“Do you have a moment?” her father asked.
Frowning because she couldn’t actually believe that he’d called her, Haley nodded woodenly, then remembered that he couldn’t see her. “Yes. What’s going on?” she asked, wondering why he hadn’t asked his secretary to call her to relay whatever message that he needed to give her.
“Your grandmother told me that you took a vacation last week. How was it?” he asked casually, but Haley couldn’t help but feel that there was more to it. This wasn’t like her father to actually take an interest in her life.
“It was fine,” Haley said, wanting to kick her own butt all over again. It could have been great if she hadn’t overreacted in the first place. Yeah, Jason had screwed up, but it hadn’t deserved the level of drama that she’d created.
She was an idiot.
“I heard that Jason went with you,” he said, followed by an expectant pause.
“Yes, Jason went with me, Dad. I told you that we were dating,” Haley said, walking over to the bay window and looked out. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Barbara, her ex-realtor, gesture for a middle-aged couple to follow her inside Jason’s house.
“It’s nothing serious, I hope,” he said, drawing Haley’s attention back to the conversation that she’d never expected to have.
“What?”
“You and Jason. Your grandmother said that you were serious, but I didn’t think you’d be foolish to waste your life on someone like that,” her father said, stunning her into silence. Although by now, there really wasn’t much that her family could say or do that would shock her.
Except call her, that is.
“What do you mean by ‘a man like that’?” Haley asked, insulted on Jason’s behalf.
There was a heavy sigh, and then, “Haley, do we really need to get into this? We both know that you could do so much better.”
“No, I really couldn’t, Dad. I love Jason.”
“Sweetheart, I know that you think that you love him right now, but in time, you’ll realize that...well, he’s not good enough for you.”
“And why is that, Dad?” Haley asked tightly, for the first time in her life she didn’t bother pretending that she didn’t care. “Because he works for a living?”
“You know that I don’t have a problem with someone that works, Haley. I work for a living,” he pointed out.
“Then, I don’t understand the problem,” she lied because she knew exactly what her family’s problem was the first moment they’d laid eyes on Jason.
“He’s not one of us, Haley. He’ll never fit in. Surely you must realize that, sweetheart. When you stop pretending to be someone that you’re not, you’ll come to realize that Jason just doesn’t meet our expectations for you,” he said soothingly.
She laughed without humor. “Oh, now you have expectations for me? Isn’t that convenient. The one time you show concern for me just happens to be when you’re worried that I’ll sully up the bloodlines and marry someone who might embarrass you.”
“Haley, that’s ridiculous and you know it. I love you and care very deeply for you,” he swore. “I’m just watching out for your best interests, sweetheart. In a few years, you’ll see that. Maybe you should give Robert another chance, so that the two of-”
“What do I do for a living?” Haley bit out between clenched teeth, cutting him off.
“Excuse me?”
“I asked if you knew what I do for a living,” she repeated.
“You run a daycare,” he said with such conviction that even she almost believed it.
“I teach history at Latin Scribe High School,” Haley informed him, trying not to cry. She had absolutely no doubt that if she’d asked what committees Rose or Martha were on that he would know the answer, mostly because they were a reflection of him.
“Oh,” he said, sounding surprised. “Congratulations, sweetheart. Why didn’t you tell me that you got the job? We would have held a dinner to celebrate.”
She opened her mouth to remind him that they celebrated her job at her grandmother’s insistence five years ago, but what was the point? He was never going to change and he was never going to care about her until she started living the life that he wanted.
He’d start giving her attention and some of his precious time if she decided to ask for her trust fund back and started dating men like Robert. It wouldn’t matter that Robert would drop her as soon as she slept with him. Her parents only cared about their image. It was kind of funny that her father started out in life by sharing a room with his two brothers in a small two-bedroom cabin, or that his parents worked their asses off so that he could go to college and never have to worry about money. He’d been spoiled and she knew that was Grandma’s biggest regret in life.
“I got the job two weeks ago when I turned thirty,” Haley lied, wondering if her father was going to remember this time.
