Page 29 of Maverick
Dad shook his head. “Never seen her until now, sneaking into my house at three in the morning.”
I covered my mouth with my hand as I couldn’t hold the sobs back.He didn’t know who I was.
“Oh, um, my bad, I guess.” Mav squeezed my hand. “This is Kat, my girlfriend. We partied a little too hard tonight, you know how that goes.”
Dad laughed and nodded. “Yeah, I remember those days. But since when do you have a girlfriend? I’ve never seen you with a woman before. Other than the whores, of course.”
Mav coughed. “Kat’s from out of town. We were doing the long-distance thing, but she couldn’t keep away from me any longer and came for a visit. Only, she’s not too fond of the ladies at the clubhouse, if you know what I mean.”
Dad laughed, lowering the gun and holding it crossways so that it no longer pointed at us. “Not too many women would be okay with that.”
Mav nodded. “Exactly, Larry. That’s why I thought she could stay here during her visit. I know you’ve got some extra rooms, and I’ll pay of course.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed. “I understand your dilemma, son, but I don’t know about having a stranger in my home. I’m used to being on my own.”
“I totally understand that. I would, of course, stay with her.”
My sob caught in my throat. What the hell did he say?
“Well…” My dad’s head cocked to the side. “It’s about time you settled down. I’d hate for her to leave on account of you living in a whorehouse when I got the space available.”
“Appreciate it, man.” Mav walked forward with his hand out, and Dad shook it. With his left hand, Mav grabbed the rifle. “And I’ll take old Remy here and put it away for you. I hate that we got you out of bed. I meant to ask you sooner, I just got too caught up in my woman here.”
Dad yawned and nodded. “I can see why. She is beautiful. Woulda been a shame to shoot her.”
Mav patted Dad on the shoulder. “You head on back before Noodle wakes up. None of us will get any sleep if that happens.”
Dad chuckled and turned around. “You got that right. Night, Mav. Night, Kat. See you two lovebirds in the morning.”
Dad walked down the hallway back to his room. As soon as we heard the door close, Mav whirled around.
“Fuck, Kitty Kat. I think you need to move up that doctor’s appointment.”
19
Maverick
Kat collapsed into a chair at the kitchen table, burying her head in her hands. Her shoulders shook, and my heart broke for her.
“Oh baby, don’t cry.” I laid the rifle on the table and pulled out the chair next to her, gathering her into my arms. “It’s okay, it’s over. Everything’s okay.”
She sniffled and turned to me, her eyes forlorn. “How is anything okay? He didn’t know who I was—his own daughter. He wanted to shoot me! Nothing about this is okay.”
“He wouldn’t have shot you.”
“You don’t know that! You didn’t see his face. He was counting to three. If you hadn’t stepped in when you did…” Her breath quivered as she held back another sob.
“The safety was on.”
“What?”
“The safety was on. If he was going to shoot you, he’d have taken that off before he started counting. Most likely he wanted to scare you.”
“Right. Because he had no idea who I was.” Another tear fell down her cheek. “But he knew you. Why did he know you, but not me?”
“Because he’s more used to me being around? Maybe it’s some kind of short-term versus long-term memory thing? I don’t know, I’m not a doctor.” It was fucked up, but I’d seen the man a couple times a week for years.
“Well, if you two are so close—” her eyes narrowed— “then why didn’t you tell him I was his daughter? Why make up this whole girlfriend business?”
