Chapter 6

Zoe

I trudged along the sidewalk. I was close to home, and that was the only thing that made me happy right then.

This isn't going to be easy, is it?

I growled. "If Dad had something to do with this..."

Who was I kidding, though, he had to have something to do with it? Just when I made up my mind and wanted to move on, all avenues were closed in front of me, and I didn't think it was happening naturally, not this way.

Finally, I made it to the house. It was the very same house where I grew up with my parents, even though now there was only the two of us. Sometimes, it didn't feel like two people lived in that house, though. It was moderately big, with two floors, four bedrooms even though we'd only ever used two, and three of them had en suite bathrooms. The outside of the house was painted in white and blue shades, because blue used to be Mom's favorite color.

I groaned in relief, walking up the sidewalk to the house. At the short steps that led up to the porch, I looked up and froze.

"What are you doing here?" I blurted out.

Howard looked up and smiled, then rose from his crouch just outside the door.

"Hey. I missed you so I came to see you. Or do you not want me here?"

I arched an eyebrow. Usually, when he wanted to see me, he'd just text, then go ahead with the call if it turned out I wasn't busy. I hadn't seen him for a few days, and he hadn't tried to get in contact with me, either, which gave me time to focus on other things.

"It's not that I don't want you here, I was just surprised. You're lucky it's still early. Dad shouldn't come in for a while, so you're safe for now, but you can't stay long."

"Aw, let me stay a little longer. I can always sneak out of your bedroom window like last time."

"You almost broke something last time," I snapped. "You're not staying."

Howard just chuckled.

That was an adventure neither of us wanted to try again. It was one of the few times Howard had come to my home. Dad came home unexpectedly while we were getting hot and heavy in my room. It was lucky that he hadn't left anything in the house, or Dad would have been suspicious.

I pulled my keys from my purse and went to open the door. He stood aside but stuck close to my side. Usually, having him this close got me hot, but feeling his warmth beside me just made me feel a little better after the day I'd had. As wonderful as it was, sex was the last thing on my mind.

"Come on in," I said, stepping aside to let him through, then closed the door behind him.

Letting out a sigh, I eased my heels off and dropped my purse on the seat. The interior of the house was painted cream, with black and brown furniture scattered in the room. There used to be family pictures hung up on the wall, but Dad had long since replaced them with plain pictures. Stairs to one side of the room led to the upper floor, and a door in the back led to the kitchen. In the living room, there was a TV and a small coffee table surrounded by chairs. I gestured for Howard to go and sit as I headed for the kitchen.

"Do you want anything to drink?" I asked, walking into the kitchen. I stopped in front of the fridge and tugged the door open, leaning in to check. "There's beer, but that belongs to Dad. We have juice, too, they're mine and I'm willing to share with you. There's wine, too, if you'd rather have that."

Howard shrugged, unconcerned. "Just give me what you're having."

"I'm having water," I clarified.

"Then bring me water," he said simply.

I got a pair of glasses from the cupboard and poured water for the both of us, then went back to the living room. Howard was already seated on the couch, and I set his glass on the small coffee table for him, and sat on the opposite end, tucking my legs beneath me as I took a sip of my water.

"You look exhausted," Howard said.

I smiled wanly. "Is it that obvious? I've had a shit day, is all. Not the worst by far, but it was pretty terrible."

"What happened?"

I looked at him curiously. He seemed to be really concerned about this, and I smiled. I had friends, of course, but they were all busy with their own lives while I was still trying to get a career off the ground, so I didn't get to see them as much as I would like. Having someone show concern for me felt good.

"I had a couple interviews to go to today," I admitted.

His eyebrows jump up. "Don't tell me, you're actually looking for a position on a different team? You want to be a general manager for a football team, right?"

"Yeah, I was looking into other teams. Dad probably won't change his mind on letting me work for the Eagles, and I feel like I've wasted enough time waiting on him to change his mind. What about you? Did you get through to him?"

"I'm still working on him, too," he said. "Of course, it's going to be a lot harder for me, at least you have a chance to speak to him, but I'm not his daughter. I'd really hoped we could work for the same team."

"That would have been nice, huh," I mused, then sighed. "And being his daughter isn't as big a deal as you think. So, what if I can talk to him if he won't listen to me? It's absolutely pointless, isn't it? That's why I was trying to move on. I guess even this much won't be that easy, though."

I finished my water and stretched to set the glass on the table. Then I picked up the remote that was sitting between us on the couch and turned on the TV. I set it to some music channel and left the volume low.

"So, how did the interviews go?"

"You don't sound very enthusiastic to hear about it," I accused.

He smiled. "It's not that, I just thought we could spend more time together if I could make it back on the team, and now you're planning on going away. But this is something you want, right? So, tell me how it went? Not well?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course, I'd still support the team regardless, but I didn't even get to be interviewed. Which is complete bullshit, because I had to wait a whole hour in that first place I went to before they told me they couldn't interview me."

"Really? Both of them?"

"Yeah, both of them. I had to leave early to get to the first one, and after I couldn't do the interview, I had to waste a few hours before I went to the next one, but it's further away so I couldn't come back home and then go. I got pissed off, so I walked around and wasted the afternoon before I came back."

"Did they at least give you a reason why they canceled on you?"

"I didn't get a direct reason, I kept asking and they kept running me around in circles. It's why I was so frustrated, you know? I do have an idea why, though."

My irritation from earlier came back, and I scowled at the TV.

"What do you mean?"

"I think my dad is behind it."

"Really?"

