Meg stood quietly in front of Mrs. Duncan, waiting for her to finish her phone call. The woman’s eyes locked with Meg’s. “Hang on a sec, Barb, trouble just walked in.” She slid a hand over the mouthpiece. “What do you want, Megan?”
A little respect would be nice. “Just need to talk to my dad for a few minutes . . . please.” The please killed her.
Mrs. Duncan raised a brow. “Your father mentioned you might stop by. He said to tell you he’d speak to you later—after working hours.” She made a shooing motion with her hand and then went back to gossiping with her friend.
He knew. Why else would he anticipate her visit? It wasn’t like she ever dropped in unless summoned.
Grandma must’ve told Dad about the files. Good. It’d save time.
Meg slipped around the desk and headed for the coward’s door. Ignoring Mrs. Duncan’s protests, Meg stepped inside, dismayed to see Sue Ann sitting on the corner of the desk. She was smiling sweetly at her father. “Thanks, sugar. I’ll be better about the spendin’ next month. I promise.” She batted her eyes just like Pam always did.
Ick.
Meg considered leaving before they noticed her when Mrs. Duncan barreled into the room. “I told her not to bother you, Mayor. But she disregarded me just like she ignores anything else resembling a rule!”
Sue Ann chuckled at Dragon Breath’s joke. “So true.”
Dad lifted a hand for silence. “Meg, have a seat. If you ladies will excuse us, please?”
Mrs. Duncan frowned on her way out, but Sue Ann just sat there blinking. Finally, she said, “Surely you don’t mean me too, Mitch?”
Dad nodded. “You were on your way to Denver, so don’t let us hold you up.”
Sue Ann’s eyes narrowed as she stood to leave. On her way out she glared at Meg. “Don’t be doing anything to upset your daddy, givin’ him another migraine, Megan. Or you’ll have me to answer to.” She slammed the door shut behind her.
Meg drew a deep breath. Showtime. “So, I take it Sue Ann doesn’t know?”
Dad leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “That was long before Sue Ann came into the picture. Didn’t see any need to talk about it ever again.”
“Obviously.”
He pointed a finger at her. “Lose the attitude, young lady, or you can get your butt right out of my office.”
“That’s just what you want, isn’t it? To find yet another excuse not to talk to me about my mother. What if I’d started dating a cousin without knowing it? Or that Haley might one day? It could happen in a town this small.”
“I’m well aware of that possibility. We finally got through it with you, and now because you went catting around, I have to worry about it all over again.”
“I loved Josh. Getting pregnant was an accident. I’m not a cheater who got herself impregnated by her lover like my mother did. You need to separate the two.”
“Nice way to talk about your own mother.” Dad huffed out a breath. “My biggest fear was that you’d end up like her. Hell, you look just like her, and have a chip on your shoulder as big as hers was.”
“I’m just stating facts. Something you seem to have a problem with. But now I want the truth. Why did you fight Grandma and Grandpa for me once you figured out I wasn’t your child?”
He closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair. “Being an Anderson brings along a certain amount of responsibility. Something you’ve never been able to embrace. It would have been an embarrassment to my parents, my siblings, and to your brothers and sister too, if everyone knew the truth. It was just a happy coincidence you were born looking like your mother rather than your father. It helped people question the rumor that had been going around long before she died.”
“So you kept me to save yourself the embarrassment. But you never forgave me for being the product of my mother’s affair. At least now I can finally understand why you’ve always hated me.”
“I don’t hate you, Megan.” He slowly shook his head. “But you’ve been the biggest challenge of my life. You acted out so often as a kid it was a relief when you went away to college and then to Denver. One less thing for me to worry about.”
Just what a girl likes to hear. “Maybe if you had treated me more like the others, I wouldn’t have tried so hard to get your attention. Granted, I went about it the wrong way, but all I ever wanted was just once to hear you say you were proud of me.”
“Maybe I would’ve, if you’d ever done anything to make me proud.”
Knife to the heart. “Why can’t you see how I’ve changed? I’m not that mischievous kid trying to get your attention anymore.”