Page 24 of Savior
“The kind a mother is entitled to ask, when her daughter has disappeared for years at a time, and changes her number so that she can’t be contacted.” Mrs. Vettriano jumps back up on her soap box. “Your father had to play detective to find you at that grimy bar.” Her hand flies to her mouth, the way Vanna’s does when she thinks she’s said too much. “I’m sorry, Dean… I’m just a little upset.”
“Mrs. Vettriano, I’m so far beyond giving a shit what you people think of me, by all means, let it rip.”
“Dean!” Vanna scolds me, as Giuliana stifles a laugh.
“Alright. Alright.” I let out a sigh of my own. “I apologize. And I accept your apology as well.”
“How did you find the bar, anyway?” Vanna quickly asks.
“I called your local police station. An officer Caldwell gave me the number to the bar.” Her father explains. “He wouldn’t give me your home address or number. So, I looked up the address of the… Roadhouse.”
I’ll be damn sure to thank Jason for this one next time I see him. When I excuse myself to the bathroom for a brief reprieve from their company, I twist the door knob on Vanna’s witch room, pushing the door open a few inches as I pass.
If Nico wants to join the party, he’s got my fucking blessing.
The next two hours tick by excruciatingly slow, but at least they pass civilly. When Vanna’s father mentions heading back to the hotel to relax a bit before their drive back to New York, I’m tempted to jump up from the dining room table and yank the front door open for them. Before I get the chance, he asks for a private moment of my time, out on the front porch. Of course, I oblige him.
We end up standing in another bout of awkward silence, as I watch him take in the front yard, the farm stand and land beyond. Vanna’s former rental house, beyond that.
“Is that the house?” he asks.
“It is.”
“I recognize it from a few of the news articles.”
I don’t respond.
“Is that how you met? As neighbors?”
“No.” I reply, but he doesn’t need to know how we officially met. “She came to my bar looking for weekend work. I gave it to her.”
“That was good of you.”
I don’t respond to that, either.
“Those girls down there…” he shifts towards the farm stand down the hill, where Jessica and Veronica are outside, banging out welcome mats and washing the small windows on the little barn we sell produce out of.
“Employees.”
He chuckles, giving me a look I really don’t appreciate.
“Something you’d like to say about them?” I press him.
“You manage to surround yourself with a lot of women.”
“I like women.”
“Giovanna’s alright with that?” he looks at me suspiciously. “You know, she was raised in a traditional home-”
“Vanna has nothing to worry about. Those girls down there, are my MC brothers’ niece and granddaughter. They’re untouchable. Not to mention, barely legal. The women in my roadhouse, either belong to one of my brothers’, or are trying to land one of them. I’m not interested in anyone but Vanna. This may come as a shock to you, seeing as how you clearly have a few preconceived ideas about me, but I’m fucking traditional where it counts, with your daughter.”
He stares back at me for a few moments, before he speaks again. “We got off on the wrong foot. And before you remind me that I’m once again, apologizing to the wrong person, just shut up and listen for a minute, son.”
Son?
“We aren’t there yet, Pops.” I warn him.
He actually chuckles. “You’re right. Don’t call me Pops yet, either.”
