Down Under With Dad’s Best Friend by Flora Ferrari

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sean

I let go of Candace only because at some point we both have to breathe, and clean ourselves up, and do what needs to be done. Because if we don’t, we won’t be able to make this happen. And I need – and she needs – so desperately for this to happen.

“Okay,” I say, wiping a hand over my own face and then look back at her. “We need to clean up. That’s step number one.”

“Step number one towards what?” Candace asks, reaching for my hand and taking it as if she thinks I’m going to disappear.

I’m not going anywhere. I squeeze her hand reassuringly. “Towards what you just told me you want. Please. I think it’s a good idea if it doesn’t look like you’ve been crying.”

I watch as she visibly straightens up, sniffing a little as the last of the tears leave her. “Okay,” she says. “I trust you. I’ll go and freshen up my makeup.” She reaches inside her already-packed suitcase and draws out a makeup bag, heading off to the bathroom.

I look down at my shirt, which is smeared with makeup and tears. Not that I mind – well, except for the fact that I don’t want her to cry at all – but I don’t think this is going to look good on camera. I shrug it off and grab another. It’s a good thing I hadn’t quite finished packing, knowing I would have another couple of hours to get it done after Candace was on her flight.

When she emerges from the bathroom, she looks just as beautiful as ever. There’s still a slight red tinge to the edges of her eyes, where it can’t be covered with makeup. But maybe we can pass that off as bad lighting.

I really hope we can pass it off and make this work.

“What now?” she asks, her voice still trembling just a little. But I’m proud to see she’s pulled herself together almost completely. She trusts me so deeply that she hasn’t held onto any of that sadness, already believing that I’ll make it all go away for her.

Now I just have to live up to that trust and make sure that I can make this work for both of us.

“Now, we set up my phone and make a call,” I say. I check my watch, but it’s irrelevant. It will be late in the evening in the US right now, but I don’t think that Bill is going to miss this call. His daughter is in Melbourne and about to get a flight. He’ll be watching the flight tracker, waiting for her to call and say she’s at the airport, to let him know how she’s progressing. He won’t be asleep.

“To who?” Candace asks, still wide-eyed and confused, trying to catch up.

“To your Dad,” I say, propping my phone up on the table and settling down on the couch. I pat the cushion beside me so that she’ll drop down next to me, so we can present a united front. And then I lean forward again to hit call – no pause, no hesitation. If I wait, I know I’ll only end up feeling nervous, overthinking it.

This is the same way I’ve dealt with all the difficult business calls I’ve ever had to make. Don’t hesitate. Just make the call. Don’t let any weakness creep in.

The video call is answered within a few rings, but Bill isn’t looking up at the screen at first – he looks like he’s checking something on a different device. “Hey, Sean, can I call you back? I’m waiting for a call from…” he looks up and spots his daughter on the screen, his expression changing to confusion. “Candace.”

“Hi, Dad,” she says, a little awkwardly. I know I’ve thrown her in at the deep end, too. But it’s better this way. No time to second-guess ourselves or build up doubts. No time to panic. We just have to rip off the band-aid.

“What are you two doing together?” Bill asks, frowning. But then his expression clears a little. “Did you bump into each other? I know you do business in Australia often, Sean.”

“That’s exactly what happened,” I say, glancing down at Candace. We have to tell the whole story and get it out there. But at the same time, I’m not sure how much information Bill can digest at once before going off the deep end. “We bumped into each other right at the beginning of the week, actually.”

“Oh, so you’ve had a personal guide to help you out with getting around Melbourne?” Bill says, smiling. “I’m glad. You should have told me earlier, sweetie. I’ve spent all this time worrying about you.”

“Oh, I’ve been completely fine,” Candace says, and I don’t miss how she skips telling her Dad about that encounter at Flinders Street that made her need rescuing in the first place. “Sean’s really been looking after me.”

“Haven’t you had a lot of business meetings to take?” Bill asks, raising an eyebrow. “It’s a bit rare for you to take time off, isn’t it?”

“First time in twenty years,” I say, with a slight smile. He’s nowhere close to getting it yet. We need to keep pushing him in that direction, as gently as possible. This doesn’t need to be more traumatic for anyone than it already will be. “I thought it was worth it, to make sure Candace had a good vacation.”

Now he frowns, just slightly. He knows me well enough to know that this isn’t something I’d do just for anyone. In fact, he knows it’s not something I’ve ever done at all. At least, he thinks he does. Now I’m sure he’s racking his brain, trying to figure out if this is normal Sean behavior that he somehow missed so far.

“You didn’t have to do that, I’m sure,” he says, his eyes going to his daughter. In the small preview at the bottom of the video feed showing us our own camera input, even I can see in that tiny frame that she looks nervous. Stiff and anxious. He must know by now that something’s up.

“I wanted to,” I say. I take a breath and then do it, I reach over and take her hand, our fingers automatically interlacing together. “I wanted to make sure she was safe. And there was more than that, too. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.”

