an emergency room. And her college medical insurance covers her month of rehab at this affiliated facility as well as her overnight stay here. I haven’t told Naomi, or Amy, about this motivation for my choice of program, because neither of them care about spending my money, but I’m also not going to let Naomi talk her way out of going there. Fortunately, the staff doctor who drove down this morning to admit her to the program and take her back to the facility is on the same page I am.
“Miss McNally, I’ve been doing this job for fourteen years. I’ve heard every excuse there is. I’m going to give this chart to the duty nurse and then we’re ready to go, so I suggest you take this time to say goodbye to your father,” he says, kindly but firmly as he gathers up his tools and papers. He’s already brought a wheelchair into the room for her and Naomi’s college roommate’s packed the bag that’s sitting on it.
I’m still wearing the same clothes I was in when I left Logan’s two days ago, but I feel fresher after a wash and a shave. I can have a real shower and change at my apartment on my way back into the City.
Naomi waits until the doctor’s out of the room before she turns her midnight blue eyes on me. Amy’s always said Naomi looks more like me than her. I don’t see it, personally. Admittedly, all Naomi gets from Amy is her hair and the shape of her face. Everything else definitely came from her father’s side. But I’m not her father, not biologically. The blue eyes that turn to me are not my family’s shade, but they do look an awful lot like the blue of my old base commander.
He got the same look, too, right before he laid the guilt on thick.
“Dad, is there something going on that you want to send me this far away?”
I sink back into the chair I spent the night in. “Yeah, Nomes. The thing that’s going on is that you’re out of control and if you don’t accept help this time, you’re going to kill yourself. Is that what you want? Do you want to die?”
“No, of course not.” But her eyes flicker, and if I was topping her instead of being her father, I’d say she’s lying.
“Then accept what this place has to offer you. I don’t really care where it is, or how prestigious a name it has. I care that they have seventy percent success rate after five years. That’s as good as anywhere I’ve looked at. Better than most. I want you to be alive and healthy and with me in five years. This place gives you a four in five chance. That’s what’s going on.”
She glances away, then back, looking up at me through her lashes. “Dad, this was a wake-up call. I promise, nothing like this will happen again.”
“Nomes, listen to yourself. You’ve told me that before and here you are. I love you, kid, I really do. But I don’t believe you anymore. You’re twenty-one. I can’t force you to go with Doctor Wagner. But I’m telling you, I can and will get you committed as a danger to yourself if you don’t get some treatment. So what’s it going to be?”
She blinks and a fat tear rolls down her cheek. “Daddy?—”
“This is tough love, kiddo. Sorry, it’s all I’ve got left.”
She wipes her cheek and sniffs. “I’ll go.”
I lean over her and kiss her forehead. “Thanks. I don’t want to fight. I just want you to get better.”
“What if I can’t?” she whispers. “What if this is who I am?”
I take her hand, feeling the bird bones between my fingers. There’s nothing to her. “I don’t believe this is who you are,Naomi. I look at you and I see the girl who won the Prescott High science fair as a freshman. Who got herself a full scholarship at a school so fancy I’m surprised they even let me walk onto the campus? That’s who you are.”
She draws into herself and I realize that was the wrong thing to say.
“I can’t keep up without the speed, Dad. Prescott High was nothing. The kids at Queens are all so much smarter than me. I have to study a thousand times harder than I did in high school and I’m still behind. I’m not going to graduate this year as it is.”
