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Flor
"Where were you?" Dad asks the second I walk through the door.
"Went to have a quick meeting with Frank," I say, moving past him as I'm in a hurry to go to my room.
"One second, young lady," my dad says, standing from the couch and raising a hand. "What do you mean you went to have a meeting with Frank?"
Pausing, I roll my eyes, annoyed that guys my dad and Frank's age keep wanting to call me little girl or young lady. Who's leading the charge here? It's certainly not them.
"I went to see if he had any thoughts about what we should do."
"And?"
"Seems like he's still thinking it over."
Dad nods. "Always keep in perspective how my relationship with him began. He was going to arrest me but it was better for me to become an informant. He works with the law while we...we're more in the gray area."
"I know Dad, but I can trust him, right?"
"I...think so," he says, suddenly not displaying the same level of confidence he uses to run scams which put food on the table, or working the streets to get information on bad guys, double-crossing them with his sharp mind and even sharper street skills.
"You've been building up how great of a guy he is all these years. You won't stop going on about him. How could I not feel like he's on our team, especially after you told him everything earlier this morning?"
"Remember this is his town, he has the upper hand." He pauses. "I'm also reconsidering who I should trust. What were those noises I heard last night?" he segways with the grace of an elephant stomping across the Serengeti.
"What noises?"
"Sounded like someone...moaning," he says, his expression pinching at the end.
"Maybe he was having a bad dream. Don't know."
"But they didn't seem like they were coming from the couch. Sounded like they were coming from your room."
"My room? You didn't get up in the night to check on me?"
"I was out cold, but I could barely remember them when I woke up. A bit hazy, but I put the puzzle pieces together."
"What do you mean the puzzle pieces together?" I try to stand firm, not giving this master reader of body language and expressions anything to grab a hold of and use against me.
"That the moans were coming from your room. That's what."
"Dad! I don't know. Maybe it was a bad dream. We've been through a lot lately. We're in a new place and now it feels like we're chasing dead ends with a lawyer who might have fleeced us. Add in the fact we've involved a police officer that you're no longer sure you can trust and well..." I let the tears start to fall, although there's really no emotion behind them, only that which I was able to contrive. I hate pulling one over on my dad, but I'm not about to let him find out about Frank and me. It would damage what's building between us and also my chances of getting Frank to pursue Chief Braxton in regards to mom's case.
Moving toward him I wrap my arms around my dad in a big hug, burying my face into the crook of his neck so he can't get a read on my expression.
"I'm sorry," he says. "It's a stressful time for all of us. But don't worry, we're going to figure this all out."
"Yeah, we will. Together," I confirm, but don't tell him what I really mean is Frank and I. He's going to help me get revenge for mom, and Frank and I will also have to figure out what we have between us and where it's going to go.
Even though I already know where I'm going to steer it...into us being together forever.
