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My face fell. Was that a compliment?
“As far as everyone else is concerned, I’m expanding an underserved branch of our business to help us further our dominance in the Midwest.”
“Right.”
“Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone until we iron the kinks out, though.”
“Of course not,” I said, fighting the urge to clutch the packet to my chest.
He nodded definitively before continuing. “Also for your eyes only—” He plopped an even thicker brown envelope down where the last one had been.
“What’s that?”
“Some things I thought you might want from one of your mother’s old shoeboxes.”
His words knocked the wind from me. “I thought you got rid of all Mom’s stuff.”
Guilt washed over his face. “Not all of it. Just enough to show you that a real man knows the difference between the woman he loved and the useless crap she loved.”
I shook my head like it might jar the right words loose. “Dad—”
“There’s a letter in there for you,” he said. “She made me promise I’d give it to you if you ever fell in love.”
A swell of sharp emotion bubbled in my chest.
“Maybe that’s now,” he said, his eyes smiling for a split second. “It’s not for me to say. Either way, it’s your property.”
I cast the emotion from my voice and rolled my shoulders back, determined to hide my shock and behave in a dignified way so he wouldn’t regret giving me the envelope. “Thanks.”
“Friday,” he said, pointing at me. “Don’t forget.”
I took a step back when I realized I’d been dismissed. “I’ll organize something with Cindy now.”
He turned his attention to some papers on his desk.
“Hey, Dad.”
His eyes flicked up to mine.
I lifted the envelopes a few inches. “Thank you.”
“I’m sorry I’m not better with this soft skills stuff,” he said, the wrinkles in his lips deepening as he puckered them. “I thought she’d always be around to…”
“It’s okay,” I interrupted, before his voice could break. “You’re not so bad.”
He scoffed like he didn’t believe a word of it. “Don’t tell anyone. You’ll ruin my reputation.”
I laughed and promised that his secret was safe with me, but his comment gave me pause. After all, I’d been headed in the same direction for years, plagued by the sense that I was too set in my ways to change, that if I changed, I’d lose my edge.
But if my edge was that I didn’t care about anyone besides myself and my work, I didn’t want it anymore. There were more important things. Like making Maddy smile. That was work I could be proud of.
I hurried back to my office after booking an appointment with Cindy, and by the time the door swung shut, I’d already emptied the contents of the second envelope on my desk. It was full of pictures, handwritten notes, and ticket stubs for concerts my parents must have gone to. And right on top, there was a letter.
My arms erupted in goosebumps when I saw her handwriting.
For Quinn. For when you meet a woman worth telling your father about.
My eyes watered, but I looked at the ceiling and took a deep breath, blinking back my tears before they could fall. Then, with a swollen heart and a shaky hand, I carefully freed the note and sank to the edge of my chair.
