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“You must have plans with a very lucky someone.”
“I don’t know how lucky he is.” I laugh, touching up my lipstick in the mirror.
“He? Is this for business or pleasure?”
It feels like a combination of both but I can’t tell him that. He’ll want to know what this ‘he’ does, who he works for and how he can benefit the company. He’ll want to wine him and dine him. I know because I’ve been through this before. Daddy trusts me to handle these social calls for the most part but he quickly reaches a point where he wants to take over and do the schmoozing.
“It’s for pleasure. Hopefully it will actually be that.”
Daddy walks to my fridge and looks at the few magnets I have on display. Most of them are decorative, but the one that holds a brilliantly painted picture of the Statue of Liberty is particularly personal. He plucks it off the front and examines it closely.
Daddy had been called to New York on business right before my 18thbirthday. I’d been upset but I think it upset him even more. He asked me if I’d be willing to go with him so he could show me all his favorite parts of the city. I’d whined a little because I’d never had any interest in seeing The Big Apple, never been drawn to the whole concrete jungle concept. I was a desert girl, through and through.
But, I went. And I ended up having a blast. Daddy took me shopping and we spent the day on Ellis Island. I’ll never forget how I felt walking through the main building, thinking about all the immigrants who landed there so many years ago then moving from that place of stunning beauty and architecture to the contagious disease ward. It was closed to the public but Daddy had arranged a hardhat tour with the promise of a significant donation toward restoration efforts. The whole time, he kept talking about how far we’ve come since then. God, it drove me nuts, and was quite depressing. But that night he redeemed himself, treated me to dinner at Tiffany’s to celebrate my official entrance into womanhood, then to a late-night production of Cats on Broadway. I was exhausted after but it was worth every second of those memories I made with him.
“I remember when you bought this. I didn’t know you still had it.”
“That’s my favorite magnet. I’ll never get rid of it.”
“We had a lot of fun, rolling you into adulthood that weekend.” He smiles somewhat forlornly then places the magnet back.
“We sure did.”
Pulling in a tight breath and sliding his hands deep in his pockets, he turns to me. “I won’t keep you. I just got back into town and remembered you had something important to discuss.”
“I do, but now is not a good time since my friend will be here any minute. Can we get together tomorrow?”
“Of course, my darling. Would you like to stop by my office in the morning?”
“Sure. I should probably check in myself, get some business cards printed up and see how the production team is doing. What time should I come to you?”
“I have a meeting at nine but it shouldn’t take more than an hour.”
“Alright. How was your weekend in Sedona?”
He winces. “Not as relaxing as I’d hoped. Greer fell and sprained her ankle not long after we got there. After getting her to a clinic to be sure it wasn’t broken I spent the whole weekend taking care of her. But I didn’t mind.”
“That’s too bad. Is she better?”
“Oh yes. She was up at five today for her morning walk, though it was significantly shorter than usual.” He chuckles. “But at least she’s up and about again.”
“If she needs help with anything in the morning tell her to call me. I can stop by before I come see you.”
“That’s so sweet of you, kitten. I’ll tell her. Now, how about filling me in on this person you’re seeing?”
“His name is Ben Figueiredo, and side note, he has a bit of personal history with King himself.”
Daddy jars back, like I’ve stung him. “How—how so?”
“He lost his son to him. And a nephew.”
Pulling in a deep breath and rubbing his face, Daddy seems about as disturbed as I initially was. “Ben Figueiredo, you said?”
I nod.
“How did you two meet?”
Shit. I hadn’t thought about him asking that. “Funny story. He happened to be in California when Rigger and I were there. We met at a club, got to talking, and learned of our mutual history.”
