by Parker, Ali
He held up a hand. “I get it. I trust you to work it all out, though.”
“I am going to keep working on it. I’ve been running it through my program, and every time I put it on a large ship, it fails. It’s frustrating.”
“You’ve been down this road before. You know there is going to be a lot of trial and error. You know you are going to have a lot of failure in your future. But just like before, you know it’s going to work out. You know you are going to make it work.”
I grinned. “And hopefully, you will be out of a job.”
“Never going to happen. I’m going to be the guy making this new invention you’re creating.”
I clapped him on the shoulder. “I hope so.”
“If there is a chance you put me out of work, I wouldn’t be sad. I’m ready to retire.”
“Retire?” I parroted. “You’re thirty. You don’t get to retire at thirty.”
He shrugged. “My job pays well. Really well. I could retire. I’ve invested. I’m good.”
“You are not going to retire.”
“When do you think you’ll have this ready?”
“I just told you I don’t have any idea if this will work.”
“Yes, you do,” he insisted. “This is like before. Five years from now, you are going to be mega rich and getting another award.”
I groaned. “I don’t want another award.”
“Yes, you do. It’s why you do this.”
“Not even close,” I muttered.
We headed back to my car. I put the boat in the trunk and drove him back to his place. “Thanks for the free preview. I’m looking forward to seeing the final plans.”
“I’ll let you know.”
I drove back home and locked myself in my study. I had a lot of work to do. After trying it in the water, I had a better idea of what needed to change. Charlie wasn’t lying when he said I had a lot of trial and error ahead of me.
I wanted it to work. It would be nice to be able to tell my dad what I was working on. He wouldn’t care. He would think I was full of shit once again. Just like Evie’s dad.
He would laugh me right out of the room if I told him my new plan. It was more far-fetched than the first. Knowing they would not trust me made me want to work harder.
I was going to make it work.
Chapter 40
Evie
I finished my usual morning walk. I went alone. I thought about inviting Xander along, but I needed some time to think. This thing with my dad was really screwing with me.
I didn’t like us being on the outs. It made me feel icky. I couldn’t shake the heaviness of it and it was affecting my work. I had to settle things. I knew there was a chance we would never have the relationship we once did. I didn’t like the idea, but I couldn’t change his way of thinking.
Just like he couldn’t change mine. I felt we were both intelligent, responsible people and we were always going to have our own opinions. I could respect his and I needed him to respect mine. At least, that was what I was going to say to him. I had been practicing what I would say all morning.
I parked my car in the driveway and fought down the nerves that erupted in my belly at the thought of confronting him. I was nervous and apprehensive. I didn’t stand up to him. The day in his office had been a first. While it had felt good initially, it was like a wound that was slowly festering and making me septic. It was time to clear the air and heal the wound.
Instead of walking in like I usually did, I knocked on the front door. That felt very weird. When he opened the door, he scowled at me. “Why are you knocking?”
I shrugged. “Because I wasn’t sure I would be welcomed. This is your house and I didn’t want to barge in.”
He stepped back, opening the door wider. “Don’t be dramatic. It doesn’t suit you.”
“Ditto,” I said as I walked past him.
I sat down on the couch, waiting for him to take a seat in his recliner. It was clear he wasn’t thrilled to see me. I expected as much, but I was going to make him listen to me.
“What brings you by?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t know, to congratulate you on the achievement award you’ll be getting,” I snapped.
He flinched. “Do you care?”
“Yes, I care!”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Your behavior says otherwise.”
“I have been along on this ride with you my entire life. This award is special. I feel like I’ve been a part of your career. This is not something I would want to miss seeing you get. It’s a big deal. You’ve talked about getting something like this for as long as I can remember. Why would you try and hide that from me?”
“Because I didn’t think you would care. You have your life now. You made a choice and I have accepted your choice.”
My mouth dropped open. “You are seriously disowning me because I won’t date who you deem appropriate?”
“It’s more than that and you know it,” he snapped.
“Dad, grow up.”
“I’ll remind you I’ve been a grownup longer than you’ve been alive.”
“Then you should act like it!” I shouted.
He held up one finger. It was the universal signal for calm the fuck down. “Rein it in, young lady.”
“How can I?” I wailed. “What is wrong with you? Why wouldn’t you tell me about the award?”
“You’ve been mad at me. Why would you care?”
I closed my eyes, silently counting to three for patience. “Because I’m your daughter. You are the one who has been mad at me. You are acting childish.”
“I’m tired of arguing with you, Evie.”
“You haven’t argued. You have stated your opinion and I’m supposed to just fall in line. That isn’t fair. You are completely invalidating anything I say or feel. Can’t you respect the fact I’m a grownup now? Can’t you let me make my own choices, whether they are right or wrong in your opinion?”
