When did men get so disgusting? Ugh. I had clearly been out of the dating game for too long. Or maybe I was just too old. I never felt like that was the case, but at thirty-nine, I had less patience for bullshit than I did a decade or two ago.
I decided to dive into Book Boyfriends Wanted again. I joined forever ago, but I hadn’t had much luck, so most of the time I forgot about it. But with my dad’s visit getting closer every day, and only two more days before he arrived, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and take Piper’s advice.
Holy shit, did I regret that decision.
Two men introduced themselves by describing their dicks. In detail. Then telling me what they wanted to do to me. Ew. I mean, if we were in a relationship and they were telling me that, then hot, but they were strangers.
Shit. I hoped they were strangers. If they weren’t, I was never going to be able to look at them again. I really hoped I never found out.
Those men were why I hadn’t dated in years. Nate Catalan was why I didn’t date much at all, but when I was willing to try, it was the creeps that sent me back to my job and my friends and my quiet life.
I flipped through a few more replies and told myself not all men were disgusting jerks, even though I had very little proof of that. Thankfully, there was a new one who sounded less like an asshole and more like someone I might be able to talk to.
And his name intrigued me.
Okay, so maybe my screen name invited the weirdos who thought it was meant to be a pun, but it wasn’t. I thought it was funny when I came up with it.
Apparently Gioioso got it.
The message was from two days ago, which wasn’t too bad for me. I usually forgot all about Book Boyfriends Wanted and the guys who reached out on it.
I chuckled as I typed. I loved that joke. Really, I loved any corny joke, and I loved reading, so combining the two together had me laughing every time.
I went to close the app and saw three bubbles, like he was messaging me back. I debated closing the app really quickly, avoiding getting caught in a conversation with a stranger, but I was curious about what he was going to say.
I laughed out loud. He was funny. And a little charming.
Which equated to dangerous.
He wasn’t wrong. I had one tattoo. The one I got after Nate. To remind myself of exactly who I was.
The screen went dark, then flashed with an incoming call. It scared me, and I almost dropped my phone. Especially when I saw it was my dad calling.
“Hi, Dad,” I said, answering the phone.
“Sofia! Good, you’re home.”
He always assumed I was home if I answered the phone. “I am, yes.”
“Can you come let me in?”
“What? I thought you were going to be here Sunday?”
“I decided to come a little early. I wanted to see you.”
I looked around my apartment. I was not ready. Sure, my apartment was clean. It was picked up. I had sheets I could throw on the bed and plenty of food in the kitchen. But I wasn’t ready.
“Are you there?” Dad asked, his voice loud like he’d spoken a few times and I’d missed it.
“Yeah. Sorry, Dad. I just… was surprised. I’ll be right there.”
“Good.” He hung up.
I stared at my phone as it returned to the app. A new message was there from Gioioso.
I sighed. He sounded like a man who’d never had to face the ugly realities of life. I love the sentiment, but it wasn’t always reality.
Like at the moment. My dad was the life of the party. He was outgoing and talkative. He never saw anyone as bad, even when they showed him they were. He only wanted to have fun.
His introverted daughter was a struggle. When I had to join him on tour, he didn’t know what to do with me. When I got mad because he didn’t kick Nate off the tour, he didn’t know what to do with me. He never knew what to do with me.
Which was why we weren’t close.
But he was outside. Waiting for me to let him in.
Shit.
I closed the app before he could reply and make me want to ignore my dad and talk to the funny, friendly man I didn’t know instead of the one I did know.
I propped my door open and went to the front. I pushed the security door open, letting my dad in with a huff like he was put out for having to stand outside for a few minutes after showing up two days early.
“I couldn’t do that all the time. If there’s a locked door, there should be a person there to let you inside instead of leaving you out in the elements.”
It was seventy-eight and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky.
“Uh huh,” I said instead of replying.
“Do you have someone who can get my stuff?”
“I’ll get it. Where’s your car?”
“Don’t you have a person?”
I sighed. He knew I didn’t have a person. I was the person. We already went over this. “No, I don’t. I can get your stuff if you’ll tell me what you drive.”
He waved his hand and led the way to a sleek black sedan parked at the curb. The car beeped as he approached, then the trunk lifted on its own. A matching set of luggage was stacked in the trunk. “There’s more in the backseat, too.”
I swallowed my groan. The man did not pack light.
I lifted the suitcases out of the trunk. God forbid he risked damaging his hands. That was how he made his money. He told me that more times than I could count, and I could count pretty damn high.
