“Okay,” I said, but he didn’t hear me. He had already walked off, cutting across the lawn.
I shook my head. He wasn’t exactly good at telling me what he was planning. I watched him disappear behind some hedges and went back to getting Mason situated.
It took me a few minutes, but finally I lugged Mason in his car seat through the front door. Dad was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the paper, and Mom was nowhere in sight.
“Morning, honey,” Dad said. “How are you?”
“I’m fine.”
“Sleep okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. “His room is really nice.”
He gave me a look. “You two didn’t have sex, did you?”
“Dad!”
“What? I just want to know what to expect here.”
“No, Dad, we didn’t have sex. Oh my god, please don’t say that again.”
I shook my head and sat down across from him. He wasn’t normally so gross, but this whole situation clearly had him put off his normal game.
I couldn’t blame him. It had me all over the place too. But at least I wasn’t talking to him about sex.
Mercifully, Mom came downstairs a second later. “Morning, honey,” she said.
“Morning, Mom. How was it here last night?”
She shrugged. “Fine. Nothing new.”
“No terrorists here,” Dad said.
I gave him a look and then turned back to Mom. “Did you guys meet Cooper?”
“Who?”
“He was watching you last night. Or maybe it was Travis?”
Dad shook his head and looked annoyed. “Nobody came to the house. I didn’t even think anyone was really watching us.”
“Good,” I said. “Good. You shouldn’t be bothered by this.”
“Not bothered by terrorists. Of course not.”
Just then, the front door opened. I stood up as Emory came down the hall.
“Not knocking?” Dad muttered, but I ignored him.
“Morning all,” Emory said.
“Good morning, Emory. Would you like something to eat?”
“No, thank you, Mrs. Bright.”
“Please, call me Celine.”
“Okay then, Celine.”
“And call him Roger, even if he tells you not to.”
Dad just grunted and went back to reading the paper.
“Anything going on out there?” I asked Emory.
“Nothing. Cooper is running a sweep of the area right now. Did anyone bother you folks last night?”
“Nope. All quiet here,” Mom reported.
“Good,” Emory said. “You tell me if anyone bugs you. They report to me.”
“Of course they do,” Dad said. “You’re, what, their general?”
“Captain actually,” Emory said.
“Right. The captain of the team.”
“Dad,” I said.
He made a face and went back to the paper.
Emory grinned at me. “Glad you’re home?”
“Yeah,” I said, “I am. Despite my father being a major ass.”
“Major Ass. Is he in your squad too?” Dad asked.
“Roger, that’s enough,” Mom said harshly.
Emory smirked at my dad. “I know you’re not buying any of this, sir, and I don’t blame you. But I hope one day you’ll understand and know that this is all for your protection.”
Dad stared at Emory, clearly surprised by his sincerity. “Well, okay then,” he grumbled and went back to his paper.
Just then, I got a whiff of something from Mason. “Uh oh,” I said. “I think Mason needs to be changed.”
“Why don’t you take Emory and show him how to change a diaper?” Mom asked.
I glanced at him. “Want to learn?”
He made a face but nodded. “Yeah. I’ve always wanted to play with baby poop.”
Dad snorted as I headed up the steps, Emory on my tail. As we got to the top of the landing, I turned toward him. “Sorry about that,” I said.
“What, your father?”
“Yeah. He can be a real ass, but he’s a big teddy bear.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’d be shocked if he weren’t skeptical.”
“Still, he doesn’t need to be a dick about it.”
“He’s just threatened; that’s all. I’m a strange man saying strange things around his family. You’d be protective too if you were him.”
I nodded. I hadn’t really thought about that. Dad didn’t seem like a protective person, but he had always been there for me. He really didn’t know Emory beyond what I’d told him, and most of that wasn’t very flattering considering Emory had disappeared after getting me pregnant.
In Dad’s mind, Emory was the enemy, not the terrorists. The idea of terrorists was way too impossible and abstract for him to comprehend. Dad wanted to protect me and Mom, but in his mind it wasn’t from the terrorists. It was from the strange man named Emory.