the pregnancy test,” he said. There was no subtle way to do this.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She started to get up.
“Sit, Ken. I need to know. Was the test positive?”
“You saw the stick,” she said, her hostility simmering. “Don’t you know?”
“Thea said the results are inaccurate if it’s been sitting for more than twenty minutes.”
She’d known right off the top of her head what the stick was and how to interpret it. Along with the rules that would affect the damn plus or minus sign. He’d had no idea. It must be a female thing.
“Look, Dad, I really don’t want to talk to you about this.”
“Believe me, I don’t like this any better than you. But I need to know if you’re pregnant or not.”
Her cheeks turned pink, and she stared down at her plate. “Not.”
The weight he’d felt on his shoulders lifted and inside he was pumping his arm and hollering hallelujah with an exclamation point. Outside, he struggled not to react at all.
“Okay. That’s good.” Now part two of the conversation that was every father’s worst nightmare. This was even worse than the birds and the bees talk that had led to an explanation of menstruation. At times like this, he was still angry as hell at his ex-wife for walking out. The hurt had disappeared long ago. But the resentment…he would carry that scar forever.
“The thing is, Ken, I’d have to be an idiot not to know you’ve had sex.”
She looked at the table, refusing to meet his gaze. “I so don’t want to talk to you about this. If you’re going to force me to stay, can you just give me the Cliff’s Notes on this lecture?”
“I’m not going to lecture,” he said. “This is a dialogue.”
“Meaning I have to talk?”
“That would make it less like a lecture,” he pointed out. “Let me start by asking how you felt when you did the test.”
She looked as if she wouldn’t answer, then let out a sigh as she glanced up. “Scared,” she admitted.
“I bet. Believe me, I understand. But you dodged a bullet. You get another chance to get it right. By ‘it,’ I mean birth control.”
“I don’t need another chance.”
“If you think you’re immune from the consequences of unprotected sex, I’ve got news for you—”
“I know, Dad. I got the message when my period was late.”
“Then are we talking abstinence here?” he asked, his inner parent doing the dance of joy.
“Yes. I don’t ever want to do ‘it’ again.” Her eyes filled with tears.
He reached out and covered her hand with his own. It pleased him when she didn’t pull away because he couldn’t stand seeing her cry. Everything in him wanted to fix it—like he’d always done when she was a little girl. “What is it, Ken?”
“He was a creep. I can’t believe I was so stupid.”
“What?”
“In health class, the book said to use a condom because it’s not only about not getting pregnant. I asked him to, but he said it doesn’t feel as good. He said if I loved him I’d—” She met his gaze and said, “You know.”
Yeah, he knew. Damn it all to hell, he knew. He tamped down the urge to put his fist through the wall. “So you did?”
She nodded, rubbing at a spot on the wood table with her thumb when she couldn’t meet his gaze. “Then he dumped me. He went back to his girlfriend.”
“Son of a bitch—” Anger swelled like a mushroom cloud inside him. “Who is he? Josh Hammond?”
“No. We broke up a long time ago. You don’t know the guy.”
“How can I not know him? I always screen your dates.”
“Not always,” she said.
He didn’t have the reserves to deal with what he didn’t know about his daughter. “I’ll tear him apart. What’s his name?”
“No way. I’m not telling you,” she said, horrified. “I’d die. I’d have to go into the Witness Protection Program or something.”
He blew out a long breath. “Okay. No names. For now. But you can’t blame me for wanting to beat the crap out of him.”
“I don’t. But here’s the thing, Dad. After I knew I wasn’t pregnant, what bothered me most was how stupid I’d been. How I’d misjudged him.”
“Don’t feel like The Lone Ranger. I think that happens to everyone when a relationship goes south.”
“Like you and Mom?”
He’d felt betrayed for putting everything he had into making it work when she couldn’t have cared less. After that, relationship abstinence looked pretty good. And still did.
“Yeah, like me and your mom.”
Kendra shook her head as if she still didn’t understand. “But I’ve known this guy since kindergarten. How could I have been so wrong? Worse, how can I trust my judgment ever again? How can I go to UCLA, which is like a small city, and tell the good guys from the bad ones?”
Scott felt the Aha! light come on. On top of what Thea had said about leaving the familiar behind, this was part of his daughter’s problem with going away to school.
“You don’t have to know,” he said. “Don’t trust any guy. And above all, don’t sleep with any of them.”
One corner of her mouth quirked up. “That doesn’t help.”
“It’s good advice. Haven’t you ever heard the only man a girl can trust is her dad?” He grinned. “Seriously, Ken, I’ve said this before. You shouldn’t be—”
“Intimate until I’m in love or think I am,” she quoted in a singsong voice. Who knew she’d been paying attention? “The problem is, I thought we were in love. I didn’t know he wasn’t.” He opened his mouth to say something and she held up her hand. “Don’t worry. The false alarm scared me. I’m never sleeping with a guy again.”
He could tell her that in time she’d meet a nice guy who would appreciate the truly remarkable person she was. He could say that when she grew up, it would be easier to tell nice guys from the ones who were only after one thing. He could advise her not to judge all men by the one idiot. But he was a father, so he didn’t.
He patted her hand and said, “My work here is done.”
“Yeah, Dad,” she said, and rolled her eyes. But she was smiling.
