As the wind began to stir and my heart began to beat.
I knew it in the barest touch. Knew it when I was held prisoner by those eyes.
I knew it, and I still didn’t know how to stop from chasing it.
After today? Trent Lawson just might hate me for implying he didn’t care about his son. And I wasn’t sure that was a fate I could bear.
I knocked softly at the door and peeked in through the crack. “Daddy? You wanted to see me?”
My stomach tightened as he looked up from the stack of papers where he sat behind the messy, cluttered desk. A weary smile took over his entire face. “Eden. Come in and have a seat.”
He gestured at the chair.
I entered, clicking the door shut behind me and moving to sit across from him. Somehow feeling like I was a little girl who’d been called to the principal’s office.
Nerves clattered through my being, and my movements were slowed, like any flinch or twitch might give me away.
I was pretty sure I’d already been incriminated.
Daddy removed his glasses and tossed them to the desk, rubbing his eyes before he rocked back in his chair and stared over at me, taking me in as if he hadn’t seen me in an age. “How are things, Eden?”
My chest squeezed. “I’m great.” I chuckled an indifferent laugh to throw him off whatever scent he’d picked up. “Same as I was this morning when you popped into my class.”
There.
Act like nothing was different. Play it off and things would turn out just fine for the both of us.
“How are things with you?” I asked. I fought the urge to fidget like I was guilty of a horrible crime. I was just afraid to my father, that’s exactly what it would be.
Still, he studied me with that kind, knowing gaze, though there was no missing the uncertainty that swam in the warm pools of green.
It was…unnerving the way he could see right through me.
He’d always had a way of sensing people’s distress. Of feeling it. Watching for it. Always there to offer support. A gentle ear and a kind word and so often the shirt off his back.
I imagined Harmony’s deception had hurt all the more since our daddy would have gladly given her his last dime had she asked for it. If she’d come to him and told him she was in trouble and needed help rather than swindling the roof from over our heads. Broken trust was one of the hardest things to mend.
He rested his hands over his stomach in a casual way and hooked his ankle over the opposite knee. “Things are looking up, Eden.”
I would have exhaled in relief except for the implication threaded through his words.
I forced a bright smile.
“That’s great.”
Play along. Play along.
Maybe he just wanted to talk to me about one of my students. Probably Myla who’d painted the kindergarten walls in marker before she’d moved on to poor little Ben’s shirt.
Only my daddy’s expression shifted in worry, an elbow going to the armrest and propping up his head as he searched me through the bright rays of light that streaked in through the high window. “Yep, they sure are.”
He sat forward, all business-like as he started to sift through the papers like he was going to find missing information.
“Such a strange thing, though…I called the bank to talk to them about being granted another extension, and they told me something interesting. They told me they’d already received a portion of the payment and an extension was unnecessary.”
“Oh, how wonderful!” I squeaked it way too loud, itching on my seat.
I was a terrible liar. Because my smile was so fake I was pretty sure my face might break.
“Is it?” he asked with a tilt of his head. “I know it was deposited by you, Eden. I know it wasn’t some random donation.”
Disquiet rustled, and this time I couldn’t stop myself from twisting my fingers.
I mean, seriously, did I think he wasn’t going to find out? Play it off as a helpful stranger when no one else knew but Tessa, the two of us, and the bank that was breathing down our necks?
“Daddy…I…I told you I was working on it. That I would help fix it. That you aren’t in this alone.”
The words started to rush in emphasis. In an appeal for him to understand.
It was true my daddy was the best man around, loved every single person, did his best to always look deeper and never to judge, but he was also about as traditional as they came.
Always hoping his children stood on solid, even ground.
And when Harmony had fallen? It’d only made him that much more protective of me.
The creases at the corners of his eyes deepened.
Devotion and worry.
His voice came as a soft plea. “I don’t know what that means, Eden. How?”