Catch Him(9)

She made her way up the stairs to the landing to her apartment door. Unlocking it, she cursed under her breath, seeing the living room light was still on as she stepped inside. Her father sat in his favorite worn recliner, reading. He never was much for television unless there was a sporting event.

Fortunately, the piles of twenties had been cleared from the table. Sinead wondered what the odds were of being able to walk in, lock up behind her and say good night without him commenting.

After all, he was a man. Would he even realize she’d changed her clothes?

Sinead did exactly that. Locked the door, put the bolt in place. Murmured good night and started to walk toward her bedroom.

“How much that all cost?” he asked just as she reached the hallway leading to her room.

Shit. She should have known. Yes, he was a man who was mostly oblivious, but he was also a cop deep down in his soul. Cops noticed things.

“Don’t worry about it, Dad.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it, she says. Stands in front of me a few hours ago and calls me dirty, then turns around and lets some guy buy her a fancy dress and shoes. You know what that makes you?”

That had her anger sparking. She dropped the box and walked back to stand in front of him.

“What does it make me, Dad? A whore? Is that what you’re implying? Because clearly I didn’t have sex with him, unless you think I was blowing him in the car. Because that’s so like me, isn’t? To take expensive things in exchange for sex. Do you even know me? At all? Your daughter.”

He frowned at that. “I know that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Watch your back.”

The best night of her life in the longest time she could remember, and it ended with watch your back.

Sinead nodded. There was no reason to expect his reaction would be any different. No reason to think he might want to share in her happiness. Yes, he was her father and no matter what, she couldn’t turn her back on him. They were all they had left in this world. She’d just wished one time for him to do the unexpected.

How did your date go?

Did you like him?

Was he a gentleman?

Instead she got, watch your back.

“Good night, Dad.”





Chapter 4





Sinead was looking down at the baseball field, a hot dog in one hand a beer in the other. They were up high in the cheap seats of AT&T Park, and she thought this might be as cool as last night’s date.

David was wearing a T-shirt, worn jeans with a small tear at the knee and flip flops. Even his damn feet were perfect. She’d gone with cut-off jean shorts and a light sweatshirt as the weather seemed to be holding today.

Baseball in August. For her it didn’t get better than this. Except for one noticeable detail.

“I have to point out these are not the best seats in the house.”

David gave her a stunned expression. “What?”

“No. There are the box seats of course, but I always think they’re a little stuffy. Then there’s behind home plate, so you can see the curve and drop of the pitches. Except then you’re on camera and everyone who knows you will text you that they can see you on TV. Which means you spend the whole time looking at your phone instead of the game. After that, there’s low along the first and third baselines, where you are most likely to catch a foul ball. Up here… well, these are the cheap seats. Which for the record I don’t mind, but I thought you should know in case you got ripped off or something.”

“You left out a critical component of the quality of these seats.”

“What’s that?”

“Look around.”

Sinead did. It was a Business Person’s special, which meant a one o’clock start on a Thursday. While the team was doing well, it was a normal regular season game. The park was only about half full. She and David basically had the entire section to themselves.

“What am I looking for?”

“These are the best seats for a little PDA, with barely anyone around to take offense,” he said smugly.

“You’re telling me you deliberately bought these seats so you could make out with me?”

“No, I’m telling you I bought the best seats in which to make out with you. I have no expectations. Only hope.”

Sinead shook her head. “You’re a little crazy.”

He glanced over at her. “I am. A little crazy. But I think that’s a good thing for you. You maybe haven’t had enough crazy in your life.”

No, unless you counted a father who had gone dirty, then had gotten mixed up with the mob. Unless that was a little crazy.

“I prefer calm to crazy,” she finally said. It was true. Drama, she thought, was highly overrated. However, since she hadn’t been able to sleep last night, still so completely filled with thoughts about him, she’d had plenty of time to think.