It ended up being even worse.
The moment they strode into the coffee shop, he felt like a tornado had swept through the room. Stuart Grant’s presence was that ferocious.
“Darcy! Honey!” A tall, burly man with dirty-blond hair and sparkling blue eyes flew out of his chair at a table in the back and dashed across the room to pull Darcy into a huge bear hug.
“Hey, Dad.” She laughed as he lifted her off her feet, then leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Her father had the leathery skin of a man who spent a lot of time in the sun, though Reed wasn’t sure how that was possible considering Stuart sat in the cab of a truck ten hours a day.
“This is my friend Reed,” she introduced.
Friend?
Oh hell no.
Before Reed could correct her, Stuart distracted him with a dazzling smile that could have lit up Times Square. The laugh lines around the older man’s mouth told Reed that smiles were readily available when it came to Darcy’s dad, but Reed couldn’t help but feel there was something very superficial about that gleaming, white-toothed grin.
“So nice to meet you!” Stuart heartily pumped Reed’s hand before clapping him on the shoulder.
He was taken aback by the overwhelming enthusiasm. “Uh, nice to meet you too.”
Darcy gestured to the counter. “Why don’t we order some coffees and then—”
“Oh, I can’t stay,” her father interrupted.
She blinked. “What?”
“I need to get back on the road. I thought I’d have more time, but the shipment’s delivery date was pushed up. I just wanted to see my best girl and give her a hug before I took off.”
Reed swallowed his disbelief. Was this a f**king joke? What kind of father couldn’t spare even five minutes for his only kid?
What kind of father couldn’t sit down and have one measly coffee with the daughter he hadn’t seen in six months?
“Are you doing okay for money?” Stuart asked cheerfully, oblivious to the fact that Darcy was gawking at him as if he’d grown horns.
She blinked again, rapidly, as if trying to make sense of the nonsensical situation. “I, ah, I’m fine. I—“
“Here, take this just in case.” In a blur of motion, her father whipped out his wallet and extracted several hundred-dollar bills, then tucked them in Darcy’s limp hand.
She kept shaking her head, mumbled something incoherent, but her smiling, ignorant father just wrapped his arms around her in another big hug.
“I promise I’ll have more time to spend with you on my next visit.” Stuart grasped her chin, then smacked a loud kiss on her cheek. “You look beautiful. Teaching must agree with you.”
“I…” Darcy blinked at least twenty more times.
“Okay, honey, time to head out.” He aimed a brilliant smile at her, clapped Reed’s shoulder again, and then he was gone, dashing out of the coffee house in another tornado of energy.
Reed stared at the door, unable to fathom what had just happened. He was tempted to run after him and beat him senseless for his sheer insensitivity, his utter obliviousness, but the soft noise that tore out of Darcy’s throat rendered that course of action impossible.
When he shifted his head and saw her expression, his heart cracked in two. Tears clung to her thick eyelashes, her face was paler than the white wall behind her, and her hand had curled into a fist, crumpling the bills her father had shoved into it.
Since they were standing in the middle of Starbucks, nearly all the patrons were watching them curiously, and Reed’s protective instincts swiftly kicked in. Not wanting a bunch of strangers to witness Darcy’s tears, he wasted no time taking her hand and leading her out of the coffee shop.
The moment they stepped onto the sidewalk, Darcy’s face collapsed and the tears streamed out.
“Oh, baby, c’mere.” He pulled her into his arms and held her tight, stroking her hair as she shook against him.
Several pedestrians shot them curious looks, but Reed was too focused on Darcy to care. He ran his fingers through her hair in a soothing motion, wishing like hell that Stuart Grant were there so he could kick that bastard’s ass.
“I don’t know why I’m even surprised,” she mumbled between sobs. “I don’t know why I’m upset.”
“Because he’s your father, and he let you down,” Reed said roughly.
She wrenched out of his embrace, anger burning in her eyes. “Ten f**king minutes. He couldn’t spare ten f**king minutes for me?” Her incensed gaze dropped to the money she was still holding. “What kind of man does this?”
Pain and sympathy squeezed Reed’s chest. “I’m so sorry, Darce. You deserve so much better than that.”
“I do!” she burst out. “I do deserve better!” She furiously swiped at her cheeks with the sleeve of her thin cardigan. “I am not going to cry over that jerk. He doesn’t deserve my tears.”
When her arm came down and he saw her face, Reed’s lips twitched.
“What?” she demanded. “Why are you smiling?”
He swallowed a chuckle. “Because…” The laugh slipped out. “You must’ve brushed up against some grease or something when we were walking over, because your face is covered with it.”
Her cheeks turned bright red. “It is?”
He nodded.
“Is it bad?”
He nodded again.
“Crap.”