Page 74 of Hooked on a Witch
Chapter Seventeen
“Where were you last night?” Shannon’s father asked while he drenched a pancake in strawberry syrup.
Shannon tried to formulate a lie, but functioning on little sleep wasn’t conducive to creativity.
“Uh…” She cut a piece of her pancake pile and shoved it in her mouth.
Her father stopped chewing. His eyes narrowed. “You were next door withhim, weren’t you?”
Oh, God. Not the don’t-lie-to-me stare. That one look from her father reduced her to an eight-year-old caught midnight snacking on pie. Pie. Focus on pie. She forced her mouth into a smile and asked, “How was the pie last night?”
His index finger shot out to point her way. “Your mother used to pull the smile and ask a question to distract me. It won’t work on me this morning.”
“So, you didn’t like the pie.”
“Of course I did. It was excellent, as always. Reminded me of her.” His face fell.
“I miss her too. We’ve never really talked about it.”
“She did what she had to do. What she said she’d do. She always told me one day something would threaten you and, if it came to a decision between you and her, well, she’d save you. It was the way of things. But...” He wiped at his eyes and stared at the ceiling fan. “I love you both.”
“I’m sorry. It was my fault. If I hadn’t been there, then she would be with us still.”
He shook his head. “The gods deemed it to be this way. We had a long run. Thirty-five years together. That’s a lot longer than most of you ladies get.” He was trying to hide his agony, but it was in his tone.
She jumped up and ran around the table to hug him. “I love you. I’m sorry to make you nuts, but you’re driving me nuts too.”
He hugged her back and whispered, “She was my soul and you’re my heart. With the boys gone…”
“Yeah.” She resumed her seat and cut another bite of pancake. A huge weight seemed to have lifted in the air between them.
“The pie was good.” He sipped cranberry juice.
Thoughts of pie made it impossible not to remember and obsess over what she’d done with Merck before pie. And after pie. Her mind constantly replayed the experience. She couldn’t go there right now, not at the breakfast table with her father.
“Shannon?” He cleared his throat.
“Yes?”
“Last night…”
So he wasn’t dropping the line of conversation, even though it’d detoured. She shoved an overlarge pancake bite into her mouth and chewed. Seconds later, when her father didn’t offer to change the subject, she said, “You know I’m almost thirty years old. If I decide I want to go out for a while, take pie to a friend or whatever, then I’ll do it.”
“You tookhimpie?” His look. Oh God, now he was giving her the heart-wrenching, disappointed look.
“Yes.” Good. That came out with more confidence than she felt. She took another bite, even though her stomach identified itself as full.
“Eli picked you up sometime after two in the morning. You slept with him?”
“Who? Eli?”
“Don’t play dense. Eli doesn’t have a real thing for you.You went next door. You brought him pie…”
She covered her face with her hand. “Dad, we’re not talking about this. I mean…seriously?”
“It’s a conversation we’re going to have because I don’t trust him. I don’t know what the hell he is or his motive for being around you. He’s got a bad reputation with women and he’s always had a thing for you.”
Merck had always had a thing for her? Even as a flattered thrill flooded her, she wondered how many dealings her father had had with him. Had he tried to ask her out more than once and her father blocked?