“I’m your father. My job is to protect you. I’m supposed to look out for you and steer you onto the right path.”
I scoffed, shaking my head. “For how long, Dad? For the rest of your life? And when you die, then what? Do you plan on outliving me? What am I going to do if I have never been able to make a single decision in my life when you are no longer around?”
He looked as if I’d slapped him. “I trust you will know better by then.”
“How do you know for sure? Is there a test I’m supposed to take? Tell me what I have to do to make you understand I’m not a little girl. This may come as a surprise to you, but I have been making decisions for a long time. I make careful decisions. For you to try and forbid me from doing something I want to do, it’s asinine. You need to check yourself.”
“Excuse me? Check myself? When you talk like that, I think you do still need my guidance.”
I growled and threw my hands in the air. “Why can’t you just let this go? Why can’t you just let me live my life the way I want?”
“Because you are my little girl and I don’t want to see you hurt!”
I saw the softness in his eyes, heard the genuine fear in his voice. I knew he loved me. He cared about me more than anything else in the world.
“Dad,” I said, softening my tone. “I’ll be okay. If I get hurt, I’ll get better. This is part of life. I need to experience all life has to offer, even the bad stuff.”
He shook his head. “You don’t have to experience the bad when I can see it coming. Let me help you.”
“Can we stop this?” I asked, my voice so soft I barely heard it. “I don’t want to do this with you. I don’t want to fight with you.”
He took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t want to fight with you either.”
“Good. Let’s agree to disagree and move on.”
“Evie, it isn’t that simple. I know this kid. He is bad news.”
“I don’t understand how you can say that. You don’t know him. You knew him for five minutes in y
our classroom ten years ago. He is not the same person he was. I’m not the same person I was ten years ago.”
He shook his head. “A leopard doesn’t just lose his spots.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means the man is incapable of thinking of anyone except himself. He will hurt you. He’s only using you. You are a pretty young woman and that’s all he sees. I can’t stand the thought of that punk touching my little girl.”
“I get that this might be hard for you to hear, but there have been other men in my life. You have never reacted so strongly to any of them.”
“Because they weren’t him,” he spat.
“No, they weren’t. Xander isn’t selfish. Not by a long shot.”
“That kid thinks it is funny to disrupt things,” he said.
“Things? Like what?”
“My classroom for one. He went out of his way to argue with me in front of the entire class. He tried to make a fool out of me. He thought he was so much smarter than me and everyone else. He was some young punk with no life experience and he was convinced he knew better. He refused to listen to history and reason. He was only about himself and proving his point.”
“He was right,” I said. “Do you know what he has done? How much he is worth because he listened to his gut and did what he knew was possible, despite you and everyone else telling him it was impossible?”
He shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “It doesn’t change who he is.”
“Maybe in your eyes, but I see a man that is a modern-day Jefferson or any other inventor from the past. People laughed at him and told him it wasn’t possible. A lesser man would have given up. A lesser man would have taken the harsh criticism to heart and let his dreams die. Xander didn’t give up. He pushed through and I’m so proud of him.”
“You talk like he is some kind of hero,” he spat the words like they tasted bitter on his tongue.
I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “Maybe he is my hero.”
He groaned. “He put you under a spell.”
“I’m falling for him,” I told him, looking directly into his eyes. “Not falling. I already fell.”
His face fell. “I cannot condone a relationship with that man.”
“That’s your choice. Just like it’s my choice to choose a relationship with him. I can’t change your mind and I will stop trying to do that but I’m asking you to respect my decision. Stop trying to change how I feel about him. I know a different man than you did. I wish you would give him the chance to show you he isn’t that guy.”
“I have to trust my gut,” he said. “I know in my heart he is not the one for you. He’s going to hurt you and then I will hate him more than I already do.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” I told him. “Maybe he will hurt me. Things might not work out between us. I have to find out for myself. I will always wonder what if. This is something I want to do.”
“Like you said, you are an adult. I can’t stop you from making a mistake you will regret.”
He wasn’t going to budge. I should have known he wouldn’t. My father was set in his ways. He seemed to dislike people in general. Again, he was so much like Xander it was crazy.
I had tried. That was all I could do. It felt a little lonely to be moving forward without my father’s support, but there was nothing to do about it. I wasn’t going to give up on what I felt was a good thing because he couldn’t get over something so trivial.
“I’m going to be at your award ceremony,” I told him as I got to my feet. “You can’t stop me from being happy for you.”
He offered a small smile. “I’ll be looking for you.”
“Goodbye, Dad. Please take care of yourself. No matter what you think about my decisions, I do love you.”
He didn’t get up from his chair. “I’ll be just fine.”
“Bye, Dad,” I said, my heart feeling heavy in my chest.
