“Mia – as in our hotel guest Mia – is keeping your dog entertained?” Dad says, wiping the smile from my face.
Shit. I shouldn’t have said that. He’s going to know something is going on between Mia and me now, but then he would have as soon as he got back home. I’m serious about her, so telling him now isn’t going to hurt anything I guess.
“Yes, Mia as in our hotel guest—”
“Is there anything I need to know?” he cuts me off before I get a chance to tell him about Mia and me. The ‘dad’ tone in his voice irritates me, so the immature side of me decides to play it out to annoy him.
“Like what?” I say with a casualness to my voice
“Like are you having sex with this girl?”
Okay. Straight to the point.
“Yeah…” I exhale. “I’m sleeping with her … but before you start kicking off, I want you to know this is different. She’s different.”
He’s silent a moment. “You’ve never told me that a girl is different before. Should I take this as a good sign?”
“Yeah.” I smile. “You should.”
“So you really like this girl, huh?”
Like, is the understatement of the century, but I’m not about to tell my dad that I’ve fallen in love with Mia.
Yeah, you heard me. I f**king love her.
I’ve never had feelings for a girl before, but the first time I do, I’m falling in love, and hard. I guess this is what happens to us men who don’t love easily. We love quicker and harder.
Now, I just need to find the nerve to tell Mia that, after just a little over a week of knowing her, I’m crazy in love with her. I’m hoping that when I do, I won’t sending her running for the hills. She can be skittish at times.
“Yeah, I really like her, Dad,” I reply, running a hand through my hair. “I didn’t intend to start anything with Mia. I meant what I said to you that time on the phone … but we just got close.” I smile at the thought of how good it feels to be close to her.
“She came here looking for her mother, and after she helped me with Dozer when he had his accident, I said I would help her try to find her mom, and we just ended up spending more and more time together. I got to know her really well, and she’s pretty f**kin’ amazing, Dad.”
“Sounds like you got it bad, boy.” He chuckles. “I’m looking forward to meeting this girl who’s managed to turn my horndog sons’ head.”
“Ha! Nice, Dad, real nice.” I laugh. “You’ll like her though. She’s smart, and real beautiful. She reminds me a bit of mom – tiny, blonde, has the tendency to speak without thinking. Actually, that reminds me. I’ve being meaning to ask you, have you ever heard of a woman called Anna Monroe who lived round here?”
It’s a fairly biggish town that we live in, so chances are he might not have, but in his old line of work, he tended to know everyone.
I get no reply.
“Dad? You still there?”
“Yeah. I’m here.” He’s a little short, and his voice sounds different … gruff, strained.
“Did you hear what I said? I asked you if you’d heard of a woman called Anna Monroe.” I’m pushing now because I know there’s something there. He knows something about Mia’s mom.
“Jesus Christ…” He sighs. “Jordan, I need you to do something for me. Do you have a photo of Mia that you can send to my cell?”
A hand comes around my throat. “Why?”
“Just do it!” he snaps.
My dad never raises his voice at me – never. Not even when I screwed up with the gambling did he once raise his voice at me. It’s just the type of dad he is – a reasoner, not a yeller.
“Jesus! What the hell is going on, Dad?” I say, equally irate.
He exhales. “Look, I’m sorry I snapped. Just … do you have a picture of Mia or not?”
“No, I don’t. But wait a minute, I can get one.”
I pull my cell from my pocket and set the camera on. I hold it up to the window, and zoom in on Mia’s face.
She’s smiling. She’s happy. And she has no clue that I’m about to take a picture of her to send to my dad for a reason I can only guess isn’t good.
The hand around my throat tightens.
I snap the picture.
“I’m sending the photo to your cell now.” I watch the little bar sending, then telling me it’s been sent.
I hear Dad’s message tone beep in the background, then I wait, holding my breath.
“Jesus Christ,” I hear him mutter. “It’s her.”
And this is the moment when I know it’s bad, real bad, and that this is going to somehow change everything irrevocably.
“Dad, you really need to tell me what the hell is going on.”
He lets out a resigned sigh. “I know. I just don’t know where to start.”
“Beginning works good for me.” I’m getting slightly pissed off, and my heart is beating like a bastard.
“Look, this isn’t technically my story to tell, so go easy on me, son.”
I sigh with impatience.
I hear the phone rustle, like he’s moving, then he starts talking, “You know that Belle lived away from Durango.”
“Yeah, she went to college. It was why you guys broke up after high school. Then she moved back home, and you got back together.”