Howard sounded surprised, but I was as sure as I could be without making him confess to it. There was no other reason why I got called to two perfectly good interviews only to have both get cancelled. Even though Dad didn't even look at it, my resume was actually good. There weren't that many local teams, and I had to go far to find those two. If I wanted to look for another team, I'd have to leave town, maybe go to a different state. I wondered what Dad would do if I told him I would go that far to get what I wanted. Would he stop trying to get me to do what he wanted, then?

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"I'm not in the mood to talk to my dad at all, and I don't doubt he'd just lie if I asked about it. Or he might just admit to it and tell me to stop trying. I can't even tell which would be worse."

I let out a groan and leaned my head against the back of the couch. Technically, I had a job, since I'd been working as an agent the entire time, and it had been at Dad's insistence, but it wasn't like I got to do much, and I still got paid. I knew it was Dad's idea, but when I took the job, I thought it would just hold me over before I got a general manager position. Three years later, and I still didn't have the job I wanted.

"But if you can't talk to him, how can you know for sure?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense. Dad is pretty influential, you know? It seems like he's been throwing his weight around. I didn't realize his influence reached so far, but I'm not surprised, he's been in this field for years, after all. It's practically his whole life by this point. I just... don't want to deal with it today, so can we stop talking about it?"

It was only making my mood worse. If I could forget it all for today, I could try to fight Dad over it later, because there was no way I could just let this go. If I kept giving into what Dad wanted, then I wasn't really living for myself, was I? I was going along with his plans and ignoring my own. It was what I'd done up until now, but I was fed up with it already.

We sat in silence for a while, and I let my eyes slide closed. The music from the TV was the perfect background noise to stop the atmosphere from turning awkward.

I needed to think about what I was going to do now. I wasn't about to let Dad have his way, but I had to be smart. This was something I wanted, and I was going to do it no matter what. Looking for teams so far away I'd have to move would have to be a last resort and talking him into letting me do what I wanted obviously didn't help one bit, so I wasn't going to bother with that, either.

"Have you eaten?"

I blinked my eyes open and turned to Howard. "What?"

"Did you stop by somewhere to eat before you came home?"

I frowned. Howard wasn't always the most readable of men, but I could tell there was something he wasn't telling me. I started at him before I finally answered. "Uh, no. I didn't even have much for lunch, actually, just a hot dog to tide me over and some ice cream."

"That doesn't count for a meal, but that's good."

He rose from the couch and I watched him curiously.

"Why is that good?"

"I'll cook you a dinner to forget all about your bad day, then I'll run you a hot bath."

"You're staying?" I blurted out in surprise.

He grinned. "Of course. Or would you rather I go?"

"No, no," I said quickly. "Actually, that sounds like the perfect recipe to make me feel better. Thank you for doing this."

"No problem. Just sit back and I'll call you when I'm done."

"Okay..."

He headed for the kitchen, and I stared at his back. This wasn't the first time Howard had cooked for me, I'd cooked for him, too, the times I went to his apartment, and when he came to the house one time. It was, however, one of the times he didn't try to seduce me. When he found me in a mood unfit for company, we'd hang out for a bit, but go our separate ways for the night. He seemed to know when I needed space but seeing him bustling around in my kitchen making me dinner made me feel a little strange.

We... weren't dating. We met up, hooked up, and left things at that. Maybe I was imagining things, but that formula seemed to be changing recently, and Howard was the one doing all the changes. I wondered if something had happened.

I turned to the TV, turning the volume up a bit when a song I liked came on. I kept throwing glances at him, but with his back to me, I couldn't see what he was doing or making. Sometimes, he would move out of my sight, then move to the counter where I could see him through the open door.

"Do you need any help?" I called out.

He shot me a smile over his shoulder. "I told you already, didn't I? Just sit and wait, you'll know when I'm done."

I hadn't been in the mood to make dinner. I figured I'd just grab some fruit and a yogurt cup then go to sleep, but now that he was cooking for me, while it made me happy, it made me feel restless, too.

Then, my phone rang. My mood was good, so I took it out of my purse, but couldn't help frowning when I saw it was a call from Dad. I thought about ignoring him for about a second, since he was the reason for my earlier bad mood, but I decided to pick up the call.

"Is there something I can help you with, Dad?"

"No, Zoe. Sorry for calling this late, I just wanted to tell you something."

Like admit you cut off my chances to work on other football teams, I thought.

"It's not that late, Dad," I sighed. "What is it?"

"I have plans, so I'm going away for the weekend. I just wanted to let you know in case you wanted something. Don't wait up, okay? I don't want you to think I'm ignoring you or avoiding you or something, I'll be back home on Monday evening."

I wondered if he knew I'd had my interviews cancelled and would be looking to him for answers because I suspected he was behind it. Even though he said he wasn't, maybe he was running away to avoid me. Then what he said hit me, and I smiled.

"You'll be gone, for the whole weekend?"

There was a short pause. "You don't have to be so happy about that, Zoe. Do you not like your dad anymore?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing like that!" I dialed back on the enthusiasm, feeling my cheeks heat. "Thanks for telling me, Dad. I might look for you after you get back, but I hope you have a nice weekend."

He sighed. "It's mostly work, so I don't know about nice, but hopefully I come back with good news. I'll see you."

"Bye, Dad."

My earlier irritation at him died away completely. I loved him, but some time away would do us both good. It felt like my bad day had been turned into a good one. I didn't have to face Dad for a while, and I got to spend time with Howard.

If I asked Howard to stay over for the weekend, would he?