“Be careful,” he warned. “You are playing with fire. I don’t want to see you burned.”
I left the house without saying anything more. There was no point. He was never going to budge.
I might get burned. I knew that was a strong possibility. The problem was, I didn’t care. I was a little infatuated with him. Oh hell, who was I kidding? I was a lot infatuated with him.
Every time we got together, I learned a little something more about him. I was seeing who he really was. I was getting to know the Xander no one else got to see. I felt incredibly privileged to be one of the few.
I knew Xander was still guarded. That was okay. I wasn’t pushing him. I was okay with taking things slowly. I was convinced he felt something for me as well. I felt it in the way he touched me and the way he looked at me. I felt it in the little things he did, like bringing me flowers out of the blue.
My father couldn’t see that side of him, and that made me sad.
Chapter 41
Xander
I checked the time and cursed. I didn’t know how to get myself to be where I was supposed to be at the right time. I was blaming the project this time. Once again, I had gotten caught up and lost all track of time. I whipped into the parking lot of the casual restaurant where I was meeting Evie for lunch.
I walked inside and scanned the restaurant. Her black hair immediately caught my eye. She was looking down at her phone, probably wondering where in the hell I was. I made my way to the table. She looked up and smiled.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted out. “I tried to get here.”
“You’re right on time,” she said, getting up and giving me a quick kiss before taking her seat again. “Your time, that is.”
I laughed and sat down. “I have tried every trick in the book. I set my watch ahead. I have my phone give me ten-minute warnings. Nothing works.”
“It’s really okay. I plan for you to be a little late and get some work done while I wait.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I really am sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“God, I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” I told her.
“It has been a while.”
“How was your trip?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Stupid. The bride makes bridezillas look like creampuffs.”
“It has to mean something if she sought out your firm to do her wedding, right?” I asked.
She laughed. “Only because she has burned through everyone else in LA. My boss didn’t give her an answer. She is mulling over whether she wants the hassle.”
“Would you be on the account?” I questioned. We had been keeping up with each other via text and phone calls. She was a busy woman. Her services were in high demand, which made me feel an odd sense of pride that I couldn’t quite explain.
She put her phone away. “I’m not sure. I don’t think I want to be. I don’t want to make weekly trips to LA and have to stay over.”
“Couldn’t you just make it a day trip?”
“Not with this woman. We got there on Friday and I’m sure we spent forty-eight of the sixty hours we were there listening to her demands.”
“Good,” I said with a grin. “I don’t like the idea of you being away all the time. I’m a little selfish.”
Her pretty smile hit me low in my gut. It had been too long since I had seen her.
“That’s sweet,” she said. “What about you? You keep talking about this big project you are working on. I’m a little worried you’re turning into one of those mad scientists.”
“I can get obsessive. I don’t think I’m getting there just yet.”
“You said it was something big?”
I quickly explained to her about the rudder and my plans to change up my current designs. “I am hoping, once I have all the details ironed out, it is going to be another big gamechanger.”
“I have no doubt in my mind that it will.”
I nodded. The excitement of being on the verge of a breakthrough was like drinking straight shots of espresso. “If it does, it will change
the entire shipping industry. Not just for the United States. If my plan works, there will be fewer repairs. Ships will stay out on the water, transporting product and making everyone a little happier. Shorter shipping times and lower shipping costs are exactly what we need.”
She was nodding her head and smiling. “I agree. I can’t believe I’m sitting with the guy that is changing the world. You seem so normal.”
“I am normal,” I retorted.
“Not even close to normal. I’m normal. You are extraordinary.”
“Be careful. You’re going to give me a big head.”
She leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “I don’t need to do anything to make that happen. Your head is plenty big.”
I closed my eyes and willed the erection that was threatening to split my zipper to settle down. “You are killing me.”
She grinned. “I would never want to do that.”
“Do you have to go back to the office?” I asked, hoping she would say no and we could squeeze in a little afternoon delight.
She sighed. “I do.”
“Dammit.”
“I’m sorry. Really, I am so damn sorry. What did your brother say when you told him about your new project?”
“I didn’t tell him. I haven’t talked to him except for once since he left here.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just how we are.”
“I thought you wanted to change that?”
“I do.”
“Then you have to do things differently than you have in the past. If you want to make a change, you have to change your ways.”
“You are right. I’ll text him. I’m not sure if he is still in the States or not.”
“Good plan,” she said with a satisfied smile. “I know he will be very proud of you. Just as proud as I am.”
“Too bad our fathers didn’t feel the same,” I muttered.
“It is too bad, but it is their loss. They are missing out on the chance to know someone really special. You will be in the history books and they will be part of the group that tried to hold you back. I’m going to be in the group that cheered you on.”