Chapter 21

Susan awoke with him still on her mind and determined to shake it off. She called her mother and asked if she wanted to go out for brunch and to get some shopping in while her father was watching he shop. Over their meal, she told her all about Cody and Ben, laughing at the shocked look on her face.

“I had no idea. I wonder if Tank knows?” she asked.

“He will soon enough. Everyone will,” Susan told her.

“Well, I hope they do well together. He seems like a sweet kid. I have to admit that I thought he might be just the ticket to take your mind off other things, but I guess I was way off base on that one!” The two of them laughed and moved on to the latest hobby her father had taken up, which was golf.

“Golf? Dad has never played a day of golf in his whole life!” Susan exclaimed.

“I know, but he’s decided that all of his friends go out golfing now that they are retired and he should be able to go with them. He’s bought golf clubs, a bag, gloves, joined the country club, the whole shebang. You should see the goofy outfits he has picked out. Ridiculous!” her mother laughed.

“Gotta love him, Mom. As goofy as he is, he’s a wonderful man. You’re lucky,” Susan told her.

“Oh, honey. Don’t worry. There will be other men. My mother once told me that if you had to beg them to stay, you should be glad they were leaving. I think it suits your situation with your fellow nicely. He is really messed up in the head, I’d say, and there is a reason he’s backed away. Just let him go and move on. You’ve already missed out on so much, and I don’t want you to miss out on another moment that you could be having fun.”

“I know, Mom. It’s just so hard. We seemed to be so happy together, and if I hadn’t found out about her, about how he had found me, we probably would be. I wonder if I had just not walked into that study that day, would we still be okay? Would he still be keeping the truth from me, or would he have found some way to come clean about it? It just would have been so much better if he had told me himself instead of the way it happened,” Susan told her.

“Things don’t always go the way we expect them to, hon. The bottom line is that you know now, and can you accept it? If you can, then maybe you should stop being stubborn and make the first move. Pride has no place in love. If you want this man, you must do what he can’t bring himself to. If he meets you halfway and can give you the answers you want, then there is no reason the two of you can’t work this out,” she told her.

“Maybe. I don’t know,” Susan said quietly.

“You never will if you both keep just sitting around, wondering what went wrong instead of trying to get together and fix it,” her mom said.

“True. I just really hate that he hasn’t come to me. I just thought he would. I guess I need to know I mean that much to him,” Susan confided.

“Men can’t read minds any more than we can, baby. He might be thinking that you’ll only shoot him down after what he has done. I really don’t know how I feel about all of this. I still think it is creepy how he stalked you, but maybe he had reasons for it that neither of us can understand, and I know you care about him still. Just do what you feel like you can live with.”

“Thanks, Mom. I will. Now, let’s get this check taken care of and go try on some clothes. Maybe you can find something to get Dad’s mind off golf tonight,” Susan said with a wink.

“Oh, good grief,” her mother replied, waving her off as she dropped some cash in the folder the waiter had left. “Let’s get out of here.”

After a long day of shopping, she went home with her mom to eat dinner. They were still busy in the kitchen when her father came in.

“Well, what a welcome surprise! Both of my favorite women in one place,” he called out.

“Hey, Dad. Good to see you, too. How’s my coffee shop?” Susan replied.

“Wow, honey. That place is so busy these days. All the changes you’ve made have really paid off. I might have to take it back from you, I loved it so much. Really got the adrenaline pumping during those peak hours,” he told her.

“You can’t take it back. Besides, it would cut into your golf game too much. Mom says you’re really getting into the swing of things,” Susan told him.

“Oh, so you women have been talking about me behind my back, huh?”

“Since the day I was old enough to say my first words,” Susan retorted.

“That guy came in looking for you today,” he said out of the blue.

“What guy?” Susan asked, shooting her mother a look of surprise.

“The one you were dating, I reckon. I was surprised that he’s so much older,” her father told her.

“Okay, yeah. There is that. What did he say, though, Dad?”

“He asked if you were off on your honeymoon,” he laughed.

“He did not,” Susan said, her eyes wide.

“Yeah, he did. I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about. You didn’t get married behind my back, did you?” he asked.

“Dad, of course, I didn’t. You know my friends were getting married this weekend. That’s why you were watching the shop!” she told him.

“They did? No, you didn’t’ tell me. You just asked if I would watch the shop because you had some friends in town. You didn’t say anything about a wedding,” he told her, picking at the chicken her mother just pulled from the oven until she slapped his hands away.

Susan looked at him with a puzzled expression. He was right. She hadn’t told him or her mother until earlier today. She had been afraid she would have to explain it to them and hadn’t thought her dad would really understand.

“Well, what did he say after that?” she asked.

“Fool asked me if I was sure. Of course, I was sure. I’d know if my own daughter was getting married!” her father scowled.

“Did he say anything else?” she asked.

“No, he just ordered a drink and sat in the corner staring out the window. Hey, by the way, do you care if I watch the shop one more day? I have some buddies coming into town that want to stop by and hang out there. I thought I could just do another day and spend some time with them while helping you at the same time,” he said.

“Sure, Dad. That’s fine, but I’ll probably be in for a while just to check on some things,” she said. She really didn’t need to. She had complete trust in her dad, but she thought that maybe if she hung out there for a while, she might run into Paul. If her dad was there as a backup and he wanted to talk, then she wouldn’t have to worry about leaving the shop unmanaged with just the staff in place. It was a long shot, but she could hope.

“Don’t trust the old man?” he asked with a frown.

“I trust you completely, Dad, but I still need to check some computer entries and order some stuff I forgot to get going before I took a couple of days off. One more might put me in the hole on some of my ingredients.”

“All right then, I’ll see you whenever you turn up tomorrow. Now, let’s eat. It smells good, and I’m starving!” he told her, taking his place at the table.