“Well, I know that.”
“You do?” he asked, looking surprised.
“Yes. He’s retired.”
He dropped his face in his hands and groaned.
“I’m kidding,” I said, letting him off the hook. “What do you mean?”
“Let me put it to you this way. Your dad never sold aluminum siding.”
“Well, what did he do for the Miller Aluminum Siding Company?”
He stood, his hand scrubbing the back of his neck as he started to pace. “He never worked for the Miller Aluminum Siding Company.”
“Then what company did he work for for forty years?”
“Uh...thecompany.”
“Hyde, you better start using more words.”
“It’s not the words I’m having trouble with, it’s the letters.”
“What letters?”
“CIA.”
“Hyde, I swear to god, you better add more than a few letters to the end of that,” I growled.
“It’s true, GoGo, they recruited him right out of college as an analyst.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! If you’re about to try and convince me that the man who always made sure we cut down a fresh Christmas tree and did my hair for my prom, was actually Jason Bourne, I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.”
“He did your hair for your prom?”
“Very poorly, but I never had the heart to tell him. Bellamy fixed it in the limo on the way to the dance.” I threw my hands up. “But that’s not what we’re talking about right now, Hyde. My dad never worked for the CIA.”
“Try and think of him less like Matt Damon and more like Simon Pegg in Mission Impossible.”
“You’re lying.”
“Baby, I’m not fuckin’ lying,” he snapped. “You can call him to confirm.”
I burst into tears again and he rushed back to me, sitting down and taking my hands.
“I don’t understand,” I sobbed out. “Why wouldn’t he tell me?”
“Babe, it’s obvious, he was trying to protect you.”
“But he tells you?”
“Well, no, not directly.”
“Oh my god, what?”
“You know how I had a guy who got into the foster care system?”
“Yes,” I said, carefully.
