She didn’t know why he’d say that other than it felt like living around here, all the women walked around in workout gear in the mornings, going to do yoga outside, or taking a run, then getting their smoothies and protein drinks.
“It might be good if you did.”
“I’m eating a healthy mix of everything but in moderation. It’s easier.”
“That has always been your problem, you take the easy way out. You get in shallow water and let yourself drift rather than swimming back.”
Deep breath in, hold it, then let it out.
Again, then again.
“I’m swimming well now,” she said, lifting her chin. “And you pick where you want to eat. You’re looking a little thin to me.”
Her father was sixty-five. He could retire and she was surprised he hadn’t.
He’d had a long, great career, as Vice President of Operations and was living his life the way he always wanted and if whoever he was with didn’t like it, they normally took a walk.
Maybe work was all he had now.
“I have little appetite like I used to,” her father said.
She looked at his face, saw more wrinkles than normal, the muscle loss on his frame, but still evident.
She had to remind herself she hadn’t seen him in years, she had little to judge him on other than aging.
His personality sure the hell hadn’t changed.
“I don’t snack as much,” she said. “I buy less at the store now. If I’ve got to go too often and carry everything back, I watch what I’m getting. I might have more delivered too.”
For now, more exercise for her to walk and carry everything back. There was a store half a mile away and it worked out well enough for bigger trips. One across from her building for a few quick last-minute things.
“It will cost you more,” her father said. “You should be budgeting. I’ll give you some money.”
“No,” she said firmly. That was the last thing she wanted.
It must have been the tone of her voice that had her father twisting his head to look at her, their silent stare ready to do battle.
“You’ll tell me if you need it?” he asked, quieter than he’d ever spoken to her before.
Accepting any help from him would shackle her even more to feel as if she had to listen to what he said.
If moving here drained her money for a year, she’d go somewhere cheaper. She was determined to do this on her own.
Of all the changes she’d made in her life, the most important one was her self-confidence.
The last thing she needed was this chance of reconnecting with her father to weigh her down and suffocate what she’d striven so hard for.
“Yes,” she lied. Maybe she hadn’t changed as much as she hoped, but it was easier to just respond that way.
2
EPITOME OF CONTROL
“Ethan, you need to find my replacement.”
Ethan Bond looked at Blair Cummings and bit back a wince. “I’m trying. Do you know how hard it is to find someone I can trust? Someone who will work over forty hours a week and be even halfway professional?”
It shouldn’t have taken this long.
