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Behind us, I heard Tanner laugh. A moment later, J.D. huffed out a breath, but he groaned in pain right after. Still, this was nice. It was alsocompletelyunexpected. My dad had flown to Iowa for us? No, for me.
"I tried to call you," I told him. "I even left a message."
"Shit, that's still on airplane mode," Dad said, pulling out his phone to mess with it. "Ricardo said I had to shut it up. I was probably halfway here."
"You just..." Yeah, my mind was breaking.
He pulled me up against his side. "Cody, you were screaming. All I could see was you behind the chutes, lookin' like you were scared to death. Hell yeah, I'm here. And maybe I'm gettin' in your way, and from the looks of it, there's some things going on that you're trying real hard to pretend I won't understand, but I don't care about that none."
"Things?" I asked.
He paused in the middle of the hall. "I saw those two holding hands, baby girl."
"Dad..." I tried, hoping to come up with an explanation.
"And I don't care about that at all," he went on. "I don't care if you're the one in the middle of them. Hell, I don't care if you're dating that boy because shit like that ain't done in the PBR." Then he bent to look right in my face. "But you need to know I am on your side. Don't care what it is. Don't care if I wouldn't agree with it for myself. Being your old man means I got your back no matter what, kiddo."
"Thank you, Daddy," I breathed, leaning in to hug him again.
"Now let's make sure J.D. can have some food, and then you can tell me why Ty McBride isn't in there, ok?"
I groaned, knowing this wasn't going to end well for me. Thankfully, J.D.'s nurse saw us before we even reached the nurse's station.
"I'm getting his meds together right now," he told us.
"Is he on a restricted diet?" Dad asked.
The man paused. "J.D.?" He turned back to grab a binder and start flipping pages. "No."
"Well, these kids haven't eaten since breakfast, I bet."
The nurse, whose nametag said "Ben," smiled at my father. "Two blocks over, there's some all-night places. You willing to grab a few extra orders?"
"Yes!" I said before Dad could answer. "If you don't complain about us having too many visitors overnight."
"Cross my heart," Ben assured me, making a little X in the most feminine way I could imagine. "Let me write that up and get some money."
"My treat," I told him. "Think of this like me trying to bribe y'all for the best care."
Dad just laughed. "I think J.D.'s teaching you a few bad habits, Cody."
"Or some good ones," I countered. "We take care of the people who care for us, right? It kinda sounds like something my daddy would say."
"Yeah?" Dad paused as Ben hurried off to get the other nurses' orders, then lowered his voice. "So you gonna tell me which of those guys you really picked, Cody?"
I pressed my lips together and thought about that for a split second. "I ended up picking me, Dad. Ty made me choose, so I did. Thing is, J.D. made me feel like I'd made the right call, and Tanner has my back on it. So yeah, that's kinda how it went."
"So which one of them are you really dating?" he asked.
"Um..." I could feel my face heating up. "It's kinda complicated."
"Both?"
I grimaced.
Dad just roared out a laugh. "Oh, you are definitely my little girl." Then, clasping my shoulder, he turned me and guided me towards the nurse's station. "So do they make you happy?"
"Yeah," I mumbled, the word coming out about two octaves higher than I wanted.
