Page 98 of Take My Hand

“William,” he snapped like he was my dad and could tell me what to do. “I thin?—”

“I don’t care what you think, now piss off out of my bar.”

As his footsteps sounded on the wooden floor, I waited, my spine stiff until I heard the front door open and then close. As soon as it banged shut, my whole body relaxed, and I grabbed the door handle to stop myself from stumbling. I’d never missedhim. Never thought about him, and yet I knew now my head would be full of him and what might have been, and I hated it.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Maddy

Iwas stirring the chilli I’d made for tea when I heard the front door slam. Heavy boots stamped along the hall, and my dad appeared looking like he was ready to kill. The veins in his neck were bulging and his nostrils were flared.

Turning the heat off, I turned to him. “What’s wrong? Who’s upset you?”

He threw his phone down onto the table and, with one hand on his hip, pinched the bridge of his nose. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”

Moving over to him, I pulled out a chair. “Sit down and tell me.”

He shook his head. “It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“Obviously it is because you’re fuming about something.” I sat down and looked up at him. “Dad, what’s wrong?”

He sighed and sat down heavily. He picked up his phone, looked at the screen, and then threw it down again. Scrubbed a hand down his face and then slammed his palms down on the table.

“A man came into the bar today.”

I frowned. “Are you about to tell me a joke, because if you are, your delivery is rubbish?”

“I wish it was a bloody joke, sweetheart.”

“Take my hand, Dad.” He wrapped his fingers around mine. “Tell me all about the man who came into the bar.”

He blew out his cheeks. “He said he was my dad. Your grandad.”

As Dad’s fingers squeezed mine, my other hand slapped against my chest, and I let out a shocked gasp. “No way.”

He nodded slowly, his eyes searching mine for something. Searching for what I didn’t know, but I had the feeling he was battling with his emotions.

“H-how did you feel when you met him?” I asked. “How did he even find you? Did you know he was looking for you?”

“No idea, he just turned up. Wandered into the bar and did his best impression of Darth Vader and told me he was my dad.” I frowned. “Bloody hell, Maddy, when are you going to watch it. I keep telling you that you need to.”

“Not happening, Dad, but I’m guessing it has something to do with Star Wars.”

“Yes, it’s what… you know what, it doesn’t matter. The point is he turned up today and I don’t know how to feel about it.”

“Angry, by the look of your face.” I studied him and could see that the hurt was slowly dissolving, and he was now more annoyed than anything else. “What did you say to him? Do you look like him? Did he say what happened? Why did he?—”

“Mads.” Dad curled his hand around ours that were already joined and dipped his head to look me directly in the eye. “Slow down. I’ll tell you everything. As much as I know anyway.”

“Sorry. It’s just I can’t believe it. I can’t believe after all this time he’s come to find you.”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t what I was expecting either.” Letting my hand go, he sat back in his chair and rubbed his on his jean covered thighs. “I’m so angry, Maddy. Wondering how he dare walk into my bloody bar and just tell me like that. Like it wasn’t anything big.”

“Did you talk to him for long?”

“No, I pretty much threw him out. I didn’t want to hear what he had to say.”

I looked at the downturn of his mouth and the slope of his normally straight shoulders. “And now you’re wondering if you should have listened to him?”

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