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That was an insightful thing for my dad to say, so insightful that if someone had asked me if he could deduce that about me, I would have told them absolutely not. Half the time, I wasn’t sure he really knewanythingabout me. Then again, Ihadcomplained about hockey players—and in particular about certain Rush hockey players—many,manytimes over the last years.
So…it had absorbed somewhere.
Something that settled in the vicinity of him always stepping in and helping without question.
More good.
Asmallgood.
But it was something, and it was something that reminded me it wasn’t all bad with my parents. They were far from perfect, but they were the only parents I had and—
Joel’s growly voice slid through my mind.
I’ve got your back, and I’m not going to allow you to stand there and be a punching bag.
“BR?”
I blinked, turned into Bailey’s neighborhood. “They’ve grown on me.”
“And,” my dad said, a bit dryly, “especially that one with the beard.”
A note of inquisition. And another blip of insight—though, not surprising considering I’d introduced him to Joel before our date. But the thread of protectiveness was…confusing.
My dad wasn’t protective of me.
He was all for pushing me out of the nest and making certain I was standing on my own two feet.
Me being independent was the best thing I could be—except at work.
Because work trumped all.
My mom…well, I still didn’t get her, but because of her, I’d secured all those gold stars in independence, was standing on my own feet. I didn’t reallyneedto get her. Not when I was out and about, living my own life.
“Joel,” I reminded him. “He’s a good man. He’s helped the town a lot the last few months.”
“And you.”
That struck hard.
Because it was the truth—and one I hadn’t seen before. Or accepted. Or—
“BR?”
I blinked. Damn. I need to get it together. “Yeah, Dad. He’s helped me out, too.”
“Right.” A beat. “Good.”
More blinking. This time for so long, I almost missed Bailey’s driveway.
“That all?” my dad asked, brusque making a comeback.
I threw the engine into park, took a breath, confusion settling in my belly. I didn’t know what was happening, just that I didn’t understand the angle. I didn’t have time to understand it, not right then anyway. “Yeah, Dad,” I whispered. “That’s all.”
“Good,” he clipped out. “Give me some dates and I’ll let you know what works with Mom’s and my schedule.”
“Okay.”
“Right. I got things to do,” he said.
