Chapter 16 #3
“Dad, when have I ever called you unexpectedly before, about money or anything?” Her heart pounded so hard in her chest. This wasn’t going well at all.
“Hold on, hold on. We’re starting off on the wrong foot here. Hi, Rachel. Do you need help?”
“Yes.”
“What do you need?”
“Legal advice.”
His voice changed instantly. “Are you being detained? Don’t say a word. I’ll send someone. You’ll be out in an hour, tops. Your mother said you were in New England. Vermont? Rhode Island?”
“Maine.”
“Don’t say a word.”
“Dad, I’m not detained.”
A rush of air filled the phone. “Thank God. Then what?”
“It’s a more delicate matter involving Markstone's.”
“You embezzled?”
“DAD!” Discreetly, she walked into Kell’s bedroom and shut the door.
“How am I supposed to know? You’ve never asked for help before, sweetie!”
As Rachel explained the mess to him, Deanna finished unloading the groceries, then tapped on the door.
“Hold on, Dad.”
“I’ll let myself out,” Deanna whispered, giving Rachel a thumbs up. Rachel returned the gesture and went back to her story.
Once she was done, her dad sighed.
“I don’t see the problem. Push the deal ahead.”
“Then I keep my job but lose Kell and his family’s plans are crushed.”
“You love this guy? Really? Some lumberjack in Maine?”
“I’m not sure I love love him, but I’m falling in love with him. And he’s not just some lumberjack, Dad.”
“Your mom said he was.”
“He owns a poison ivy pulling company. He works with the film offices in Montreal, Toronto, Boston, and New York on sets. He did his fellowship with me at EEC.”
“Nice.” Stan chuckled. “Your life is taking a turn I never saw coming.”
And there it was. Judgment.
“I fell in love with your mother hard, too.”
Whoa.
“You did?”
“Love at first sight, kiddo. Not what I planned. I was twenty-eight, she was eighteen, and no way was a guy gunning for partner by thirty going to attach himself to some barely legal secretarial pool chick. But… I didn’t have a choice. When Portia looked at me that first time, I was a goner. Poof!”
“Awwww.”
“And then that poster, the television series, her stardom. You two kids. I thought I’d have a wifey-wife supporting me on my way up, and instead we had to learn to juggle two high-powered careers so we could both get what we needed.”
Never in her life had Rachel heard her father speak this way. They’d never had a conversation where he talked about his feelings.
Where he talked about anything other than achievement, deals, success.
Where he spoke to her like a complex, layered person.
“You and Mom found a way, though.”
“We did. And it sounds like you will, too.”
“Not if I have to keep lying to Kell.”
“That’s the worst, isn’t it? I hate lying to your mom.”
“You lie to her?”
“All the time! ‘Sure, honey, that filler makes your lips look great,’” he said in a fake voice.
“Dad!”
“I love your mom the way she is. I just wish she’d relax and stop worrying about aging. I’m not trading her in for two twenty-eights, you know?”
“I had no idea you’re such a softy inside, Dad!”
“Don’t let word get out. I’m a shark at work. Always.”
“Always.”
“Look, kiddo, it sounds like you’ve done everything right. You tipped Deanna off. She can go do the rest and be the one to expose the land deal to everyone. You maintain plausible deniability. And if Markstone's comes after you, I’ve got your back.”
“What do you mean?”
“If those assholes try to sue my little girl, you will have the full force of every attorney I have ever known who owes me a favor. Plus, I know a few things about some of Markstone's’ executives. I’ll play dirty if I have to. This is about protecting my little girl.”
“Dad!” More tears. Rachel wasn’t normally a crier, but today she sure was.
“Rachel, sweetie, you never, ever ask for help. Ever. Give me a chance to flex my Dad muscles.”
“Only if I need it!”
“You’re so different from Tim.”
“I know. I’m the family slacker.”
“What? No! I meant in the help department. He’s constantly asking for help.”
“He… he is?”
“Who do you think got him into the Air Force Academy? I had to pull in so many favors. And he did well, sure, but you got into Stanford all on your own. You didn’t ask me to help.”
“I wanted to prove I could do it.”
“That’s what I mean. You and Tim are different.
He’s always asking for money, for me to network for him, for Beatris to act as his personal bookkeeper and pay all his bills and run his life for him while he trains or goes to more astronaut crap.
You never ask. You’re the easy, quiet kid.
It’s a relief to know you trust me enough to reach out. ”
“I–” Rachel was speechless.
Speechless.
Tim asked for help all the time? The perfect brother, the overachiever who made her feel worthless, was actually being constantly aided by Mom and Dad?
And asking her dad for help made him feel good?
“Dad, thank you. Thank you so much. I guess I don’t ask for help. I feel like it’s a sign of weakness. Or I’m some kind of loser.”
“Nope on both counts.” He went on mute, then came back shortly. “Kiddo, I have to go. K-pop deal in Seoul. It’s an emergency. Love you. Call me whenever.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
Call ended.
Dazed, Rachel stared at her phone, wondering how her day could already, before noon, have jerked her in so many emotional directions.
Dad told her she’d done everything right.
He thanked her for reaching out.
Most important, he wholeheartedly had her back.
Closing her eyes, she drank the rest of her coffee slowly, heart calming down, mind finding some peace.
Maybe–just maybe–everything was going to be just fine.
Confidence, Rachel, her mother’s voice said in her head. Always, confidence.