“My daughter. Smoking drugs, hitting cops.” He turned his face from hers. “I feel sick. What would your brother say? Would Joey think this was such a great idea?”
Joey probably would have thought it was funny, but there was no way she was going to say that. She didn’t move. She had no idea what to do.
When he faced her again, he was no less angry. “What were you doing in a protest? You have to be crazy to get into that. Have you seen the news lately? All the race riots in the U.S.? The national guard getting called in to stop riots where people were throwing bottles and rocks, setting fires, looting—”
“That’s not happening here, Dad.”
“Don’t interrupt me.” He tapped his pen on the desk then slid all his paperwork to the side. “I have another question, and I sure hope you have a better answer this time. It’s the middle of the day on a weekday. You should have been at work, not shouting on the streets, disturbing people. Why weren’t you at work?”
A sob caught in her throat. She felt weak and scared and afraid. “I quit on Tuesday, Dad. I’m sorry.”
“Youwhat? And I’m just now hearing this? Do youwantto lose your apartment? Why on earth—”
“I had to leave, Dad. Trust me.”
“Why should I trust you?” he asked through tight lips. “You, we have established, are a criminal and a hypocrite.”
She flinched.
“Tell me why you quit that job. Explain.”
“I don’t want to,” she said weakly.
“Doesn’t matter. Against my better judgement, I just bailed you out. You owe me.”
He was right. She owed him for so many things. “Technically, I was fired.”
“Even worse. What did you do?”
“I… I was uncomfortable. My boss—”
“You can’t blame your failures on someone else, Susan. You know that. Take responsibility for your own actions for once in your life.”
She took a deep breath and felt her cheeks burn with regret. It would hurt him to think of his little girl in a situation like this, but he had her cornered.
“All right, Dad. I’ll tell you the truth.” She squeezed her eyes shut and kept them that way as she blurted out everything. “Mr. Brown came after me. I was typing for him, and he copped a feel, and I tried to get up but he pushed me back into my chair. I was scared, so I shoved him off and ran out. I’m sorry. That’s what happened. Even if you make me live at home again, I will never go back to that office.”
When her father said nothing, she opened her eyes. He was staring at her, his face a shade of grey she’d never seen before.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I—”
“Why didn’t you tell me? Did you know that he was—”
“There were rumours. Another girl quit before me, and people said he’d been spoken to about it, but I don’t know what that means. Evidently, it wasn’t enough. I never thought he’d come after me, and if he did, well, I swore I would be tougher than that other girl. But I guess I wasn’t.”
The lines of his face had softened. She knew him so well, and right now she could tell that what he wanted most was to stop being angry and give her a hug instead. But she knew herself, too. She didn’t deserve that hug, and he knew she knew it.
He cleared his throat, struggling for words. “I am sorry you went through that.”
“I want to work again, Dad. I will find something. And I promise I’ll work hard.”
She heard a sound behind her and glanced back. Tom had come into the office and was looking down at his shoes. That was embarrassing. She hadn’t wanted him to hear their conversation, but he’d probably taken in every humiliating word.
“I’ve already found you a job, Susan,” her father said, looking pleased at last. He grinned and held out his arm. “Meet my new partner and your new boss, Tom Duncan.”
thirteenMARION
Marion went first to visit her female patients—minus Alice Sumner, who was now in Paul’s charge—and gave them the attention they needed, but her mind raced ahead. When it was time to visit Daniel, she couldn’t get there fast enough.
