Even the Score(32)

“Ew, no.” I turned up my nose, shaking my head quickly. “That’s my dad.”

Her eyes nearly fell out of her head as she plucked the frame off the shelf, pulling it toward her for a closer look. “That’s your dad?”

I rolled my eyes and nodded. It wasn’t the first time someone had complimented my father’s good looks, and frankly, not the first time someone thought he was my boyfriend.

“Holy crap. Is he single?”

“Ellie! Gross!” I snatched the picture back, returning it to the shelf. “Yes, he’s single, but no, you can’t date him.”

“Seriously, he looks like he’s our age,” she said in disbelief. “Well, my age. Twenty-seven. I have no idea how old you are. How old are you, anyway?”

I stared at her out of the corner of my eye, wondering how anyone could talk that damn fast. “I’m twenty-eight. And he’s forty-four, but yes, he’s aged very well.”

I walked back over to my desk, but she remained by the shelf, still gawking at his picture. “Very well, he looks like a model. Wait, did you say he was only forty-four?”

Here it comes.

“That’s only sixteen years older than you!” she exclaimed.

“Bingo.” I winked at her.

“Holy crap. Your parents were young when they had you!”

“They were. Very young.” I nodded as I added a few more files that I’d brought from home to my drawer.

“Wow!” She looked up and down at all the frames again. “I don’t see any pictures of your mom?”

“You won’t, either,” I scoffed.

Ellie shot me a quick glance. “Can I ask why?”

“I don’t know my mother.” I shrugged, rifling through the files to make sure I was putting them in the right order. “They had me at sixteen, and by seventeen she decided she’d had enough of parenting. Took off and never looked back. I’ve been raised one hundred percent by my dad.”

“That’s amazing.” She plopped down on the chair and crossed her arms, staring off into space. “At seventeen I think I still thought babies were delivered by the stork.”

I laughed out loud again. Ellie was innocent and bubbly and the type of person that typically drove me bat-shit crazy, but something about her was comforting, and I was finding myself more and more drawn to her.

Suddenly she perked up. “Do you have any siblings?”

“Nope.” I shook my head and smiled to myself. “My dad used to say that I was such a terror that I was the work of ten kids, and he couldn’t handle any more.”

“Awww, so no nieces or nephews or anything like that?”

I sat down in my desk chair and propped my feet up on the corner of my desk. “Trust me, that’s probably a good thing. Kids scare the shit out of me.”

Ellie jerked her head back and crinkled up her nose. “Really? Why?”

“I’ve never really been around them, so they just freak me out. Plus I swear like a truck driver most of the time. That usually doesn’t go over well, either.” I chuckled.

“Can we go back to talk about your hot dad now?”

“Uh . . . I’d prefer we not.”

“Is he single?”

I rolled my eyes. “You already asked me that.”

“I did?” She frowned as a piece of her light blonde hair fell over her eyes. “Well, I already forgot what your answer was. Tell me again.”

“Yes, he’s single, at least for the day. Tomorrow? Who knows.”

“Where does he live?”

“California.”

“Why?”

“They don’t have winter. He hates snow. He was also a dumb teenager who grew into a very smart man. Started his own construction company in his early twenties and made a lot of money in a short period of time, invested it wisely, and retired at forty. He still owns the company, but he hired people to run most of it while he lives on the beach and still collects a big-ass check every month.”

Ellie’s mouth hung open as she stared at me blankly. “Oh my God. I really do want to marry him.”

“Gross. Get out,” I said playfully.

“Tell me more about your mom and him,” she insisted.

“There’s not much to tell. My mother broke his heart completely. He was barely old enough to drive a car, but he knew he wanted to marry her and take care of her for the rest of her life. He’ll never put himself through that again. Damaged goods, El. He’s a total Leonardo DiCaprio who dates all these beautiful women but won’t ever settle down.”

Before she could make any more comments about my father, my cell phone rang from inside my purse. I plucked it out and looked at the screen.