“Yes.” But Nicole wondered what was inside him. “I guess I should find out what he wants.” She unlocked the door and let him inside. “You’re returning my unexpected visit,” she said. “What’s the occasion?”
“I have news,” he said.
“I see. Well, first meet my business partner, Lulu Donovan. Lulu, this is my father, Paul Farnsworth.”
They shook hands, Aunt Lulu lingering too long—more for effect—as Nicole had come to learn about her. She liked being noticed.
But she was also observant and realized that Nicole’s father had come for an important reason. “I’ll go see to the cleanup,” she said, excusing herself.
Nicole waited until Aunt Lulu was in the back room before turning to her father, only to find him wandering around, taking in her bakery with his discerning eye.
“Very nice,” he said, surprising her.
She blinked. “Thank you. I take it Mom told you where to find me?”
“Your mother told me she paid you a visit. She was . . . upset about the business and Robert’s arrest, and you know how your mother gets when things don’t go her way.”
“Yes. She tries to manipulate them back the way she wants them.”
“She does,” he agreed.
“You’ve done it a time or two yourself,” Nicole pointed out.
His mouth twisted in a wry grin.
“It won’t work with me. Not anymore. I’m not leaving my life here—”
“I’m not here to ask you to.”
Nicole stepped back, taken off guard. “Then why make the trip here?” she asked, her heart suddenly racing, and she couldn’t figure out why.
He studied her, as if seeing her for the first time. “Something your boyfriend said.”
“Sam’s not my—”
Her father burst out laughing, the action and the sound so at odds with the man Nicole knew, she was even more off balance. “What’s so funny?” she finally asked.
Her father shrugged out of his suit jacket and placed it over the back of a chair. “Whatever you label the man, he cares about you. Enough to call me out on ‘not giving a shit about you.’”
Nicole’s mouth went dry and she lowered herself into the nearest chair. “He shouldn’t have said that.”
Her father took up the chair Aunt Lulu had been in minutes earlier, his big frame awkward in the smaller seat. “Someone needed to point out what should have been obvious.”
Nicole glanced down at her hands. “I don’t know what to say.” And she was rarely at a complete loss for words.
He paused, clearly as uncomfortable as she was. “Your mother and I aren’t affectionate with each other,” he finally said, surprising Nicole yet again. “It shouldn’t be a surprise to me that I didn’t know what to do with children. Two girls, no less, and one with a mental disorder. And your mother is not exactly the maternal type.”
“You can say that again.” If he could state the truth, Nicole wasn’t about to hide her feelings. “She told me I was a disappointment.” She choked on the word and averted her gaze, embarrassed to show emotion in front of him.
“I’m sorry. From both of us. I realize that doesn’t change anything, but at least you know I’m aware now. And that’s why when Robert asked me to back him up and help him out of this mess, I refused.”
“He betrayed your trust and was using the business to launder money. Of course you wouldn’t help him.”
“No. I can’t say I’m that honorable. If he’d managed to pull us out of the recession mess we were in without getting caught, I might have turned a blind eye.” Her father’s cheeks flushed a ruddy color. “But to threaten you because of it? Robert crossed a line that’s unacceptable. I don’t care if I have to start over from scratch. I want him to pay.”
Her father had defended her? Gone to bat for her? Nicole blinked back tears. “I matter to you?” she asked, hating that she sounded like a pathetic little girl seeking her daddy’s approval, even if that was exactly what she was.
The child who’d never gotten what she needed. Not when she made honor roll every semester. Not when she’d graduated cum laude from college. Not ever.