“Yeah. I’m trying to find somewhere like Montrose Place. Someplace with the same vibe and presence I felt when I saw it.”
I sit down on the sofa, set the flowers and donuts on the coffee table, and he sits opposite me.
“Jia, I know you’re mad as hell at me. We haven’t spoken in days, and I don’t like it. Doesn’t sit well with me to have my baby girl so upset with me she’s not answering my calls.”
“Dad… I couldn’t talk to you. I hate talking to you when I’m mad. I kind of wish you’d given me the chance to buy the property from you or something.”
“I hear you, but I couldn’t do that because Paul was the reason for me purchasing it in the first place.”
My lips part. I didn’t know that. “You never mentioned that before.”
“Jia, I listened to you talk about the place for months, and I was a worried man because I was being put in a position of choice. I bought it for him as a present, if you will. Something he could do as a venture when he came home. He doesn’t need me. It’s been years since he needed me, and that’s probably the last thing I’ll give him like that, but what made it so hard was that you wanted it too.”
My shoulders slump. This whole debacle seems to be more complicated than I thought.
“Dad… if it was his place, why didn’t you just tell me?”
“While it was mine, I had the ability to do what I wanted with it. So, I thought I would do right by both of you by giving it to you both.” He presses his lips together. “You’re my daughter and I want you to succeed. Paul isn’t my stepson anymore. I messed that up all by myself, but he still has a place in my heart that I can’t turn away from. He’s still that kid to me who needed me. He’s still the boy I saved with his mother.”
My heart squeezes the same way it always does when he talks like that, and I feel guilty for my thoughts, placing myself ahead of Paul because I’m the daughter. Dad wouldn’t know that Paul has a special place in my heart too.
“I understand, and thank you.” I haven’t said thanks yet. My head has been stuck in the past, and there were just too many conflicting emotions running through me to think like an adult.
“I hope you guys can sort this out. I don’t like talking about each of you with the other.”
“I know.”
“What is it looking like?”
“I think we might sell it and split the profits. That’s best.”
“He didn’t like the idea of potentially owning a spa with you?” He gives me a hopeful look, and something in his eyes makes me wonder if he knew about me and Paul. It’s a sort of spark of wonder.
“No, he doesn’t think it’s a good idea. I guess since we’re in disagreement, selling will solve the problem and we’ll never really have to… well, we don’t exactly talk, so it will be something resolved that I think will make life easier for both of us.”
He stares at me and bites the inside of his lip. “Will it make it easier for you?”
My breath hitches. The question is odd, like he’s asking me something else. It makes me think that maybe he did know about us and kept the secret so well I never even guessed.
“Yes,” I answer. “It will make it easier for me.”
“Good. Then… maybe it’s a good thing.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“The spa, it sounds good, Jia. The fact that you’re here looking at property must mean you’re dead serious. I’m proud of you. Let me know if you need any help in your search.”
“Thank Dad.”
Searching for a location isn’t the thing I need help with. The damn location is the least of my worries.
What I need help with is getting Paul out of my head.
I don’t know how to do it, and I need to if I’m going to resist any attempt he makes to win me back.
My body is telling me to say yes to him. My heart is telling me to say yes, and now my mind is too. Paul’s promise to win me back ruptured that strength and willpower I had to home in on reality. Reality always told me he didn’t want me.
Now I know that’s a lie, I have nothing left, just me.