Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Well Greer wasn’t pulling punches today. “Sorry. I’ll try to keep the drinking down. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you.”
Greer sighed, a deeply frustrated sound. “Not what I meant. And I blame myself because I always invite you out there because it’s close and easy. I should come into your world every now and then. You know the only person who’s worse than you at the country club?”
She did, of course. “Dad isn’t exactly a country club guy, and you know neither is mom. She goes because of their gym, and she claims they have the only massage therapist worth using in the city. And Papa’s golf. I know Dad was raised in that world, but he doesn’t truly belong. I’m honestly not sure where he belongs. Maybe some university teaching investigation techniques.”
“He would kill all the students,” Greer said with a laugh and then she sobered. “I guess the other reason I came was to make sure you don’t, like, decide you’re done with us.”
Harlow put the coffee down. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means I know Dad can be a lot, but he loves you. He loves you so much,” Greer said. “He worries about you.” She held a hand up as though staving off the argument she knew was coming. “It doesn’t excuse him acting like an overprotective asshole, but you need to think about how he… Well, how he thinks. It’s hard for him to know you’re in danger.”
This was well-worn ground. “I love Dad. But I can’t be someone I’m not.”
Greer nodded. “He knows that. The truth of the matter is he doesn’t want you to be anyone but you. I know you won’t believe this but he’s proud of you.”
“You’re right. I don’t believe it.” She kind of wished her sister hadn’t come along now. She could sit and think about how moronic it was to sub for two men she couldn’t allow herself to trust. But no, she now had to think about her relationship with her dad. And her sister.
“He is proud of you. Hell, Harlow, when you’re not around you’re almost all he talks about.”
Harlow knew that wasn’t a good thing. “Because he thinks I’m going to die and he’s paranoid. You know he used to spend all his time worrying about people sniping him. I don’t know why he didn’t think that the easiest way to stop people from sniping him was to not be a massive asshole, but here we are. Now he’s transferred that problem to me.”
“He goes to therapy, you know,” Greer said quietly.
That was news to her. “What?” She figured out what her sister had to mean. “Uncle Leo doesn’t count.”
Leo Meyer was The Club’s resident therapist. He was also one of her dad’s closest friends.
Greer sighed. “He’s not seeing Uncle Leo, though you know he’s always been in that group Leo has with a bunch of the men in our circle.”
Harlow waved that off. “They play basketball. He’s played for as long as I can remember.”
Greer shot her a look that told her she knew something. “It’s not about the basketball. Think about who those men are. Uncle Leo, Big Tag, Dad, Papa, Uncle Cole, Uncle Mason. Wade Rycroft. Alex McKay. What do they have in common? It’s not a love of basketball.”
She thought for a moment, and then tears pulsed behind her eyes. “They always play when Mom has her group. I thought…I thought they just wanted to be where she was so she didn’t feel alone.”
The one thing all those men had were wives who had suffered horrible abuse. Either at the hands of former husbands or boyfriends, or complete strangers in her mom’s case.
“From what I know they support each other and have for over twenty years. It’s how Big Tag finally convinced Dad to talk to someone about his problems with anxiety,” Greer explained. “He won’t take anything yet, but they’re working on it.”
Guilt swamped her. “And I’m setting him back.”
“That’s not true, and it’s not my point. My point is he’s trying. I know he wasn’t the easiest parent in the world,” Greer began.
“No, I got lectures on how I could die while riding a bicycle. Like he used physics and everything.” She sighed. “He also never once told me he was too busy to help me with my homework. He would sit and work Legos with me forever.”
“I did puzzles with him,” Greer said with a wistful smile. “But it was awful to watch mystery movies with him. Like dude I’m ten. Of course I don’t know Goofy accidently stole Mickey’s sandwich.”
“I did.” She remembered that cartoon. Her dad was right. The writers had been asleep at the wheel on that one.
Greer nodded like she’d made her point. “Yes, you were a pain in the ass, too. You and Dad would wreck every murder mystery by figuring it out two minutes in.”