Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 27008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Everything.
I wanted everything.
“What do you do for a living?”
Oh.
Fuck. We had to start at the beginning?
I knew I’d done it to myself, but I sighed. “I’m an interpreter at the State Department.”
I’d been cautious about telling him before mostly for security reasons but it’d also gotten the oddest reactions from people.
Like Daddy.
He laughed and brought a hand up to his chest in relief. “Thank god.”
Huh?
I was working my way up to figuring out how to question him…and maybe his mental health…when he saw my face and laughed again. “I’m sorry. Several years ago, I met a few guys through the club and one worked for the CIA. You were so careful with what you talked about, I was worried. He was…let’s say interesting, and I told myself never again.”
Oh.
Laughter felt like it would’ve been the wrong response, but I couldn’t quite hide how funny it was. “I can understand that. This town does not inspire sanity in most people.”
Daddy laughed, nodding. “Oh yes, I like that description.”
Shrugging, I felt some of the tension I’d been holding in fade as he smiled and got a thoughtful expression. “So that’s what all the traveling is for. Oh, now I remember who had the chicken pox. So it’s Paris later this week?”
I nodded, not worried about sharing because it wasn’t even close to a state secret. “Yes, hopefully it won’t be long, but the timing is up in the air right now.”
Fingers crossed it wasn’t that contagious and everyone around him had been vaccinated because the meetings were important even though they were just a bit boring.
“I like traveling and I love my job, but it makes things hard sometimes. Sorry.” I made a difference and it was a challenging career that pushed me, but most men couldn’t handle how much I was gone. Hell, sometimes I couldn’t handle it.
Daddy gave me a curious look that had me fighting the urge to squirm. “Have I ever said I had a problem with your schedule?”
His question had me pausing and going through our past conversations. Technically, I didn’t have perfect recall, but my memory was good enough that it made learning languages easier than it was for most people. “No.”
He hadn’t ever said anything close to a complaint, but we both knew I owed him more attention and time if we were going to make this work.
“You said that we needed to make sure we were both ready to give the relationship the nurturing it required.” That kind of counted. “And you said once that you were going to tie me to a bed if I didn’t get more sleep, though.”
Daddy snorted. “Because you’d traveled to at least three countries in two days and you hadn’t slept in longer than that.”
Okay, technically he had a point, but before I could give him that, he started slowly nodding again. “And now I’m connecting the dots on what meetings you were at.”
I just shrugged, not able to confirm or deny that one.
Shaking his head, Daddy let it drop. “I understood going into this that your work was important and you couldn’t give up traveling without changing jobs. I didn’t get why at first and Conner made me promise not to dig into your background…probably so I wouldn’t end up on some kind of watch list.”
Quite possibly.
Daddy looked like he was going to start shaking his head again before he took a deep breath and seemed to push the thoughts aside. “For right now, I want you to understand that I’m patient and I understand your job. Hell, up until the past year I traveled just as much as you did.”
And now it was my turn to question Daddy.
From: Joseph
RE: Your random questions…I’m boring
No, nothing crazy happened and my parents were never homophobic, but they just kind of drifted away. They were always busy with my mother’s career as an ambassador and my father’s work in academics, and I was kind of an afterthought. My mother one time made a vague comment about families with children looking more stable, so I think I was planned and then they didn’t know what to do from there. Kind of like getting a rabbit for your kids for Easter and then going WTF do I do now.
So yeah, that probably had something to do with why I’ve bounced around so much in life and in relationships, but I’ve got some great stories to tell and I’m good with languages, so there are a few positive things that came out of my childhood.
At some point when I’ve had a few drinks, ask me about meeting the Queen when I was a kid. But only when I’m drunk. It’s too embarrassing sober.
Another thing that should be too embarrassing sober are those questions. You dug out that book again, didn’t you? There has to be a book, so I’m not even going to read your denials. I’m just going to ask Conner to figure it out and he’ll tell me what you’re up to.