Page 28 of Simon Says

He exposed her for a fraud.

“Thanks, Dad. That’s what I figured.”

Reid didn’t let it go at that. “You know, she could just be trying to wheedle a date from you.”

“Maybe.” But Simon didn’t think so.

“Is she a looker?”

“Hard to tell,” Simon lied. “She’s not the best dresser I’ve ever seen.” Simon stared at her. Dakota frowned back in irritation.

“Sweet disposition?” Reid asked.

Simon chuckled. “Somehow, I have my doubts on that one.”

“You should bring her home, let your mother meet her. She’s a good judge of character.”

“Don’t count on it.” Before Reid started insisting, Simon said, “I gotta run, Dad. Take care, okay?”

“You, too, son. Keep in touch.”

“Will do.” Simon disconnected the phone. He worked his jaw while studying Dakota. Obviously, she’d lied. But why? “You care to explain?”

“If you care to listen,” she snapped back.

Simon chastised her with a shake of his head. “First you lie to me, and now you act surly.”

“I didn’t lie.”

“That was my dad I spoke to, Dakota.”

“Really? Your biological father or a stepfather?” Without giving him a chance to react to that, she said, “I’m guessing stepfather, since your filial father is the one who hired me.”

Ice ran in Simon’s veins. He didn’t remember his father at all. According to his mother, the man had left when Simon was little more than a year old. Not once in the thirty years that had followed had he ever contacted Simon.

Why would he contact him now? “You say he hired you?”

Dakota gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “When I’m not singing, I work on a volunteer basis to help find missing people. Usually runaway teens, but I guess Barnaby thought that qualified me to find you.”

Growing colder by the second, void of emotion, Simon said, “I’m not a teen, I haven’t run away, and I don’t know anyone named Barnaby.”

She flattened her mouth. “I’m sorry, but you didn’t give me much chance to explain.”

“And now there’s no reason to.” Simon put on his seat belt. “You can take me back to the gym.”

“But…I have to talk to you about this.”

“The answer is no.”

“I haven’t asked a question yet!”

“Doesn’t matter.” He wanted away from her. He wanted away from the idea of his real father seeking a meeting with him. “We’re done here.”

“Simon, come on, don’t be stubborn. At least hear me out.”

A strange hollowness bloomed inside him. “I can walk if you don’t want to drive me back.”

Her jaw locked. Simon thought he might have heard her teeth grinding. Then she cursed softly and snapped her own seat belt into place. She put the truck in gear. “Fine. I’ll take you back.”

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