When I had everything on the sidewalk, I looked over at him. He had one bag thrown over his shoulder, a briefcase in his hand, and three bags next to the car.
“Can you get some of these?” I asked, grabbing the handles of two of the suitcases.
“I’ll wait for you to take those in and come back. I don’t want to risk someone walking away with anything.” He glanced up and down the vacant street like criminals were waiting for him to look away before they rushed his precious cargo.
I nodded, ignoring the dig on the place I chose to live, and wheeled the first two suitcases inside. I rolled my eyes at the logo on the suitcases and resisted the urge to drag one of them against the wall or let the door close on it.
With the first two in the room he would be staying in, I went back out to the car. He watched a young couple approaching like they were a threat.
I lifted my hand and waved to them. They smiled and waved back, casting a side-eye at my dad.
“You ready to go inside?” I asked him, drawing his attention from the dangerous threat of locals.
“Yeah.” He grabbed the handle of one suitcase, leaving me with two more suitcases and a duffle bag. “I don’t know how you live here.”
I swallowed my retort and led the way to the door. He locked the expensive car, making sure it beeped more than once, then followed me inside the building.
I’d left my apartment door open, and as soon as he saw it, he gasped.
“Someone’s in there. We need to call the police. Are there police here?”
“No one’s in there. I left it open.”
“Why would you do that? Someone could walk right in.”
“Things like that don’t happen here. It’s a secure building, and everyone knows everyone. It’s safe.”
He cast a skeptical look my way, hanging back while I walked into my apartment. When I didn’t cry out in pain from an attack, he followed me.
“Is this the room you have for me?” he asked when he made it to the bedroom I was putting his stuff in.
I nodded. “Yep. It’s private. You have your own bathroom. The curtains are blackout so you can sleep whenever you want.”
“It’s… tiny.”
Deep breaths. “Yes, it’s small. But it’s all I have. You’re welcome to stay at the local inn—”
“An Inn?”
“If they have space. The closest hotel with a suite and the accommodations you’re used to is two hours from here.”
He looked around the room with a pinched expression.
It took everything in me to not apologize. I was a people pleaser. I liked to be liked. And he was my father. Of all the people in the world for me to want the approval of, he was it. He was the one I craved it from.
I hated that I did, but I did. I always had. From the moment I found out he was my father, I wanted him to like me. To be proud of me and think I was a good person.
Not that his standards and mine were the same. I learned that in a hurry. But there was something about wanting your parent to approve of your life choices. I didn’t know anyone who didn’t feel the same.
“It’s not forever. I will deal with it,” he finally said.
I released my suspended breath and forced a smile. “Great. I’ll leave you to get settled. The dressers and closet are empty. The bathroom has a few things under the sink for when I have guests, but it should be enough space for what you need.” I glanced at his luggage and knew my entire apartment wouldn’t fit all of his stuff. Not even close.
“I have someone coming to do that for me.”
“You what?”
He shrugged. “I hired a personal assistant for when I’m here. Someone who will get my things settled in and make sure I have someplace to eat the kind of food I like.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Why would I joke about that?”
I sighed. He had no idea how the rest of the world worked. “Okay. Well, then, is there anything you want to do?”
“Here?”
Why did I agree to let him stay with me? To let him visit? I didn’t know what I was thinking. Five damn minutes and I was ready to choke him.
And I couldn’t even say I was surprised by it. He was always a pompous ass who thought the entire world revolved around him.
“If there’s somewhere else you’d like to go, you are welcome to do that as well.”
“You’re not coming with me?”
“Dad, I didn’t know you were coming today. You told me Sunday. It’s Friday afternoon. I still have work to do today. I have an apartment I need to check in on and some building maintenance to do.”
“Oh. You’re busy. I didn’t realize I was going to be an inconvenience.”
I let out a slow breath. I’d forgotten how good he was at taking me on a guilt trip. It was either that or a tour. We never went on any vacations or did anything fun. Just tours and guilt trips.
“I need to get my work done. We can grab something to eat later tonight and you can tell me what’s going on. Does that work for you?”
He nodded. “It’s going to have to.”
“Yes, it is. Good to see you, Dad. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Have fun. I’ll just be sitting here.”
I was not going to fall for it. I was not going to blow off my day and change my plans just because he changed his without telling me. I would feel sick all day because of it, but he needed to learn to respect me one day.
Even if it killed me to force it.
