‘He’s just built that way, Dad.’ Elle waved her hand dismissively.
‘If you say so. Go on, sweetheart, why don’t you leave me to talk to him?’
‘Without me?’
‘I’m not gonna get out the thumb screws, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
‘That isn’t what I’m worried about,’ she said under her breath but backed towards the door. ‘You’ll be OK?’
‘He’ll be fine,’ her dad answered and gestured for me to take a seat opposite him as she left. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she stayed out there with her ear to the door though. ‘Tell me what you need then and why.’
I explained about my mum’s passing and my father absconding and all we’d found out from the search calmly and succinctly, because I was certain this was a man who appreciated brevity.
‘I’m sorry to hear about your mother.’
‘Thank you.’
‘And you genuinely just want to pass on details to him? There’s no…ill will you feel towards him that will end up in trouble? I can’t be responsible for someone winding up in the hospital.’
I shook my head and wondered if there was something wrong with me.ShouldI have been planning to punch Trevor in the mouth when I finally found him? Maybe that was something I’d locked up in the box, too?
‘I’ll run a check for you then, but I could do with a little more information. Don’t get your hopes up. I can’t say when I’ll get the chance either, so you might want to follow up with your legal team anyway.’
‘I understand.’
‘And you can’t mention to anyone you found out this way.’
‘Goes without saying.’
I wrote out the addresses we had, the places he’d worked, what his roles there had been, and passed it over.
Ken nodded. ‘And when you’ve found him, am I likely to see you again?’
Spending the day with her family had been a welcome break from the pressure at the office, the stillness of my apartment and the creeping anxiety of the search. I wouldn’t say no if Elleinvited me to another one of their gatherings. But…I didn’t think that was precisely what her dad was asking.
Did he suspect I’d been using her? That there was something more happening between us? Everyone had been making teasing comments along those lines but I had the feeling Ken was more likely to make his own judgement.
My mouth opened and closed and his eyes narrowed like he was taking in my every micro-expression.
Parting wayshadbeen the deal. But that was before we’d started calling ourselves friends. Before I found myself looking forward to seeing her, even though half the time I was walking into a situation that would make me deeply uncomfortable.
And Elle had said she’d been having fun too, which I believed, because that woman loved solving puzzles — but I had no idea if it went any further than that. Particularly with the added complication of the attraction she had to me, that she definitely didn’t want to acknowledge or act upon. It was far easier to deal with temptation if you removed it from your life altogether.
Christ, I hoped her dad couldn’t read all of that confusion from my face. He would be the world’s best body language expert if so.
‘It’s up to Elle,’ I said, eventually.
Because that was the only thing I knew for certain.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Elle
Ididn’t expect it to be quite this close,’ Stephen commented as we walked the two streets from my parents’ and stopped in front of my sister and Quinn’s house.
‘Convenient, hey?’ I knocked on the door. ‘Tim's just around the corner, too. All the others still live at home.’
‘How come you chose to move into the city?’
