“So you changed your mind about seeing Sophie. Why?” Lisa asked.
Although it struck Riley that this was the first serious conversation he and his ex-wife had had in years about anything other than their daughter, he appreciated the insight of someone with a successful marriage.
“At first I had to deal with the fallout of the news. By then, Sophie had left messages for me at home and on my cell. And it dawned on me that I hadn’t heard from her since our trip to Mississippi. But as soon as a crisis struck, boom! There she was, calling me.”
Lisa wrinkled her nose. “And this is a bad thing?” she asked, obviously confused.
He nodded. “You have to know Sophie. In a crisis, she steams into control mode. She knows exactly what to do, what to say and how to act, in order to take charge and make sure that all’s right in her world. As soon as the problem is over, she crawls back into her self-protective shell and won’t come out.”
“Sounds like she needs you more than you need her. And if you don’t mind my saying so, that giving-her-space thing? It’s more something a man would appreciate than a woman,” Lisa said.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on and treating it with a long swig of beer. “I think she needs to be shaken up a bit,” he muttered, not knowing how else to get through to the beautiful, stubborn woman.
He couldn’t believe after all the years of women coming easily to him, the one woman he wanted in his life for good, he couldn’t figure out how to keep. If this were a damn football game, he’d have a playbook. For all Sophie’s rules, there were none on how to reach her.
The doorbell rang and before Lisa could respond, Lizzie’s footsteps sounded, padding down the stairs. “I got it, I got it,” she called, alerting the neighborhood.
Riley and Lisa shot each other amused glances.
“Grandpa!” Lizzie yelled, surprising them both.
Since Lisa’s father had died years ago and Lizzie called Ted’s father Poppy, a sinking feeling settled low in Riley’s stomach. He rose and followed Lisa out of the kitchen and into the foyer in time to see Harlan hugging his granddaughter.
His eyes caught first Lisa’s with a warm smile, then Riley’s.
“So what brings you here?” Lisa asked, shutting the door behind him.
Harlan wrapped an arm around Lizzie’s shoulder. “I stopped by Riley’s straight from the airport. The doorman said he wasn’t home, so I figured I’d take my chances and have the car service drop me here. Riley mentioned yesterday that he’d been spending time here this week and I was hoping I could meet up with all of you. At the very least I knew I’d get to see my favorite girl.” He hugged Lizzie tight. “Can we all sit and talk?”
Oh, something was up, Riley thought. And it couldn’t be good.
“Let me get Ted. He’s doing paperwork in his office.”
Harlan nodded. “That would be a good idea.”
Once they were all seated in the living room, Harlan rose and stood in the center of the room. “I realize nobody in this room has had an easy time of it since Riley’s paternity was revealed. Riley?”
He shook his head, uncertain where the hell Harlan was going with this. “It’s been tough. Locker-room garbage, reporters hounding me, things like that.”
“Lizzie?” Harlan looked at the teenager. “How’s it been for you?”
She stared at her bare feet without looking up. “The kids at school think it’s funny that my dad’s got a gay father. They asked me if Dad’s gay, too.”
Riley and Lisa nodded. They’d heard the stories over the past few days. It broke Riley’s heart that his daughter had to bear the brunt of something that had nothing at all to do with her. After all, being a teenager was hard enough.
“I promised your dad I’d find out who was behind the leak.” Harlan knelt down beside his granddaughter. “Is there anything you’d like to tell us?”
Riley stiffened. “Dad…” he said, warning his father to back off. “Don’t go looking for a scapegoat just because you’re still angry I told Lizzie the truth about Spencer.”
The other man rose slowly, in deference to his age. “I have a hair-trigger temper and I admit I lost it that day, but I can assure you I would never blame my granddaughter unfairly.” He turned to Lizzie. “Would I, young lady?”
Lisa jumped up from her seat. “I don’t know what’s going on here but I don’t like it. If you have something to say, just say it. Stop beating around the bush,” Lisa said,
Ted placed a hand on her arm, pulling her back down, but staying out of the family squabble at least for now.
“I agree with Lisa,” Riley said. “Just spit it out.” Riley had to admit his daughter, who was still staring at the ground, looked extremely guilty about something.
“My sources tell me that the person behind leaking the news is a man named Frank Thomas. His daughter, Sara, is a schoolmate of Lizzie’s,” Harlan said.
Riley groaned.
Lisa leaned back in her seat and sighed aloud.
Lizzie burst into tears.
AN HOUR LATER, Riley drove his father back into the city so he could drop him off at his hotel.
“It isn’t easy being a parent, is it?” Harlan asked.
Riley shook his head. “No, it sure isn’t.” He paused, knowing he owed Harlan an apology. “I’m sorry I trusted Lizzie with that information. Definitely too much for a thirteen-year-old to keep inside. And now your career is at risk.”
Harlan sighed. “As she explained through her hysteria, she just confided in a friend because she was upset about you and your girlfriend being on TV. It never dawned on her that her friend would tell her father or that her father would sell the story to earn a buck. Makes it hard to be angry.”
“Well, I still trusted her with sensitive information and she repeated it. She needs to learn that actions have consequences. I suppose now she has.” Riley swerved the steering wheel to avoid a taxi who cut him off.
“I hope so,” Harlan said.
Riley glanced to the passenger side. “So what happens now?”
“I ride out the scandal and see what the electorate does in November. Nothing else I can do.” He set his jaw, grinding his back teeth.
“Are you heading back home in the morning?”
Harlan shifted in his seat. “I have an important meeting at nine. I’ll fly out after that.”
Riley grinned. “The busy life of a politician.”
“Yet sometimes it’s your personal life that wears you down,” the other man said, laughing despite the circumstances. “So how’s that beautiful woman you brought home with you?”
“Fine.” Riley wasn’t in the mood to discuss Sophie for a second time today. He managed to make small talk and keep his real feelings to himself until they finally pulled up to the curb by the hotel and said their goodbyes.
Exhausted, Riley drove home, parked and took the elevator up to his apartment, ready to fall into bed. Instead as he approached his place, he saw a blonde seated outside his door waiting for him.
Sophie must have heard his approach, because she looked up, then rose to her feet, an embarrassed smile on her face.
His heart sped up at the sight of her in her faded jeans and T-shirt. Her hair was tousled and she wore no makeup.
“Hi there,” she greeted him with a wave.
He practically lost his heart all over again, but reminded himself he had good reason to be wary. “Hi, yourself.”
“Your doorman recognized me from the interview Uncle Yank did on TV and he said I could come on up and wait.”
The interview. Another time she’d seen fit to leave a message because she thought it was the right thing to do, not because she couldn’t stay away. She managed to do that too easily.
He put his keys in the door and let them inside. “Been here long?”
“Not really,” Sophie lied. More like two hours, she thought. She’d even dozed once.
Once inside, he tossed the keys on the kitchen counter. He turned to face her and she saw how truly tired he
