Blake
Blake took a deep breath, popping open the bag of Cheetos and handing it to her dad as she sat down across from him.
Despite how many times she'd come here, the exercises Dr. Cardaso had helped her through, And the way she was trying to keep her breathing even, Blake found her throat tight as she gazed at her father.
He smiled at her across the table, skin crinkling at the corners of his lips and eyes.
Those eyes told her how much he loved her; how proud of her he was. So much so that Blake didn't know if she would be able to say what she'd come here to talk about with him.
After their last conversation, she tried to " take more time for herself" as he'd asked, even if she was ignoring his objections to what she should do about the money.
She needed to talk with him, though. She couldn't open up to Liam about her dad without doing the same to her dad about Liam and everything she was going through.
"You don't look so good, kiddo," he said after smiling at her for a moment, "I would ask if you were alright, but..."
One Blake tried to force a smile out of habit, her dad just arched an eyebrow.
"What's eating you? Aside from what we talked about last time."
Remembering that last discussion made Blake's heart hurt. It must have shown on her face, because her father frowned.
"It's some of that," she admitted.
He gazed at her for a moment, expression unreadable, then relax back into his chair, "I know I maybe could have worded things better, but I'm not going to take back what I said."
He raised his hands, gesturing to the room around him, "I'm not going anywhere, Blake. I just want to make sure that doesn't prevent you from going wherever you want. I know you don't like coming here—this area, not here to see me—you don't really have any connections other than your grandparents and I, so there's no reason for you to feel like you need to be attached to this place."
He smiled, eyes crinkling again as he looked at her, "You're special, and I know that you're going to do big things. Bigger than me or your mom. And as much as I love seeing you, I love getting calls from you or your grandparents where I get to hear about the incredible life that you're having and all the new people in it."
Blake couldn't help the way her throat caught at those words. Or the way her eyes grew hot.
Her dad frowned, leaning forward, "Blake, what—"
"I'm fine. As fine as I can be. The new people in my life or actually what I wanted to talk to you about. To fully explain things, though—to make sure you know how great they are—I have to tell you some things you might not want to hear. As a dad."
She let that hang in the air as he gazed at her, eyes keen.
"Well, I've heard a lot of things I haven't wanted to hear in general over the past few years. None of them were important to you, though, so lay it on me."
Blake gave him a tight smile, then took a deep breath.
Am I really about to do this?
She bit her lip, looking around to make sure no one else could hear, then leaned in and took another deep breath to force them out.
"I'm an...online entertainer."
Blake braced herself for her dad's reaction, cheeks blazing. She watched, every muscle in her body tense, as he blinked, frowned, then cocked his head arching an eyebrow. Color bloomed in his cheeks, too.
When he spoke, his words came out slowly.
"I'm guessing that's code for how some women prefer to be called dancers?"
Blake swallowed, and nodded, trying not to shrink in on herself as she went through what she'd prepared.
"I make good money doing it, and it allows me a lot more time to study and justice relax and spend time with people than any other job would. It's allowed me to start paying off some of my loans before I'm required to and the interest starts, and I'm also not limited to broke college student meals."
Silence stretched for a while after that. Her father's expression didn't give anything away, and Blake itched to keep talking period to try and convince him that this didn't have any reflection on him or that she was still his little girl—his kiddo—but she knew that wouldn't help. She had said what she needed, and just needed to let him react.
"Are you happy?"
Blake blinked, "What?"
Her father took a deep breath and smiled at her, "Are you happy? I know you just gave me your little spiel about the positive things about it, but are you happy doing it? And safe?"
Blake nodded, allowing herself to smile just a little, "Yeah. It's still a job, so people are still dicks sometimes, but I'd get that anywhere that I had to deal with coworkers or customers. Most of what I do is honestly just talking to people. And I have a friend who's been doing this longer than I have that helps me make sure I'm keeping myself safe and setting boundaries and not get taken advantage of by any companies or anything like that. I'm still getting my degree in computer science, and actually working on something that will help make this job easier—for me and other people I can market to. But, yes... I'm happy."
Her dad nodded, taking a deep breath, then finally smiled, and something in Blake shifted. It was all she could do to keep herself from sobbing with relief.
"Then I'm happy for you too, kiddo. I can't say it was the first career choice I imagined for you, But I guess setting your own hours probably works pretty well with the college schedule."
Blake cracked a smile at that, "It keeps me away from frat parties, too. And I've learned way more about taxes than I'd ever thought I would need to."
Her dad actually laughed at that, and Blake laughed in return, wishing so dearly that she could run around the table and hug him and never let go.
Hold back the tears those thoughts threatened to bring forth, though, and held her dad's gaze, " you're seriously okay with this? Not disappointed in me."
"Those are two different questions, but I could never be disappointed in you, kiddo."
He grinned gesturing around the room again, "Given where we're sitting, I would be a bit of a hypocrite, since you're not doing anything illegal."
