My Dad's Rival

“No, I can tell something’s up. Wyatt Callaghan is a piece of work and if he hurt you, then I want to know about it. I’ll kill him myself if he’s hurt, my baby girl.”

I stare at my dad for a long moment. For once, I can see just how much he cares about me. Because as angry as I am with him, I know he’s telling the truth. I know that he’d do anything to look out for me. Sure, sometimes he gets way too carried away. And he sometimes puts his business before everything else, including me. But he’s being protective of me now. At least, he thinks he is. He sees Wyatt as some kind of monster, the kind of man who would do nothing to hurt me.

He might have got everything wrong, but it’s not because he doesn’t care. He’s just in his own little world. And all of a sudden, my anger fizzles out. Because I think if he had any clue what was going on inside my head, he might find it in him to be sympathetic.

But I can’t bear to hurt him by telling him what I’ve done. I went behind his back and betrayed him. I’m a double-crossing liar. I tried to have it all and now I’m going to end up with nothing. Unless I stick by my dad’s side. I can pretend to try and extract information from Wyatt and tell my dad in the end that I found nothing. I can leave Wyatt behind for good and live my life miserable without him…but at least I’ll save my family. At least I won’t have to betray Wyatt again, either. That’s the best outcome I can hope for at this point.

I dug my grave, and now I guess I have to lie in it.

I take a deep breath as my dad stares at me.

I shake my head. “Nothing’s wrong, Dad. He didn’t hurt me. He was perfectly pleasant all night. I’m just…I’m tired, from the late night. And I don’t have much to tell you yet. Just let me do this myself and I’ll let you know if I find anything…okay?”

I watch him relax a little. I know he’s going to let it go. Soon, he’ll forget that he thought anything was wrong at all. He’ll let it go entirely and within a few weeks, he’ll forget that he even sent me on this silly little mission.

But I’ll never forget. I won’t ever be able to forget the way Wyatt made me feel. Not if I live for a hundred years, not ever. Because the things that Wyatt made me feel last night…nothing can beat that. I’ll hold onto last night until the day I die.

And I’ll just have to get used to living without him.

I hope.

“Alright, sweetie. I’m sorry for pushing you. I trust you to come to me when you’re ready to tell me what you know,” he says, reaching over to pat my hand. I almost flinch away, but it’s not my dad’s fault I’m so miserable. I made these choices and now I have to live with them. I’ve been selfish and self-centered. Now, to fix this, I have to put my family first. Sure, this might hurt Wyatt too for a while, but he’ll get over me. He has to. Besides, a man like him can have any woman he wants. One glance at a woman and she’ll be weak in the knees, just like I was. How I still am. But he will find a way to move on. He’ll find some other woman to fill the space in his bed, marry her, get her pregnant, and fill the void I left in his life.

And someday, he’ll forget I even existed.

I’m too upset now to stay around my dad. I mutter something about heading to work and borrowing his car, I drive myself to the office.

I allow myself five minutes in the parking lot to cry, to let myself be miserable, but by the time I head into the building, my head is high and I’m ready to face the day. I have to be. This is my life now.

I’m just going to have to do my best to avoid Wyatt today. No doubt he’ll come looking for me. He’ll want to know why I left without saying goodbye, and why I didn’t stick around in the first place. He’ll want to know what secrets I’ve been keeping from him. But I need some time before I can admit to him who I really am.

I’m a bad person, but I’m not ready for him to know that about me just yet. I want to stay in this bubble a little longer, where he believes I’m a good person, the kind of woman he could maybe fall for. It’s a fantasy, but I’m holding on to it with all my might because I know it’s about to end. My happiness is going to end as quickly as it began.