“Has something happened?” he asked.
“I want to talk about the morning I found you in Brett’s office,” I said.
“Oh. Okay. That’s fine. What do you want to know?”
“I want to know what the two of you talked about.”
Yesterday at lunch with Brett had been rough. And when he started throwing accusations around about my father, I felt a little idiotic. He was saying things about that morning that I had no idea about, because when I’d first talked to Daniel about it, he’d told me they were just having a talk about us dating. He admitted to me that he had given Brett a “fatherly rundown.”
But according to Brett, that wasn’t what happened at all.
“I told you, I gave him a rundown. Not a big one, but I have to admit I don’t like the way he treated you back in college. At least, from what you’ve told me. I might have overstepped a line or two doing it, and I’m sorry if I made you upset with it. But I figured telling him that he had me to deal with if he hurt you might shock some sense into him if he hadn’t already grown into some,” Daniel said.
“That’s fine. That is what you told me. Except Brett told me something a little different,” I said.
“Ah, the ‘he-said-he-said’ debacle. Okay. Lay it on me. What did he say I said?”
“He said you flat out told him to stay away from me.”
“What?” he asked.
“Mhm. He said that you marched into his office and told him to stay away from me because I deserved better.”
“That isn’t even partially true,” he said.
“So, you didn’t tell him that? You didn’t tell Brett to stay away from me for good?” I said.
“No, Olive. I didn’t.”
“Then there’s another question I want to ask you. And I want you to be honest with me, okay? Because if we’re going to have any semblance of a relationship, we have to be honest with each other.”
“Of course. I’ll never not be honest with you,” he said.
“Brett and I have been getting some anonymous emails.”
“Emails?”
“Yes. A blocked email address. Weird hours during the day. Things like that. And the emails aren’t kind. One of them was a blurry picture of who they thought was me with another man. One of the emails I got stated that if I didn’t leave Brett, then they’d convince him it was me in the picture with that other man. One of the emails Brett got even insinuated that one of us would get hurt if we didn’t part ways,” I said.
“Olive, this sound like it’s serious. Have you gone to the police?”
“No, we haven’t. Neither of us have. Because we’re under the assumption that someone in one of our families is playing us.”
“Ah,” he said.
I watched him sit back into his seat as he crossed his leg over his knee.
“So, you’re wanting to know if I’m the one sending the emails,” he said.
“You can see where my concern is, given what Brett told me actually happened during the encounter between you two in his office.”
“Well, one, that wasn’t how that encounter went. I told you what happened when I went to speak with him. And two, I hardly know how to work technology. I didn’t even know you could block email addresses like that. If it was me sending them, I probably would have just made a dummy account or something.”
“If it were you sending them?” I said.
Daniel shook his head. “Olive, I know you’re questioning why I popped back into your life after all these years. And I’m trying. I’m really trying here. But you willingly opened up to me about your time with Brett, and I can’t honestly tell you I’m a fan of him. Now, if he makes you happy, I’m not going to stand in the way of that. Do I think he’s right for you? Eh, maybe not. But I’m also not in a position to dictate that in your life. Your mother seems to be a fan of Brett, so I’m trusting her judgment on the matter.”
“You’ve been talking with Mom about this?” I asked.
“I asked her opinion on Brett. She gave it to me. It had its downsides, but it was overall a positive conversation.”
“Did she… tell you anything else?”
Daniel narrowed his eyes. “Should she have been telling me something else?”
“Never mind. I just don’t like all of this talking behind other people’s backs. Things are getting far too convoluted.”
“What can I do to help?” he asked.
“Right now? Just stay away from Brett and his office. If I need your help with him, I’ll come and ask for it. But right now, the two of us are trying to work things out, and I’d like it if you respected that.”
Daniel stood up from his chair, leaving his coffee untouched. “Fair enough.”