A Father's Name(40)
“Pops, I—”
He cut her off. “I know what this is, and it’s my fault.”
“What what is, and how is it your fault?”
“After you got pregnant with Bart I lectured you about responsibility, about standing on your own two feet. I still stand by that, and you’ve more than proven that you can do it all, but just like with Bart, you can ask for help, Angel. More than that, you can accept help. You can share this workload.” He ran his fingers through his thinning, grey hair. “Hell, you can share your life with someone else. I worry I made you think relying on someone else somehow lets me down.”
Was it her imagination or was it thinner? His face showed signs of aging—lines she didn’t recall him having a year ago. That couldn’t do his heart and his health any good. “Pops, you’re wrong. I know how to rely on people. As a matter of fact, I’ve never done anything on my own. Like you said, I’ve had you, the guys. Every single one of them. Look how they’re all pitching in with Jace.”
If her father has been frowning before, he was practically scowling now. “About that.”
Tucker’s worries took a backseat as she sensed a lecture coming on. She felt her hackles rise, even before he said another word. She tried to tamp it down for her father’s sake.
Her father ignored it. “Are you sure you haven’t taken on too much by caring for a baby on top of everything else you do…?.”
“Pops, I’m enjoying Jace. And you know it’s not only me. You’ve come over every afternoon to watch your soap and listen for him while he naps.”
“I don’t watch soaps,” he protested, then added, “and that’s different. I’m retired. I can play surrogate grandpa if I want. You’re too busy. I thought babysitting might remind you there’s more than the garage. I thought it was short term. I wanted you to find a life, not take on more work.”
“Pops, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t tell me to let other people in, then tell me I don’t have time for it. And Pops,” she added gently, “this isn’t up for debate. In the fall, it will be a lot easier to find an appropriate sitter. We’ve got some feelers out. Eli is talking to Mrs. Keller and she knows absolutely everyone in Whedon. This isn’t permanent. But I’m not going to let Tyler dump Jace with someone because it’s timely or convenient.”
“You have a say in something like that? About who Tyler leaves the baby with?” her father asked. “What is going on with you and Tyler?”
“We’re friends.” He eyed her in his very discerning fatherly way. “Friends, Pops. But I like Jace as much as you do. I heard you talking to him the other day about going fishing, then I caught you in the shed. I’m betting that bag I saw you carry out had Bart’s old kiddie fishing pole, didn’t it?”
“Maybe, but be that as it may, I’m going to tell you now, Angel, that when I hired Tyler, it wasn’t with the idea of him dating my daughter in mind. He’s a great guy, and I believe in second chances…”
“It’s okay to have him work here, but not to date me?”
Rather than look chagrined at the hypocrisy, her father nodded. “That’s absolutely right. I don’t want you and him dating.”
“You don’t think I’m old enough to decide who I want to date?” Before he could answer that question, she asked, “And how did we move from me bringing in a partner, to me spending time babysitting Jace as a favor to a friend, to my fictional dating of Tyler Martinez? He asked me out a ton in the past and I’ve always said no, so why do you think that would change now? And to be clear, he hasn’t asked me out since he started working here.”
“I’ve seen how you look at him, and how he looks at you. There’s something there. There was something there a couple years ago. When I asked you why you said no, you said he was a charmer who wears business suits, as if that were an answer. Well, daughter, he’s not wearing business suits now.” He nodded his head for emphasis.
Tucker knew that her father was here because he loved her, because he worried about her. But that was the last thing he should be doing. He didn’t need the stress. “Pops, I love you, and I love that you care, but I’ve long since stopped needing your dating advice. And to be clear, I’m not dating Tyler.”
“Not officially dating him, but you two are together a lot. And I’ve only commented on your dating one other time—that was with Bart’s father. We know how that turned out.”