Blake forced to smile. This wasn't the time to bring her up again.
"I'll probably still need to process things for a while before I'm entirely okay with it, but... I'd rather you be doing something that gives you some independence and happiness then seeing you stuck in a cubicle slaving away for 8 hours or more every day."
Blake's voice finally broke, "Thank you, Dad. Thank you."
"Of course, Kiddo. What's that got to do with the new people in your life, though? Is it that friend who helps you out?"
Blake frowned at that, then blinked, " oh. No—Chloe is really great, but she's not who I wanted to talk about."
She swallowed, cheeks growing hot again, "I—I have a boyfriend."
He arched an eyebrow, "From college, I hope?"
"Yes. Not Jamie. That's never happening again."
Her father nodded, " good. How does this tie into what you just told me, though?"
Took a deep breath, then told her father about Liam. She knew she had limited time, so she kept it as brief as possible, leaving out the bed that Liam had recognized her at first, and going a bit soft on some of the details that had to do with exactly how she'd made sure he would be okay with dating someone in her profession. But she told him about how William had been Mary's boyfriend, and how the strain on her and Marie because of what she did had meant Liam found out about her. How they've been friends first, and she'd fallen head over heels for him. How he looked out for her when someone else had recognized her, and how she might have overreacted to that.
When she was done—leaving out the most recent details—her dad smiled at her.
"He sounds great, kiddo. I'm happy for you, and I hope I'll get to meet him someday. But, why did you wait until now? Why didn't you tell me about him before?"
Blake swallowed, "Because I haven't told him about you yet. Telling him about mom took a while, and was terrifying. I know I must seem awful for not having told him about you, but it's not because I'm ashamed that you're in prison. I just..."
She took a deep breath. Dr. Cardaso had already been over this with her, but Blake needed to hear this from her father.
"He already deals with what's probably a huge red flag for most guys, considering what I do. Having a dead mom that I...had issues with is just piling on top of that, and even though I know you don't belong here, I'm still afraid that 'dad in jail' will finally set off the alarm bells in his head and it will be over."
Blake sniffed, and realized that her eyes were hot, throat tight. She wanted to reach out and hug her dad so badly, " does that make me a terrible daughter?"
Her dad's eyes shone with concern as he shook his head, "Blake, no. No, of course it doesn't. Oh, Kiddo—I..."
He took a deep breath, "I don't want to have a discussion about this now, but you have every right to be ashamed of me. I'm ashamed of what I did, so you definitely should be."
Blake tensed, "You—"
He held up a finger and gave her that Authoritative "Dad" look that he'd rarely had to use with her. It had been so long since she'd seen that, that Blake almost laughed.
"I told you I don't want to have a discussion about that now, so we're not," he said firmly, " but I don't want you to be afraid of telling your boyfriend about me. From everything you've told me, he doesn't seem like the type of person that would run from that. You don't need to make a point of defending me from him, though. Me or my reputation. Just like you didn't need to defend me from that family, but you did it anyway."
"You're my dad. Of course I did."
She almost said more, but knew that would have led to the discussion he didn't want to have.
"I'm afraid I screwed things up with him, though. By not opening up and talking about you and the house and the other things I'm dealing with. We had a fight, and I'm the one that told him to fuck off, but we haven't spoken since. And I'm scared he won't answer if I call."
"Blake," her dad said, voice low as he leaned toward her, "If he doesn't give you the time of day after one little fight, or tries to hold it over your head, then he's not worth your time."
He held her gaze for a moment, then leaned back, "From what you told me, though. That's not the case."
Blakes swallowed, allowing herself a hint of a smile, "You think so?"
He arched an eyebrow, "Has he told you he loves you yet?"
Blake blinked, sitting up straight, "What? No. Did I say he did? I don't know if he does. I hope—but I don't..."
Blake's father leaned in and reached across the table, squeezing her hand for a fraction of a second and breaking the no-touching rule. He withdrew his hand before one of the guards could see or call him out on it.
"From what you've told me about Liam, he's head over heels in love with you, even if he hasn't said it yet."
He shot her a knowing smile, "And I'm thinking you feel the same way about him."
Blake's cheeks lit up, and this time, she couldn't help the tears as she smiled so broad her cheeks started to hurt.
Her dad laughed, and as much as she wanted to get the most out of every minute of the time she had with him and tell him all the things she wanted to tell him about her wonderful boyfriend, Blake couldn't wait until she had the chance to call Liam.
A/N: What do you think? Is Blake's dad right about her and Liam? Do you think she made the right call telling him?
Also, just wanted to apologize again for the hiatus, dudes. We're back from break in just a few chapters, and you should be getting a great lead-up to Christmas. I hope you dudes all have an amazing holiday (whether it be away from, or with your family), and thank you for reading (especially if you've kept with me this far). You dudes are amazing!
And don't forget about that you can read ahead or read other stories of mine by visiting my Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/taylorstorms)