Princess (American Princess #1)(21)
Author: Courtney Cole

“No, it hasn’t.  I just wanted to bring it up. I can’t give you the things that your parents could.”

She stared at him incredulously.

“Things like what?  Conditional approval? A broken heart? A lifetime of therapy bills? The things that you give me are much more important than an expensive car or a climate controlled closet.  I have learned things from you… things like feeling safe and being loved no matter what. Those things are priceless.  I’ll never be able to repay you.”

He stared at her in utter astonishment.

“Did you really have a climate controlled closet?  What on earth for?”

She started to laugh, but her phone interrupted her train of thought.  It rattled noisily on top of her bed-stand as it vibrated to signal a new text message.  She looked at it in surprise. No one contacted her on it anymore except for Stephen.  She reached over and grabbed it, flicking it open.  Her dad’s name was on the screen in big, bold letters.  Her heart stopped in her chest.  She pushed ‘Read’ and then her breathing stopped, as well.

Paul, I’m horny.  I want to see u. Jillian’s gone until 10.

Her startled eyes met Stephen’s as she turned the screen around for him to read.  He read it quickly, surprise forming quickly on his face.  

“What the hell?” He stared at her in puzzlement.

“He must have sent this to me by mistake. Obviously, it was meant for someone else.”

A man? Shock made her impervious to anything else at the moment.  She didn’t feel anger or hurt or even embarrassment.  She just sat in stunned amazement trying to soak it in.  Her dad was having an affair.  With a man.

An affair with a woman wouldn’t have surprised her. He was flirtatious in a charming way with most women of all ages.  They usually liked it and he worked it to his advantage, flashing his bright white smile at them and making them feel special, for just a second, as the important senator gave them his undivided attention.

But a man?  It was out of left field.

She knew that he filed her contact info under “P” for Princess in his phone, so she tried to think of a Paul that would have been filed next to her name in his phone.  Someone that he meant to text instead of her.  She drew a blank.

Until a vague memory started to form in her consciousness and a sick feeling lodged in her chest. It was blurry at first, but sharpened as she thought about it with more focus.  Paul Hayes was an Ohio senator.

Last year, she had gotten a screaming headache during one of her dad’s fundraising parties. She had excused herself early and had gone upstairs to take some aspirin and go to bed.  As she walked down the long hallway to her bedroom, she had heard low murmurs coming from down the hall.  When she looked up, he had been walking with Paul Hayes and they had been murmuring quietly together and looked oh-so-surprised to see her.

At the time, she didn’t think too much of it even though her father had clearly been startled when he saw her.  She had just assumed that it was her sudden appearance that had startled him. Now, she suddenly knew that it was the fact that she had seen him with Paul Hayes that had caused his distress.

Holy Mary Mother of God.  Her dad was g*y.

“Stephen,” she began slowly. “I think my father is g*y. He meant that text for Paul Hayes, a senator from Ohio.”

Stephen didn’t even ask her to explain how she had come to that conclusion.  He just stared at her in stunned disbelief.  His eyes were still slightly confused as he spoke, stating the obvious.

“Wow. Your dad’s been lying to everyone.”

She could tell from his tone that he was just as shocked as she was.  Probably more so because he still had not been able to bring himself to believe that Randall Ross’ campaign rhetoric was a lie.  Family Values First.  What a crock of shit.  She had seen him bald-faced lie to so many people over the years and do it with a smile.  But this… this was huge.  It could totally sink his career.  And his marriage.

She wondered idly if she should tell her mother, but she quickly abandoned that train of thought as a more pressing issue came to mind.   

How in the world should she answer his text?

CHAPTER SIX

As she lugged the heavy bin of dirty plates, crumpled napkins and flatware to the Sunshine Café’s kitchen, Sydney realized something. She definitely didn’t want to spend the rest of her life waitressing.  And something else- she would never again under-tip a waitress.  She knew first-hand how hard it was and so did her poor feet.  Who would have guessed that waitressing was so physically demanding?  Her only consolation was that she was able to wear tennis shoes again.

She crossed the dingy restaurant floor, grinning ruefully at a regular patron as she went.  She had been receiving all kinds of sympathetic smiles lately.  Her regulars knew what had happened and pitied her.  She didn’t like it. And they didn’t even know the half of it. She sighed heavily.

They didn’t know about the lie that her family had been living, that not a single thing out of her father’s mouth could be trusted because he couldn’t even be honest about who he was.

Honestly, most of the patrons of the café didn’t even know who her father even was because they weren’t the type of people that followed politics.  It was a blessing, actually.  It was making it a little easier for her to get back to normal.  Or her new normal, anyway.

It had been four days since she and Stephen had slept together for the first time.  Four days since she had found out that her father was secretly g*y.  Four days since she had answered her father’s text.  Sorry, you texted the wrong person.

And four days of no response.

Every night, Stephen had held her until she fell asleep. Every night, he had whispered endearments and assurances to her, promising that everything would turn out alright.  But she wasn’t so sure anymore.

How could everything be alright when she couldn’t trust a single thing? It was scary to realize that her whole life had been a lie while she never even had a clue. She couldn’t even trust her own judgment.

What she did know was that her future was a blank canvas again. She could do anything she wanted to do and what she wanted was to get as far from here as possible.  As far from her family and its lies as she could.  She idly wondered how Stephen would feel about moving to Indiana or maybe New York.  She could go to college now. She had been accepted at Notre Dame as well as Columbia.