3 Straight by the Rules (16 page)

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Authors: Michelle Scott

Tags: #Fantasy

BOOK: 3 Straight by the Rules
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“Call your young man and make
him
deal with his mother,” William said.  “But
you
stay out of it.”

“I can’t do that.  Sorry.”

“You’re not one damn bit sorry,” he muttered.

Ah, William.  He knew me so well.

Chapter
Ten

I met my dad in the lobby of the Roma Café, a restaurant that lay like a forgotten jewel among the abandoned factories and vacant lots in the decaying heart of Detroit.  Both the menu and the décor of the Roma are firmly anchored in the 1970’s, so when I stepped inside the old building, a wave of nostalgia washed over me.

Even though the weather remained warm on this mid-August evening, my dad wore a lightweight suit with his Rotarian pin in the lapel, and a discreetly patterned tie.  Evelyn did all my dad’s shopping, but he wore clothing well.

When we were seated, I said, “I’ve been craving eggplant parmagiana since you called.”

“Good!”

Despite my dad’s apology over the phone, we remained awkward with each other.  He told me again how much he loved the tea I’d given him, and I filled him in on Jas’s job interviews, but soon the conversation lagged.  Finally, he brightened.  “Have I ever told you that the Roma is the oldest restaurant in Detroit?”

I smiled.  Every one of our birthday dinners had come with a history lesson about the restaurant.  “Once or twice.”

His shoulders slumped.  “I suppose I have.”  Until tonight, we’d never had a problem finding things to talk about, but by the time our salads were served, we’d lapsed into a strained silence.

I picked at my food, and my dad kept pulling at the sleeves of his suit coat.  Finally, I set down my fork and said, “Dad” at the same time he said, “Lilly”, and we both laughed.

“Ladies first,” he said.

I took a deep breath.  “You were right yesterday.  I haven’t been myself lately, but I’m trying very hard to improve.”

Instead of looking relieved, he frowned.  “Parents oftentimes don’t realize their children have grown up.  They want to see them as eight-years-old forever.”

An ironic statement considering he’d taken me to my favorite childhood restaurant.  “I’m not eight,” I said.  “Not even twenty-eight.”

He sighed.  “Your problems were so much easier to manage back then.  A dish of ice cream almost always made you smile.”

If only things had remained so simple.

Our main courses arrived.  I picked up my knife and fork and cut the parmagiana into tiny pieces without eating any of it.  My dad stared at his fettuccini.

Suspecting where his thoughts were going, I said, “You know I would never abandon Grace like Carrie did to me.”

“Of course I know that.”  My father pushed away his plate.  “But yesterday, when you were at our house, I saw how Tommy looked at you.”

“Which was how?” I asked, very carefully.

He loosened his tie and drank some water while he gathered his thoughts.  Finally, he said, “When I met Carrie, I had just passed the state bar and was working almost eighty hours a week at the firm.  I spent so much time in my office that I oftentimes slept on the couch, and I kept spare clothes and a shaving kit in my desk drawer.  But your mother changed all of that.”  He took off his glasses and cleaned them.  “Carrie
beguiled
me.  There’s no other way to describe it.  Everything about her was intoxicating.  For six weeks, I stopped working and nearly lost my job because I couldn’t bear to leave her side.”  He put his glasses back on.  “That’s how Tommy looked at you, Lilith.  Like you were the only thing in the entire world that mattered to him.”

“I’m not intentionally leading him on!”

“I’m glad to hear it.”  My father picked up his fork and poked at his dinner.  “I swore that your mother’s allure was supernatural, but now that you have the same magnetism, I’m not sure.”  He frowned.  “In any case, it’s brutal to those in its power.”

I had been very young when Carrie left my father, but I remembered his pain.  He’d never purposely showed his grief to me, but more than once, I’d heard him crying behind closed doors.

My father’s expression grew wistful.  “After Carrie left us, I lived for those times when she returned to see you.  Any attention I received from her kept me happy for days.  If she smiled at me, I was in heaven, and if she kissed my cheek…”  He put his hand to his face as if still feeling my mother’s lips there.  “But after I married Evelyn, I dreaded those visits.  I love Evelyn very much, yet when Carrie was around, I had a hard time remembering that.”

Poor Evelyn.  I’d always thought she’d hated my mother because Carrie had abandoned my dad and me, but now I realized there was more at stake.  Competing against a succubus must have been horrible.

“I never once cheated on my wife, of course,” my father said.  “Not physically at least.  But in my mind…”  He stopped talking, suddenly aware that he was saying too much.  I squirmed, willing away the vision of my buttoned-down father having the hots for my crazy, over-sexed mother.  “I prayed that Evelyn never noticed, but I’m sure she must have.”

I reached over and patted his hand.  “You don’t have to worry, though.  You’re a terrific husband.”

My dad smiled faintly.  He wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead with his napkin.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

He nodded.  “These past few days have stirred up a lot of emotion.  Evelyn had me clean out a closet last week, and I ran across this.”  From the inside pocket of his jacket, he removed a manila envelope and placed it on the table.  Written on the front were the words, ‘For Lilith’.  Even though I hadn’t seen my mother more than a dozen times over the course of my life, I immediately recognized her handwriting.

