Page 122 of The Ruthless and the Strong

When I walked in, the rush-hour lunch had just ended, and what was left was a lull before the dinner rush started. Dad was sitting in one of the booths in the corner, looking over some paperwork. He didn’t notice me coming in until I took a seat across from him.

He looked up and smiled then. “Lizzie. What are you doing here, a stór?”

“Nothing. I just miss you.”

He looked at me for a while, before he said, “Really?”

I nodded.

“Hmm. Are you hungry? I’m sure I can cook something really quick for you in the kitchen.”

I shook my head. “I already ate. Thank you.”

“Okay.”

I watched him fiddle with his wedding ring. He always did that when he was thinking deeply about something.

“Tell me, what’s going on with you and your gentleman friend?”

“Gentleman friend?” I asked, amusement twisting my lips. “You can just call him Max, Dad. You’ve known him for over a decade.”

He smiled a little at that. “No. Before, he was Max. And now he is a potential son-in-law. That changes everything.”

I looked down at the table. “Not really. We’re, uh, taking a break right now.” If that was what I could even call it. It didn’t feel like we’d broken up. It didn’t feel like anything.

“What happened?” Dad asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t even know myself. I’m so confused, Dad.”

“Then why don’t you tell me, and I can unconfuse it for you?”

“Unconfuse? Is that even a word?”

“It’s a word if I say it is.”

I smiled at that. “I, uh, I found out something about him.”

Dad’s face darkened. “Something unforgivable?”

“What? No. He didn’t cheat on me or hurt me, if that's what you’re thinking. You know Max. He would never do something like that to me.”

Dad nodded once. “Good. I’m glad to hear that. What did you find out?”

I fiddled with my hair. “I can’t say.”

He didn’t say anything for a long second. Then he nodded. “Okay. Then I won’t pry.”

I hadn’t realized how tense I had become until he said that, and I felt my shoulders sagging a bit.

“So you found out something about him. Why does it confuse you?”

“That’s the thing. I don’t really know why.”

“Does it change the way you feel about him?”

“Yes,” I said, because being able to accept it or not, it had changed my view on Max entirely, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

Dad grabbed my hand. “Max is a good man.”

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