I had to bite back tears when I saw Quinn’s tall figure disappear out of sight as the car took a left. It wasn’t fair. None of it was. I had waited my whole life for him and we were only just getting started. For the first time, I got him to notice me. Okay, I did throw myself at him in a spectacular fashion, but he wouldn’t have slept with me if he wasn’t interested. I felt wracked with longing. How I wished for just another day together to confirm what he felt for me was real and true.

Maybe I should have let Quinn come with me, let him confront Dad the way he wanted to. The idea played in my mind. It was highly tempting, but I knew Dad wouldn’t forgive Quinn for this. As far as he was concerned I was still a kid. Even the idea of me as a sexual being would scare the living daylights out of him. He would automatically paint Quinn as the aggressor and assume he’d seduced me. No, I’d have to bring him around to the idea slowly. Step by step.

The car pulled up outside Dad’s house, and the driver helped get my bags from the boot, and pull them up to the house. He glanced at me with a sympathetic expression on his face, and I realized I must have looked pretty damn miserable if even he felt pity for me. While I fumbled in my purse for my keys Dad yanked the door open with a big happy grin on his face. He held his arms out and I walked into them.

For a while I just stayed inside the warm circle of my father’s arms, soothed by the familiar smell of his aftershave. When I was young, I used to sit on my father’s shoulders and think he could solve all my problems.

“It’s so good to see you,” he said.

“Same here,” I mumbled into his shoulder. Yes, I was sad at leaving Quinn behind, but I truly loved my father, and I never got to spend enough time with him so every moment with him was precious to me. This wasn’t the first time he had blown me off for work. I wasn’t sure why it still surprised me by this time. I pushed that nasty little observation to the back of my head as he pulled away from me. I could see he looked tired. There were shadows under his eyes. He took my bags and led me into the house.

“Did you have a good time at Quinn’s?” he asked.

I nodded, trying to push the memory of the night before from my mind. The way Quinn had looked when he came, the feeling of him inside of me, the way he slept with his nose nuzzled in my hair. The delicious smell of him. The way he had roared, “No one’s fucking sending you anywhere.”

“Yeah, it was good.” I shrugged, and tried to sound nonchalant. “Thanks for the birthday meal. We had a nice time. The food was great.”

“Better than your usual student fare, eh?” He raised his eyebrows at me and looked pleased with himself. “I’m glad you had a good time. I bought a birthday present for you.

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s upstairs, actually. I got it on the way back.”

He smiled proudly, and I instantly felt a pang of sadness. Dad had never really been around much at my birthdays, and he usually just put money into my account. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, holding his finger up to me. He looked at the screen and pulled a face at me.

“Sorry, honey, this is work. I have to take it,” he said as he took the call.

I turned my back on him and headed for the stairs. Anger pulsed through my veins. I couldn’t believe I’d fallen for his crap again. What was the point of coming back early? All this time I had spent waiting around for him, hoping he would find a minute to talk to me. Instead he takes another call from one of his work buddies.

For the love of God, I flew halfway around the world to spend some time with him. Surely it wasn’t asking a lot for him to put his work on the back burner for a day or two, but, of course, he couldn’t manage that. Not for me, anyway. I could easily have stayed at Quinn’s another hour or two, and I doubted he would even have noticed.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I saw it at once: my present. It was pretty impossible to miss, considering it took up most of the landing.

A teddy bear, at least five feet tall sat propped up against the wall. If I had stood it up, it would have towered over me. I didn’t even know they made bears that big. It reached out toward me with a frozen grin and outstretched paws as big as my head. I stared at it for a moment, not sure how to react.

A) How the hell had he gotten this giant on a plane?

B) And what did he expect me to do with it? It certainly wasn’t going to fit into my luggage. I’d have to buy a separate ticket, and even if I did manage to get it back, there’d be no space left in my room to fit me after I put this thing into it.

Then I became furious. It felt as though my blood would boil over. I glared at the bear angrily. It was the perfect example of the way my father thought of and treated me. No doubt, he imagined he was doing a nice thing, but the truth was he didn’t give buying me a present any proper thought. No wonder he always sent cash. He didn’t have to take the time to wonder if it was age appropriate, would fit into my life, or if I actually wanted it at all. Giving me presents made him feel less guilty and that was all that mattered.

As I stood there staring at the awful thing I could vaguely hear him finishing up his call downstairs, laughing loudly at something the man on the other end of the line had said, and make no mistake, it was always a man.

I heard his footsteps coming up the stairs, and turned. He grinned and nodded at the bear. “You won’t believe how much trouble I had getting it here.”

“Dad, I…” I trailed off.

His smile faltered. “Just say you like it.”

My anger died down. I hated to hurt him. I turned back to look at the bear and tried desperately to find something polite to say to him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I don’t even know how I’m going to get this thing home.”

His face darkened, and I could tell I’d picked the wrong time to have this conversation.

“Can’t you just thank me for it?” he snapped.

I furrowed my brow. “I wasn’t trying to be ungrateful-”

“Well, that’s how it came across.”

“I’m twenty, Dad,” I replied gently.

He frowned and I had opened my mouth to continue when his phone rang again. He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at it, and sighed. “Give me a minute. I have to take this call.”

I stared at his back sadly as he made his way down the stairs. Story of my life. When he closed his study door, I turned away and started for my room. As I passed the window by the landing I saw a figure making its way up the path toward the house.

My heart flipped. Quinn!

He was a godsend.