I choose Reese. I always will.
I make it to my first class on time, and the day goes smoothly. Reese texts me a few times, but I hold off on telling him about my father, knowing it will be a better discussion to have in person and at home. It dawns on me that my father might try and go to Reese and convince him I’m every bit of my mother. That I’m only with him for money, and he should kick me out. Still, I know it will be better if I wait until we’re alone before I spill my past to him.
I have a small break before his class, so I go to the bathroom and remove my panties. I think today I’ll take a seat in the front row. All the other girls in class can drool over Reese all they want, but I’ll have all of his attention.
“Heidi Miller?” an older man in a tan suit asks before I can make it to Reese’s classroom.
“Yes.”
“I'm Professor Clayton. I need you to come with me to the administrative building,” he says.
“I have class now. Can I come after?”
“No.”
“Okay,” I agree. It’s clear I don’t have much of a choice. The walk over to the building feels like it takes forever even though it’s only a few blocks. My heart drops when I see the girl named Lacy from Heaven’s Door.
“Sit here.” Professor Clayton points to an empty chair, and I drop down into it.
I know I will always choose Reese. Is he always going to choose me too?
Chapter Eighteen
Reese
There’s a knock on my office door, and I look up from my desk to see a man I don’t recognize. “Can I help you?”
Sometimes parents of students want to speak with me, but normally it’s done over email. As the man comes into my office, there’s a hint of recognition, but I can’t place it.
“You’re Reese Davis?” he asks, and I nod, standing from my desk.
“I am, and you are?”
“Walter Miller.”
It takes me a second to realize that’s why he looked so familiar. Heidi has his eyes. She hasn't said much about her family, but I know that she’s an only child, and once she turned eighteen her mom sent her on her way. I don’t know anything about her father, but seeing this man standing before me, it has to be who this is.
“We live in the same neighborhood. I’m number nineteen.” He adjusts the cuffs on his shirt as he looks around my office.
“But that’s not why you’re here, is it?” There is no reason for this man that claims to live in my neighborhood, but is clearly related to Heidi, to be in my office. “What is it I can do for you?”
“I’m here to offer a warning.” He seems annoyed. “One I wish I’d been given.”
“Let’s hear it then, so you can be on your way.” I might not know much about Heidi’s dad, but she was kicked out and living in that rat motel all alone. Anyone that would put her in that position is a piece of shit. Especially if he can afford to live in my neighborhood.
“She’ll trap you.” He presses his lips together tightly when I don’t respond. “Her mother did it to me, and she’ll do it to you.”
Anger flares inside of me like an inferno, and I have the sudden urge to beat the shit out of this asshole. “Are you done now?” It takes everything inside of me to pretend to be ambivalent to him and not lunge at his face.
“I’ve got a family…and a reputation to maintain. She was a mistake, and when she turned eighteen, she was supposed to disappear.”
“I’m going to give you the chance to walk out of my office right this second. Because if you say one more word about Heidi, I’ll make sure you have to crawl through that door.”
Now he’s the one with anger in his eyes. Good.
“I’ve spent my life trying to keep that mistake—”
“Call her a mistake one more fucking time!” I shout, and it echoes down the hallway. “I dare you.” My jaw clenches tight as I stay rooted to the spot. If I get close to him, I’ll rip his throat out.
He blanches and swallows hard. “Clearly you aren’t aware of the whole story.”
“I don’t need the whole story. I know that you have not been the father you should have been because no father, no matter what their child did, would treat them how you are now. I know that no decent parent would allow someone as sweet and kind and gentle as Heidi to end up in a rundown motel without a penny to her name having to resort to desperate measures so she could eat.”
He blinks at me, and then color rises to his cheeks. “She was provided for,” he says, but as he speaks the words, I can see the doubt cloud his face.