Candace glances at me and our eyes meet, a slight flush coming over her face. A look of gratitude and love at my words. I hope that Bill doesn’t miss it.

“What’s going on?” Bill asks his tone now deeply suspicious.

“Bill,” I say, not looking away from her. It’s important, this moment. It’s the most important thing we’ll probably ever do or say, as far as Bill is concerned. He needs to know how serious this is, and he needs to know it fast, or we’re never going to get anywhere. “I’m in love with your daughter.”

She squeezes my hand, a joyful smile breaking out on her face. I relish that for a moment, glorying in it. But then I have to look back at my screen – and I see that Bill has narrowed his eyes, looking furious but also even more suspicious.

“This isn’t a funny joke,” he says.

Oh, dear.

“It’s not a joke, Dad,” Candace says, finally gathering the courage to speak up. I hold her hand tightly, to make sure she knows that we’re together in this. That it’s going to be alright because I’m here. “He’s serious. And so am I. I’m in love with Sean, too.”

Bill splutters for a moment, then shakes his head. “No, you’re trying to wind me up,” he says. “Well, good one. You almost got me. But now you can give up and tell me that you’re about to head to the airport, so we can get this over with.”

“It’s not a wind-up,” I tell him. I draw Candace’s hand to my face and kiss the back of it. “It’s real. The only reason we’re calling is that it came time for us to leave, and neither of us wants to. This is serious.”

“You can’t…” Bill starts, but I can see in his eyes as he looks between us that this is really starting to sink in. He’s beginning to realize this is true. “No. You can’t be serious. It’s been a week. You barely even know each other.”

“We know enough,” I say, glancing at Candace again. “We’ve spent just about every moment together since we realized how we felt. I can’t explain it to you, Bill. I know it seems fast. But it’s real. I just know she’s the one for me.”

“It can’t be,” Bill says, shaking his head. “This is ridiculous. And anyway, you’re old enough to be her father!”

“Only if I had her unusually young,” I point out. “And besides, that doesn’t matter. Age – it’s just a number.”

“It really doesn’t matter to me, Dad,” Candace adds. I can feel her shaking just slightly through our hands and where she’s sitting against my side. “I love him, no matter what.”

“But it’s predatory!” Bill explodes. “You’re a grown man. Almost middle-aged. My daughter – she’s just a kid. You’re exploiting her, using her innocence to make her think she’s in love with you!”

I can see Candace’s face on the video screen, and she looks shocked. Appalled. Like her father just slapped her in the face. “That’s not how it is, Bill,” I say, my tone firm. “She’s not a kid anymore. She’s a young woman. She can make her own decisions, and I haven’t… tricked her into anything.”

“You can’t be serious,” Bill exclaims. “She’s a kid. She’s half your age. I could report you for this, for trying to corrupt her - preying on her.”

“Dad,” Candace says, her voice rising and her cheeks flaming red. I can’t tell if she’s ashamed, or angry, or just so shocked she doesn’t know what to think. “What are you saying? You can’t make those kinds of accusations.”

“I can make any accusation I like – especially they’re true,” Bill thunders. “You’re too young to understand. You can’t see what he’s doing to you. How he’s seduced you!”

“Seduced me?” Candace throws the words back at him, sounding incredulous. “It was me who went after him. He even held back, when I wanted to go full steam ahead.”

“That’s what he’s made you think,” Bill scowls. “That’s what predators are like. He’ll have been grooming you. How long have you been talking before this? Was it really a coincidence for you to just randomly meet up in Melbourne? This has all been a long game, hasn’t it?”

“No,” we both say at once, exchanging startled glances.

“Bill,” I start. “I really didn’t know she was here. We’ve never spoken, outside of your family gatherings.”

“When she was a child!” Bill rages. “You’ve been working on this since then!”

It feels like my stomach is dropping out of me. “No,” I gasp, shaking my head. I can’t believe the way this is going. “No, I would never…”

“Dad, stop,” Candace says, tears streaming down her face. “You’ve got this wrong. It’s not like that. Sean is a good man.”

“I’m going to call the police,” Bill says, casting around as if trying to figure out how to make a call while still keeping us on the line.

“No!” Candace shouts. I want to take her in my arms and hold her until she stops crying until this pain goes away, but she wrenches her hand from mine and leaps up from the couch. “No, stop this! I won’t listen to you saying these awful things – I won’t!”

And then she practically runs from my side, gasping out sobs. She dashes to the bathroom and slams the door, and I hear the sound of the lock turning.

And I just know that by insisting on making this call, I’ve made everything worse.

What should I have done? Let her go? Worked it out over a longer period of time? Maybe gone home with her, so that her father could see how serious I am? Tried to make this work long-distance so that he had time to gradually come around?

Or just kidnapped her, and taken her home with me, so her father would really have something to complain about?

I look at the screen, at Bill’s face. He’s staring at me with such hatred, a look I never thought I’d see on his face.

I’ve lost a friend, as well as maybe the girl of my dreams.

Today is not at all going how I imagined it would. And I don’t know what to do next to fix it.