I had standards that obviously my dad didn’t even care about. I wanted a solid relationship. One built on trust. On love. I’d thought I had that with Huck. But then everything I believed had been wrong.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” I tucked my hair back behind my ear again. Even though it was pulled back in a sloppy ponytail, long strands had come free, and the summer breeze swirled through the open bay. Fresh air cut the tang of oil and metal. “You’re not going to give me the shop.”
He pointed to himself in his Harley T-shirt and old jeans. There was a stain on the denim and a slight tear at the hem of the shirt. “Do I look like I’m old enough to retire?”
“You’re old enough to know that Roy is a deadbeat and that your own daughter does his job and all the bookkeeping. And yours sometimes too.”
He ignored my words. “You don’t know what you want.”
I stared at him, wide-eyed. “I’m twenty-six years old! You don’t get to decide for me.”
“Like you make the best choices. You were going down the wrong path. You’re doing it again. Friday night proves it.”
I stilled. My heart kicked up a notch. “The auction. You mean Huck Manning.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“About what? Manning? I told you he wasn’t good enough for you.”
“I mean about taking over O’Banyons.”
He took a step closer and used his height to his advantage. I never thought he’d hurt me physically, but he was playing games with me. Trying to intimidate me and keep me cowered. Like I had been ever since I’d returned from school.
He stared me down, and I refused to be the first who looked away. “No. I won’t have you taking it over.”
Even though I’d figured the truth, the words hurt. The finality of it. The proof of what I’d been suspecting. I took a deep breath, tried to will back the tears. The last thing I wanted was for him to see how much he’d hurt me. “So you were going to, what, just use me?”
He frowned. He actually looked confused. “Use you? You pay yourself, don’t you?”
I looked at my father, the man I’d wanted to emulate ever since I was little.
“Why’d you show me how to fix cars if you never wanted me to do it?” Yeah, the tears were winning, and they clogged my throat.
He shrugged. “It was cheaper than a babysitter. I had work to do, and I couldn’t just leave you at home.”
Wow. Holy fuck.
I tossed the paper towel in the barrel trash can, then threw up my hands. “I’m out. Find yourself a new Girl Friday.”
“What the fuck’s a Girl Friday?” he shouted. “Pumpkin, I don’t know what’s gotten into you.”
It wasn’t Huck Manning, that was for sure. My pussy clenched with a need for him. I remembered how he’d held me earlier in the darkness. How he’d kissed me in the bar’s parking lot. How he’d made me come all over his face.
He’d saved a baby from a bad situation. He gave and gave while people like my dad thought shit about him.
Maybe I had too.
“I’ll make it clearer for you. I quit.”
I cut down the space between one of the cars and the wall. My dad stepped into my path, blocking my exit. I looked up at him, tipped my chin, defiant.
“What are you going to do?” he asked as if I was nothing without him. Like I would be out on the street if I didn’t stick around.
“Run my own shop.” I’d said it. Said my dream aloud. It was time to make it happen.
He laughed, set his hands on his hips. “Right.”
Disbelief laced that one word. He had zero faith. He didn’t believe in me or anything I did.
“A stupid decision just like you buying Manning the other night. What is it, that time of the month?”
God, my father was an asshole! What had Huck told me? That my father had some explaining to do?
The only story I knew was that Huck hadn’t wanted me and then came home with a baby. A baby I’d thought he’d made after tossing me aside.
But that wasn’t true. I knew now that Huck hadn’t broken up with me and moved on. If I took Claire out of the picture, it was much clearer.
What was the truth? We’d been in love, made plans. I’d given him my virginity, which he’d said made me his. Then he’d come to the house. Broke up with me. My dad had been there. Observing it all.
“What did you do?” I asked. “All those years ago. With Huck Manning.”
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “He wasn’t good enough for you.”
“Yeah, you’ve always said that.”
“I told him he was holding you back.”
I frowned. “When?”
He gave a small shrug as if it didn’t mean anything to him. “Before you went to school.”
“Why would you do that?”
“You were headed to college. He could offer you nothing.”
He’d given me his love. His protection. His promises that he’d keep me safe. Keep me happy.
“He’s not nothing, Dad. He’s the chief of police! I’d say he’s made a man of himself.”
“He had a baby with another woman right after he dumped you.”
I knew the truth of that now. He hadn’t. Huck was right, people in this town were going to judge no matter what had actually happened, and I had no intention of setting my dad straight.
“I’m not talking about then. I’m talking before I left for school. He came and said he was breaking up with me because of school. Because he was bad for me. Why would he all of a sudden say that?”
“Because I told him the truth.”
My dad had talked to Huck. “What did you say?” My throat ached, trying to ask the question.
Dad shrugged. “That he needed to leave you alone or I’d step in.”
“That wasn’t stepping in?” I shouted. I pushed at
