CON
Landon called me when I was midair, halfway to the East Coast and the inevitable. He wanted to know if I wanted him to do anything about Kim.
“Do about her?” I echoed. “Didn’t you tell me you didn’t have anything?”
“I told you I hadn’t found anything,” he said levelly.
I got his meaning. He always had something in his back pocket. A frame, a fix up, a trap. Did I want him to put Kim in one?
I stared at the back of the seat in front of me, considering it. It would make my life a hell of a lot easier if Landon could conjure up an incriminating counter to what Kim had on me. She’d lost the benefit of the doubt with Halley a long time ago, as much as Halley loved her. She’d know that claiming I’d framed her would only alienate Halley. It might just work…but as quickly as the temptation rose, it faded. I trusted Landon with my life, but even he couldn’t guarantee that the truth would never get back to Halley. It was one thing to tell her about Lily. I could never explain blackmailing her mother.
When I told Landon not to do anything and hung up, I felt like I was severing my last connection to my old life. The one in which I was the father I’d sworn to Halley I’d be. The one I’d spent twenty-two years building.
Strangely, as much as I was dreading telling my daughter the truth, I felt like a tether had been loosened. It was going to feel like shit to see the look on my daughter’s face, but we’d come out the other side somehow. And maybe Lily would be there too.
* * *
Halley insisted on Olive Garden. That was fine with me. Better to break the news there than ruin a restaurant I liked with what was sure to be an ugly memory.
“I told you the breadsticks were amazing,” she said, biting into one.
“I’ve had the breadsticks before, Hals.” I’d ordered a beer when we sat down. I drank it now, wondering how the hell to start.
“So what are you doing here?” Halley asked when she’d swallowed. “Not that it’s not nice to see you, but it’s also weird, considering I’m coming home for Thanksgiving soon.”
I squeezed the cold bottle tightly. Halley tilted her head at my silence. “Does it have something to do with Lily?”
My eyes jumped from the bottle to hers, shock reverberating through me. Did she know? Was she okay with it? She certainly didn’t look pissed.
“If the job didn’t work out, you can just tell me,” Halley said.
I cleared my throat. “Why do you think it didn’t work out?”
My daughter shrugged. Her dark curls bounced from her shoulders. “I haven’t been able to get a hold of her in a few days. You showed up unexpectedly. I’m just trying to put two and two together.”
“Well,” I said slowly, “you’re right. I’m here because of Lily. But it’s not because the job didn’t work out.”
There wasn’t a flicker of comprehension in Halley’s hazel eyes. She had no fucking clue. Kim hadn’t had a chance to drop the bomb in her lap yet. That meant I was going to get the full force of the detonation.
I drained my beer, throttling the neck, then set it down with a thunk.
“Dad,” Halley said in surprise. “What’s wrong?”
Garrett had coached me through this, but now it was all fucked up. We weren’t supposed to be talking about Lily. I was supposed to tell her I’d met someone. I was happy. Then I was going to tell her everything, and end with leaving the choice in her hands.
But as I stared at the grown woman across the table, something in me unknotted. I’d done my job as a father. She was a happy, well-adjusted, intelligent adult. In a few months, she was going to shred the last layer of the cocoon I’d tried to wrap her in and pursue her acting dream. The one she kept hidden from me because she didn’t want to disappoint me. The same way I’d kept Lily from her.
“Dad?” she prompted, concern shadowing her eyes. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m in love with Lily,” I said abruptly.
Halley’s mouth dropped open. She laughed, then she stopped short and stared at me. The color drained from her face slowly. Her eyes and her mouth formed Os. “You’re what?”
“Neither of us meant for it to happen, but it did.”
“What happened exactly?” Halley asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
My jaw tightened. “I told you. I fell in love with her.”