Page 110 of The Paradise Problem

It feels amazing to physically lean on my dad again.

“This was quite a trip, kiddo,” he says.

“No kidding.”

“I wish you had told me the truth, but I understand.”

“I know. It just sounded so sleazy.”

“Well, did you fall for him?”

I shrug, but my heart wails out a soggy yes.

“He doesn’t sound evil,” Dad says quietly. “Just broken.”

“Very broken. I keep thinking about how he didn’t grow up with a David Green, and how incredibly lucky I am that I did.”

Dad’s hand comes to my knee, squeezing, and I look down at the scars there. So many IVs have gone into the back of his big, strong hand that it looks like a battlefield even though it’s been forever since anything went in that way. His central port now lives on his chest, and I learned about an hour ago that we have a tentative date for its removal—six months from now. It’s a hard-fought victory. Vivi even put up a countdown calendar on the wall.

“You think he’s too broken?” Dad asks.

I run my fingers over the back of his hand. “Too broken for what?”

“Too broken for you to love him, dummy.”

I tilt my face to look up at him. “You want me to stick with Liam? After he secretly bought my paintings?”

Dad shrugs like he doesn’t agree with my level of offense over this. “When we care about someone, they deserve the benefit of the doubt. We have to consider not only what they did, but also why they did it. Intent matters,” he says, and the wisdom he’s shared with me my entire life yanks me right back to Singapore and that cursed hotel room and the anguish in Liam’s eyes when he insisted that he and his father were not the same.

And only now does it occur to me that my suggestion that they were probably pushed him even further toward his shitty decision.

I growl out a frustrated breath. “He took a job with Mephistopheles,” I say. “Literally the worst possible choice.”

“He’s backed into a corner, Annie.”

I narrow my eyes. “David Green, are you Team West?”

Dad shakes his head, laughing. “I just want what’s best for you, and when you were talking about your time on the island, you had that Anna Glow. You never talk about guys this way with me.”

“It’s awkward, huh?”

He laughs again. “It’s not awkward. I like it.” He kisses my forehead. “It’s possible that he has some family stuff that is more complicated than you realize. It sounds like he grew up with money, but not much else. It doesn’t have to stay romantic between you, but you are legally married to him and will have to deal with that eventually.” He smiles at my groan. “I just think, give it a few days and then reach out to him. See if he’s okay.”

“Okay.”

It’s where we leave it for the night.

“Mind if I crash here?” I ask.

“Course not.”

I took a cab directly from the airport to see him and unload to my safest of safe spaces. It’s restorative, being back in my childhood home, but it’s after one; I’m exhausted and Dad is up later than he probably has been in two years. Standing, I help him up, get him sorted through his nighttime routine and tucked in like a kid instead of a grumpy fifty-year-old swatting me away. I kiss the top of his bald head through his ever-present beanie and linger at the door. “I’m glad to be home with you,” I tell him.

“Vivi’s a better cook,” he answers, and smiles at me just before I turn off the light and do everything I can to not worry about Liam going home to an empty house, Liam not having a David Green, Liam facing all of this alone.

* * *

VIVI A BETTER COOK than me? Yeah, right!

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