Losing to Win (Clearwater) Read Online Free Page B

edge of sadness
in his voice. She was accustomed to hearing him miss her. He had been away most
of her life with deployments and training. He had been a good father, better
than her mother was a mother, even if he had been absent a lot. “Sure, Dad. I
look forward to seeing you…but are you sure everything is okay?”
    Rebecca heard commotion in the
background and her father speaking to someone else. “Okay, I’ll be right
there.” There was a long pause of silence before he returned to their
conversation. “I just want to see you, but Becca I have to go now. I’ll see you
tomorrow. I love you.”
    “Love you too, Dad.” She ended
the call and snatched the pen out of her hair to make a list. First, was a
spring clean of her apartment, especially the guest bedroom. She tapped the pen
on the counter, her mind more on her father than the list. There was something
in her father’s words, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. He wasn’t just
missing her, he was hiding something.

 
    Chapter Four
     
    Rebecca glanced around the
apartment again, checking to make sure everything was in order. It had been
nearly eight month since she saw her father, and even longer since she saw her
mother. Clearwater allowed Rebecca to keep her distance from the problems her
mother created, but she hated the distance it caused in her relationship with
her father.
    The clock struck two and a
knock sounded against the thick wood door of her two-bedroom apartment. She
timidly stepped to the door, her heart beating frantically in her ears. Taking
a deep breath, she turned the handle.
    Even nearing fifty, her father
was toned. His years in the Navy had instilled good values. To this day he
worked out at the gym three times a week, and every morning, rain or shine, he
went for a two mile run. Rebecca envied his dedication.
    His hair had grown out a
little from the crew cut he normally sported. The only sign that showed his age
was the hit of grey showing around his temples. The deep brown tan, from hours
in the sun, reminded her proudly of the job he took after leaving the military.
Instead of deployments and training, he was now an architect, designing and
building homes for military men and women who were injured as a result of their
service.
    He dropped his small, black
duffle bag. It hit her floor with a thump.
    “Dad.” She smiled as he
extended his arms wide. He wrapped his arms around her, filling her lonesome
heart with love. Clearwater had become her home and she had made many friends,
but without any family around, she was lost and alone. Her father’s hug drained
away the loneliness and doubts.
    “Becca, I’ve missed you.”
    She wanted to remain in the
comfort of her father’s arms, but finally stepped aside to allow him inside her
apartment. “Come in. You’ve had a long journey. Do you want to rest for a bit
before we go for lunch?” Once the words were spoken she realized how stupid
they sounded. Her father had never taken a nap in all the years she’d known
him, no matter how long he had been awaken. He just couldn’t sleep in the
afternoon.
    He shoved his bag with his
foot before stepping into her apartment, and shutting the door. “I’m fine. The
drive was good. I left Denver before rush hour traffic. I’m hungry. How about
we have lunch in Jackson Hole? I heard there’s a delicious Italian restaurant
there, and I know how much you love Italian.”
    “Sure. Let me grab my purse.
If you want to put your bag in the guest room, it’s the first door on the
right.” She nodded toward the hall leading from the great room.
    “Thanks,” he said.
    Collecting her purse from the
kitchen, she slipped it over her shoulder and tucked her cell phone into the
pocket of her jeans. She wanted to ask why her father chose now to visit. Was
he terminally ill? Had her mother drank her liver to failure?
    As her father returned from
the bedroom, she stuffed away her questions. He’d tell her in his own time.
Pressuring him