Hey everyone, this weeks update is here! Yay!

Not so yay: I'm currently sick in bed because it finally happened, I have Corona which totally sucks! Thankfully it's a fairly mild case so far, still don't wish this on anyone. Stay safe out there ;-)

Much love,

Robin

*

Fatherly Visit

I didn't get a heads-up, no text or email like I would have expected. My dad just strode into the Stonefish two days after our visit from Noah Hayes. A scowl plastered on his face, his suit a little rumpled and his eyes ringed with black from fatigue.

Despite our disagreements of late and our complete lack of communication I rushed over, extremely worried. Why would he show up here and looking like that? Was he ill, hurt? Had something bad happened? "Dad! What's going on? Are you okay?" I demanded; it was just after the dinner rush so we were over half empty, waiting for the late-night crowd to show up.

He grabbed my arms and held me for a second, his eyes swinging over my body in appraisal and noting my shorts and plain black tank top paired with the Stonfish' simple short apron. I felt for a moment like he was scanning me for injury and I wondered if someone had told him I was hurt. "I'm fine Dan," he said, as his eyes lingered on a spot above my left shoulder and I just knew Matt had approached and was standing behind me.

Indeed, my dad's eyes narrowed in anger and intense dislike. "Come on Dan, I'm taking you home." He started pulling me with him without waiting for an answer and I immediately dug in my heels. I was feeling a mixture of anger, concern and confusion now. Why was he here, did he really expect me to just up and walk out the door with him after the months of ignoring me and leaving me hanging when he'd promised to be there? Did he have a nervous breakdown or something?

"No, tell me what's going on!" I demanded and when my words rang in a sudden silence I realized we'd drawn attention so that the whole bar had fallen quiet to watch what was happening. Matt, face a thundercloud because he clearly did not like my dad even if he'd never outright said it, still diplomatically offered his office for our use.

My dad took one look at the crowd, one look at my face and with a deep sigh relented. Allowing Matt to show us to his office at the back of the bar next to the kitchen. Inside was Matt's desk and chair and a big filing cabinet but also a corner with a couch and small coffee table. The very couch that Matt had sometimes slept on earlier in our relationship. As I sat down on that couch my father surveyed the room with a critical eye, lingering a moment on Matt's old desktop computer with clear distaste.

Matt didn't leave, not that I expected him too, instead he headed for his desk and pulled out a bottle of expensive whiskey and two glasses, not for me I assumed because he knew I didn't like the stuff. He sat both glasses down in front of my dad and when he nodded poured for the two of them. "You want anything Dani Darling?" he asked calmly, as if my dad wasn't giving him death glares. I shrugged, "No I'm good."

It was awkwardly quiet for a long moment. My dad perched on the edge of the couch while Matt had sat down on a chair and rolled his tumbler of whiskey between his big palms. The two of them were sizing each other up like boxers in a ring and for a brief moment I worried that they might actually rather prefer fighting it out.

When I couldn't take it anymore I said, "Let me guess why you're here dad. Somebody whispered in your ear that Matt was abusing me or forcing me to be with him. That right?" It was the only thing I could think of that made any kind of sense; so soon after Officer Hayes' little visit. At the look on is face I could tell I'd hit that one on the head. Matt's face had gotten even darker, his heavy dark brows lowered and his dark eyes glittering angrily.

Taking in that expression aimed his way my dad nonetheless held firm, clearly not intimidated, "We should talk privately about this." Matt was letting me take the lead here and while I did think that my dad would probably listen better if Matt wasn't there, I could understand why he wanted to stay. "You had a chance to talk to me about things but you left." He flinched guiltily, "It was an emergency."

"Of course it was," I glared at him, hurt that he'd think I'd even care about such an excuse. He had competent people working for him. There was no need for him to put out every fire, in fact I was quite sure they rather preferred if he wasn't micro managing everything all the time. Didn't his promise to me mean more?

His shoulders sagged a little before he squared them like he was preparing for battle. At my side, Matt reached out his hand to hold onto mine, silently offering support. "I don't think it's healthy, you're dating a man several years your senior. It's been brought to my attention he's working you ragged and letting his male customers paw at you."

Matt beside me was vibrating with tension, an angry low sound slipping from his throat. I felt outraged myself that someone, Jamie no doubt, would dare lie about something like this. How had she even known to get in touch with my dad? But that question was answered the next moment.

"It's a good thing you've got such a great friend in Jamie Wrenworth and that her dad and I run in the same circles. Or I'd have never known what was going on! I'm taking you home and we're leaving this town as soon as possible. I should have protected you better!" It was clear from my dad's words that he believed them and that he was agonized over thinking I'd been in harms way and he hadn't seen it.

"I'm not leaving," I told him firmly. "Jamie is not my friend, in fact she and her friends have been nothing but rivals and antagonists since the day I got here. She probably forgot to mention the one time she and her gaggle of friends tried beating me up did she?" Matt's hand around mine tightened and I could sense his frustration. It was my dad however who's mouth dropped open in shock, "She what?"

