I nodded. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask what this was all about, but I knew. There were only so many reasons the father of the woman you’re dating comes to see you early as hell in the middle of the week.
“This is about Chanel.” It was a statement of the obvious.
Elliott inclined his head. “You came to see me a few months back about my daughter, and now I’m returning the favor.”
I didn’t respond, but instead sat back in my chair, bracing my elbows on the sides of my chair and clasping my hands in front of me.
“I heard a while back you two went through a bit of a rough patch,” Elliott began.
Again, I didn’t give any confirmation or denial. Chanel and my relationship was ours, and I wasn’t about to explain it to anyone else. Especially her father. I’ll admit, hearing her tell me what’d happened on her birthday when she was young pissed me off. The pain was still in her voice some twenty years later. Even though I pretty much knew my father never wanted much to do with me, I never had to overhear him utter those words while I was still a kid, hoping one day he’d come around to loving me. I was at least spared that.
And besides all of that, Elliott was a brilliant attorney. He never walked into anything without doing his due diligence first. I knew that heknew more than he was letting on.
“Of course, I didn’t hear this from Chanel. She’s a little tight-lipped around me.”
“Can you blame her?”
Elliott’s eyes turned downward, lips forming a line on his face. The man looked shamefaced.
Good.I thought.
“No, no, I really can’t.”
At least he was honest about it.
A memory of that police report flashed to mind, and my hands tightened into fists as my anger rose as it did whenever I thought about that dude.
“Did you know about her ex?”
Elliott gave me an appalled look. “Of course not. I may not have been the best father, but I would’ve never stood for a man…” He couldn’t finish the last few words.
I didn’t need to hear them to understand what he meant. My anger ebbed a little. I believed Elliott would’ve at least intervened, had he known what Chanel had been enduring in her previous relationship. However, the fact that she didn’t tell him even after she’d left spoke to the lack of trust she had in him.
“I still can’t sleep some nights knowing that my child couldn’t trust me enough to tell me what was going on in her life. And to know that I welcomed that man into my home, encouraged Chanel to be with him,” Elliott’s voice broke off. He cleared his throat.
“I came here,” he started, switching topics, “to invite you two over to the house this Saturday. Chanel and I have talked a little and even managed a few lunches. We’re getting better. I wanted to invite you both to dinner and to ask her officially to work for the firm.”
“You think I can help convince her to join the firm?”
He nodded. “That’s part of it. I want Chanel to join the firm because she’s a brilliant attorney and I know under my tutelage she could be even better. But I also want to get to know my daughter. I fucked up when she was growing up. I’ll own that, and I can’t make up for lost time, but I can start here.”
I leaned my head to one side, observing Elliott. My level of respect for him grew by leaps and bounds. It took a lot to admit your mistakes and own them, especially for someone like Elliott. He didn’t have to come here and say what he did. I doubted any grown man wanted to approach another man about getting to know his own daughter.
“You know she stopped singing because of you?”
He looked at me, perplexed.
“Her last performance was on her tenth birthday.”
I let that statement hang in the air.
He nodded solemnly. “She told you about that?”
I inclined my head.
Elliott’s eyes lowered.
“We’ll be there this weekend,” I committed. “But I won’t make any guarantees on whether she’ll work for you. That’s her decision.”
