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“She did.”
“Who else is she telling?”
“I have no idea.”
“She must’ve been driving past this place all night!”
He held out a hand. “Can I take your coat?”
She hesitated. She didn’t plan to stay long, didn’t want to intrude on the rest of his evening, especially because she’d arrived unannounced in the first place. But it seemed silly to swelter in her big puffy coat while they talked. “Sure,” she said and put down her computer bag so she could take it off. “What exactly did Glenda say to Kelsey?”
He tossed her coat on the only chair in the room, which already had a few of his castoffs. “She just asked if something was going on between us. What’d your dad say?”
“He warned me to stay away from you. He’s afraid I might get myself in trouble again.”
Using the remote, he turned down the basketball game he’d been watching. “He’s worried I’m going to get you pregnant?”
She felt a strange flutter in her stomach that she attempted to ignore. “Or that I’ll just…sin, I guess.”
A crooked smile curved his lips. “He sees me as the devil.”
“His response was more of a reflection on me than you,” she quickly pointed out. “Because of the way I screwed up before.”
“He’s still holding that against you?”
“I guess so, and I can’t really blame him. The ramifications have been life-altering for both of us. I mean… I love my daughter more than anything. I would never want to be without her. But me having a child at seventeen meant…so many things for everyone involved.”
He rested his hands on his lean hips. “Everyone makes mistakes, Patience.”
“Yeah, but some mistakes are more far-reaching than others. I humiliated him when I got pregnant, so there’s that, too. He doesn’t want me to embarrass him again.”
“By seeing me?”
“He’s not particularly supportive of me seeing any man. He certainly doesn’t encourage it.” She’d thought she’d made that decision entirely on her own—that she just didn’t want to get hurt again. But she was starting to realize that it made her life easier not to include a romantic interest, partially because it created less friction between her and her father.
Kanon frowned.
“What?” she said.
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
“It’s not my place.”
She sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m thinking about moving to LA,” she blurted out.
He leaned back against the dresser, studying her the way he might study a design that was still taking shape. “When?”
“After Ari graduates and goes to college. That gives me four years to save and prepare. Sounds like a long time, but it’ll go fast.”
“What will you do there?”
“Work in any capacity I can while I get an online degree. Or pursue photography. I can’t decide which.”
“I think that’s a great plan. Why not get out and experience the world? Will you be able to save enough between now and then?”
“Depends.”
