Page 144 of Smooth Sailing

I sat very still and said not a word.

Because I very well knew that if he was covering those expenses, that trust had to be well over a hundred thousand dollars.

“I would really rather you not attempt to refuse it, Diana,” Dad stated. “It’s yours. It was my privilege as your father to offer it to you. I didn’t get that chance, and I understand why. This is simply me, in part, rectifying my mistake.”

When the silence stretched so long after he stopped talking, I forced myself to say something.

“I, uh…Dad, that has to be a lot of money.”

“It was set aside for you already,” he returned. “At least for your undergraduate. I just added to it when I heard you got your master’s.”

I was processing a lot, but…

Hang on a second.

This wasn’t the first time he noted stuff about me that he shouldn’t know.

I mean, he said he had friends who were clients of Annie’s, but, although I was on Annie to update her website, which was barely functional outside giving people contact info and a list of services, she did not have bios of staff on there. And as far as I knew, she didn’t hand my CV to current or prospective clients.

In other words, this was fishy and gave me a funny feeling.

“Who told you I got my master’s?” I asked.

He sipped from his martini before he murmured, “Your mother delighted in keeping me informed of all I’d been missing.”

Uh-oh.

Color me still raw about the situation with Mom and her defunct visit, but I was getting mad.

And freaked.

“She didn’t tell me she did that,” I noted.

Dad said nothing.

“Why would she do that?” I asked.

Dad took another sip from his martini, and again said nothing.

“Dad,” I prompted.

Dad sighed.

“I’m sorry for it, been sorry for it nearly your entire life, Diana,” Dad said. “But me and your mother not getting along is not something you’re unfamiliar with.”

“You’ve been divorced for over two decades,” I pointed out. “She’s remarried, lives in another state, and I’m grown. There really isn’t any reason you two should be speaking at all.”

“I was glad to have the updates.”

“I can see that. But Mom knew we had a falling out, and the way you said she shared intel about me makes me think it was something she was lording over you.”

Hugger’s arm around my shoulders tightened.

“I should have chosen different words,” Dad murmured.

“But she was lording it over you,” I stated.

“She didn’t make it a secret she was pleased we weren’t speaking,” Dad allowed.

---