"You heard me dad," I said a little more gently, "It was a few days before you met Matt at our place. Jamie and her friends ambushed me in an alley and tried their damnedest to kick my ass. She is not my friend. Anything her dad told you about my situation with Matt is a lie. I can assure you." Jamie should not be allowed to make this much trouble for Matt or me. I could tell this had also hurt my dad, he'd clearly not slept well and rushed here the moment he'd been told I was in trouble. I was actually a little warmed by the thought now.

"Did you go to the police? Please tell me you reported that Dan!" my dad said, downing his shot of whiskey and then shaking his head angrily and turning to Matt. "Of course she didn't, you should have made Dan report it!" Now Matt let out a derisive snort, "And what? Force Dani to report a crime when she didn't want to? Isn't that exactly the kind of thing you're accusing me off? And you should know, nobody can force Dani to do anything if she doesn't want to. She's the strongest person I know."

I smiled at Matt, grateful for his backing and his presence and surprised by his compliment. He'd been in the navy, he'd been a Combat Diver and probably served with tons of strong people. Then Matt shocked me when he pointed an accusing finger at my dad, "And you're one to barge in here acting all concerned when you know full well you've been avoiding her like a coward. Does it make you feel better? Calling her Dan instead of Dani? Using her like the help with your lists of chores and mountains of dry-cleaning?"

Stunned I stared at Matt and then my dad. I hadn't realized how much that had been bothering him and how much it was true. I knew dad avoided me of course, but the chores and the name thing... Yeah he'd been calling me Dan since a short few months after mom's death and never once gone back to calling me Dani girl or guppy or anything affectionate like he used to. I'd sensed the lack but it took Matt saying it to realize that this was what was missing.

I knew I resembled my mother in an almost uncanny way. That had to be really tough on my dad but that didn't make it okay to try and take away my identity to treat me like anything less than his daughter. To even try to act like I wasn't a girl in some ways.

Staring at my dad's face I could tell that at first he wanted to shout back at Matt, call him a liar. Take me away from here so that he didn't have to face this but then his shoulders crumpled and he sank back into couch, a hand coming up to cover his face. "Oh shit..." he muttered, "I didn't... I... Daniella. I just miss her so much... But I shouldn't... It wasn't right, taking that out on you."

He'd gone from angry to anguished and I felt a knot of pain and anger in my chest unravel. Turning to give Matt a silent nod I moved to scoot closer to my dad and take his hands in mine. "It's alright dad, we can talk about this." Matt had refiled my dad's tumbler of whiskey and then without another word he silently left the office. Giving us the space to work things out now that it became obvious my dad was not on the verge of trying to bodily drag me out of the Stonefish.

Dad and I talked for over an hour. Giving ourselves the chance to speak about our hurts and our grief over my mother and then eventually I even talked to my dad about Matt. "I know he's older dad," I told him, "But it's only six years, right now that seems a lot but in ten years that will seem like nothing." I left unsaid that mom had been only twenty six and my dad already thirty five when they'd met and fallen in love. I'd been born barely a year later.

"I think he needed me to get his head on straight about relationships actually. I understood that better than he did, but we're very much on the same page now. Matt's the type of guy who'd never let me come to harm, you should know that." I couldn't help but smile at the memory of Matt's protectiveness when it had come to the whole Corenth situation and how he was always willing to jump in with Jamie but letting me do it on my own because he trusted me too.

My dad let out a huge sigh, "I can see that you love him. You've never been this serious about any guy before." He shrugged a little helplessly. "I mean, you never even dated at all... Are you sure you know what you're doing? An older man, he can be overwhelming at times. He might think he knows better and forget to talk to you, make decisions and then you seem okay with it but later you realize he's just been a controlling bastard..."

I laughed, "Dad, if there's one thing I know it's that you taught me how to call out someone's bullshit. Did something like that ever happen with you and mom?" I added more curiously, it had sounded a tad self-deprecating.

"Yeah, but thankfully your mom didn't let it slide either and I learned," he smiled at me now and then nodded as if coming to a decision. "Okay, I get it. I'll just have to get to know him then huh? How about I try to be here every weekend for the next few? So we can share dinner or talk and just..." He gestured between us and then at the door. "I'd love that dad."

We both rose to our feet and I hugged him in goodbye, I hadn't felt his arms around me in so long that for a moment we lingered. "I missed you dad." He'd gotten a little misty-eyed I saw as we parted, "I was being an idiot. Forgive me guppy?" "Of course!" I said fervently.

He left with a polite nod of goodbye to Matt but the two didn't speak further. I figured they'd have to figure that part out between the two of them later. Just as I had to figure out what to tell my dad about the mermaid thing.

Matt and I didn't talk about it until we curled up in bed together that night. "You worked things out?" he asked softly in the dark. "Yeah, we did. Thank you." I was fairly certain that Matt had been the catalyst for us to do that. We might have gone on for much longer, perfect strangers drifting further and further apart.

"Good, you telling him about the tail?" he asked. "Not yet but soon." I hoped I'd get the chance but I wanted him to prove those weekends to me first. Show me that he was going to be true to his word to spend some time with me and with me and Matt.

*

So what did you guys think of this resolution between Dani and her dad?