It was all Eden could do not to squirm in her seat as perspiration pricked between her shoulder blades. She was well aware she had been mooching off the Wheelers for far too long. She'd asked Alice once if they'd like her to pay rent, but the older woman had shooed her away, saying her helping with the canning was payment enough.
Rudy laid down his fork and covered their clasped hands with his right one.
"No. I'm looking for a job." She forced as much bravado as she could into her words, wishing she had Rudy's confidence from earlier.
"Good. In the meantime, why don't you come back to DuPont?"
"Dad—"
"Now hear me out." He waved away her protest. "You don't have to come back as Head Market Analyst. You can have any job you want. You could even work as a consultant, if you want."
Any job I want. As long as I'm working for you.
He still wanted to control her life, while making it look like it was on her terms.
Eden shook her head and fought back angry tears. Would she ever be free of his interference and micromanaging?
Rudy must have sensed her frustration because he cleared his throat. "With all due respect, sir—"
"Who's ready for dessert?" Helen burst through the door carrying three servings of chocolate mousse cheesecake.
Normally, Eden's mouth started watering about now, but tonight she feared the salmon and stuffed bell peppers might make a reappearance. How could she possibly enjoy the rich dessert while her father continued to criticize her and attempted to control her life?
Eden debated how she could throw out the word skunk without sounding stupid. She'd told Rudy she'd announce when she was ready to leave, but she'd forgotten how difficult it was to stand up to her father who expected her to do everything he demanded.
Helen placed a piece of cheesecake in front of Eden, then rested a hand on her shoulder. She looked up as the older woman bent and whispered, "Hold your ground, honey."
Then Helen turned, blocking Eden's view of her dad. She seemed to take her time setting his dessert down. Eden heard her whisper something to him, but she couldn't make out the words.
She released Rudy's hand to pick up her dessert fork and missed the contact immediately.
Silence, tense and heavy, hung in the air after Helen walked out.
Finally, her dad let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I know I promised not to push you to come back to Dupont. I just hate to see you throw your life away."
The loud clearing of a throat came from the other side of the door Helen had just exited through, and Eden bit back a smile.
Her dad scowled at the closed door. "I mean—" He sucked in a deep breath and held it for several counts. "Is it me? Am I too critical? Is that why you don't like it there?"
"No, Dad." She let out a sigh of her own.
He seemed willing to listen—as long as Helen stayed near—so how did she tell him she never wanted to follow in his footsteps?
Rudy put his hand on her knee again, lending her his strength and driving her more than a little crazy with the contact.
"I've never enjoyed business analytics," she blurted. "Data collection and analysis are tedious and boring. It's maddening to have business owners argue with my insights and predictions for their company when I'm only trying to help them improve their growth and sales." She bit her tongue to shut herself up.
How ironic that she'd spent the past two weeks inputting Hattie's ledgers so she could run analytics on them. She needed to be able to see the bigger picture to develop a successful business plan for Hattie's Craft Boutique.
"I know." Her dad let out a sigh as he shook his head. "You wanted to go into interior design. And before that, event planning." His voice still held a note of disappointment, but it lacked the sharp tone of disapproval that had been there when they butted heads over her college curriculum.
The tone that eventually made her capitulate and take the business classes he pushed at her. She was an adult by then and should have been able to stand up to her father, but she'd still longed for his approval, so she'd done what she'd needed to please him.
Interior design still interested her, especially when it came to creating eye-catching displays using a variety of mediums at Hattie's. But she also understood why her successful businessman father, who had built his business from the ground up, hadn't thought those professions worthwhile.
"But you wouldn't let me go either of those routes." Her voice was quiet as she picked at her cheesecake with her fork.
Rudy squeezed her leg. She wasn't sure what message he tried to convey, but his silent support meant the world to her. He understood that she needed to stand up to her father on her own, but that she didn't want to do it alone.