“Carrie asked me to keep this for you,” my dad said.  “She wanted you to have it when you were old enough.”

I picked up the envelope, not daring to open it.  “Did you look inside?”

He nodded.  “I apologize, but I did.”

I thought my heart would stop.  “And?”

“And it confirmed what I’d suspected all along.  Your mother was a troubled woman.”

“And by ‘troubled’ you mean?”

“Mentally ill.”

Mental illness would explain a lot of my mother’s strange behaviors.  In fact, if I hadn’t become a succubus and met Helen Spry, I might have reached the same conclusion.  However, knowing what I did made all the difference.

“You think I’m mentally ill, too, don’t you?”

He pressed his lips together, his eyes brimming with tears.  “Mental illness oftentimes runs in families, but there
are
treatments.”  He took my hand.  “And you know that Evelyn and I would help you in whatever way we can.”

I had to tell him my secret.  If I could convince him about the reality of succubi, I could ease his guilty mind about the infatuation he’d had with my mother.  Unfortunately, the news would stir up a whole new level of worry about me, but at least he’d know the truth.  I took a deep breath.  “Dad…”

Delilah appeared in the otherworld doorway across from our table and frantically waved her hands to get my attention.  I ignored her urgent plea.  It wouldn’t kill Helen to wait.  And if it did, I’d be the happiest succubus in the universe.

“Dad, this is going to sound unbelievable, but…”

Our waiter came by with the dessert tray, and my dad winked at me.  “Now that we’re both adults, we can have dessert even if we didn’t finish our dinners.”

Although my toes curled with impatience, I smiled and chose tiramisu.  I started my explanation a third time, but got distracted when Delilah continued to fuss at me from the otherworld.  She tapped her wristwatch and frowned.  I frowned back.  This was my birthday dinner, for crying out loud.

“Do you remember the first time you and I celebrated your birthday here?” my dad asked.

“No.”  I ordered my eyes to remain focused on his face, but they kept wanting to slide away to watch Delilah.

“You were four years old, and you were sitting in a booster seat.  It hadn’t been properly fastened to the chair, and you fell out.  You weren’t hurt, but you were furious.  When the waiter rushed over to see what had happened, you pointed at him and said, ‘My dad’s a lawyer, and he’s going to sue you for that!’  I think you had them worried because they paid for the meal.”  He laughed.  “When I heard you call me your father, it hit me: I now had a daughter.”  He reached across the table and squeezed my hand.  “I’m so proud of you, Lilith.”

“Don’t you dare make me cry,” I said.  But, of course, it was too late.  I used the napkin to blot my eyes, leaving smudges of mascara on the white linen.  My capricious, irresponsible mother had struck gold when she’d gone prospecting for a man to raise me.  I couldn’t have picked a better father for myself if I’d tried.

Although I hated to leave my dad, Delilah was still furiously attempting to get my attention.  Like it or not, I had to see what was up.

I pretended that my phone had buzzed.  “I have to go,” I said.  “Jas just texted me that Ariel threw up.”

“I understand,” my dad said, but his shoulders slumped in disappointment.  “Do you want your dessert?”

“Take it to Evelyn.  She’s a terrific woman and deserves something sweet.”

My dad smiled.  “She
is
a terrific woman.”

I stood up and gathered my purse. “Thanks again for dinner, Dad.”

“Before you go, you have to tell me where you bought that tea,” he said.  “I need to get more.”

“More?  But, I gave you nearly a pound of it!”

He laughed, embarrassed.  “I know, but I’m addicted to it.  I’ve always loved that blend.”

After years of struggling to find the perfect gift for my dad, I was delighted that I’d found something he really liked.  “I’ll get you more,” I promised.  I kissed his cheek, determined to bring him all the tea in Hell if it would make him happy.

 

“ I called for you fifteen minutes ago.”  Helen stood behind her desk.  Her eyes were hot.

She might have been angry, but so was I.  “I had to leave my birthday dinner with my father to come here.”

Helen glared at me.  “Well, isn’t that special?”  Horns had appeared above her eyebrows, and her face elongated.  In a moment, her hands would turn into claws.

I used my anger to boost my courage.  “How come there isn’t a single clock in Hell, yet you always demand that I keep to the minute?”

 “It’s in your contract, Lilith.  You are bound to come when I call you,” Helen snapped.  “Now, sit down.”

Though my knees trembled, I remained standing.  “Why?  Does the contract say I have to
sit
when you tell me to?”

Delilah’s wide eyes sent me a silent message:
Are you crazy? 
She had already taken a seat in front of Helen’s desk, and she jiggled her right foot so frantically that she jarred the little end table on which Helen’s precious piece of wood sat.

Helen’s hot eyes met mine.  “Fine.  Stand if you want.  I simply thought you’d be more comfortable seated.”

It was nice to know I didn’t have to comply with
every
she gave.  Still, fear made my knees so weak that the chair seemed like a good idea.  I sat very slowly, to show Helen that she wasn’t the boss of me.  Not entirely anyway.

Helen relaxed, and the horns retreated.  “Good.  I need to talk to you about the problems in our department.  Especially in regards to the party you recently attended.  Lilith, I’ve been told you tempted the wrong man.”

I glanced at Delilah, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes.  Apparently, she’d confessed.

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