“Well, then, try to be more like that,” he said. He rose. “I don’t want to hear any more talk about this boy at school, Lorelei.”
“Okay, Daddy,” I said quickly. His look and his tone were frightening me and causing my heart to thump.
I think he saw that in my face and softened his expression without quite smiling. “It will all be fine. Just be patient,” he said. He started to turn away and then stopped and turned to my window. The look that came over him now reminded me of the times he would stop whatever he was doing and listen hard.
“What…”
He put up his hand for me to be silent. I barely breathed. And then he surprised me again by returning to sit next to me on my bed.
“Tell me about this boy,” he said.
“There isn’t much to tell, Daddy. I don’t know much about him. He recently entered the school but quickly has become very popular. He is very good-looking and different.”
“Different? H
ow?”
“He’s more mature, I think. I barely spoke to him today and never before today.”
“He never approached you before today?”
“No. He acted barely interested in me, no different from how he acted toward most of the girls. He’d grunt a hello in the hallway but never waited to hear me respond or try to have a discussion.”
“Until today?”
“Yes.”
He looked out the window again and was silent. Then he turned back to me and said, “I want you to tell me exactly what he says and how he responds tomorrow when you tell him you can’t go with him on any date.”
“What should I tell him is the reason, Daddy?”
“Don’t give him any reason. No excuses. A simple ‘no, I’m sorry, thanks for asking.’”
“And if he asks why not?”
“Tell him you don’t want to go with him. If you say it strongly and firmly enough, he should be quite discouraged. He’ll be angry, of course, but he’ll not bother to ask you out anymore. If he does bother you, annoy you, you let me know that, too. Understand?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Good.” He rose again.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
Maybe it was the wrong time to ask, but the way he had looked at me when I complained about Ava made me think more about myself, more about the differences between us.
“Why can’t I know more about myself, about where you found me and who my birth parents might be?”
“What for, Lorelei? What difference does any of that make now?”
“I read this story about an adopted girl who accidentally meets her real brother when both of them are in their twenties and…”
“And they don’t know they’re brother and sister and they fall in love?”
“Yes.”
He smiled. “Don’t worry about that. You have no brothers.”