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He rolls his eyes.
When Asher’s sister Marti—soon to be my sister-in-law—first introduced me to him, I told him his name sounded presidential. It’s been an ongoing joke between us ever since.
“Come on.” He takes my hand and pulls me toward the door. “Let’s get in a run. And if we’re lucky, we’ll just have time for another kind of workout before I have to catch my flight.”
I smile knowing today’s run might just be a little faster than normal.
Chapter Two
Asher
“Dad!”
Bug doesn’t even wait until Mel’s mom pulls out of my driveway before hugging me.
I love that about her. She may be thirteen, a young adult, but she still likes to hug her old man.
I squeeze her tightly as I wave my thanks to Barb, Mel’s mom. “I missed you, Bug. Sorry my flight got delayed.”
“That’s okay. It’s not like you had a choice.”
I swing her bulging backpack over my shoulder, amazed she fit four days of clothes in it. My daughter is pretty low maintenance compared to what I’ve seen of other girls her age. She doesn’t wear much makeup. Isn’t interested in the latest trends. Doesn’t beg me to upgrade her phone every time a new one comes out. Hell, she rarely even asks for money over the reasonable allowance I give her.
Her only irrational demand is her hair. It has to be blue. Atalltimes. She hates it when more than a half inch of brown shows along her part, so she insists on getting it dyed every single month. As the father of a hormonal daughter, I know things could be much worse. Just ask Barb. And who am I to deny my only child the one thing she ever insists on. Besides, even I have to admit she looks pretty damn good. Probably because the salon she goes to costs me an arm and a leg.
I unlock the front door, drop our bags inside, and pick up the mail scattered across the floor beneath the mail slot. Before I can even open the first piece, my phone rings. It’s my boss.
“Hey, Rich. What’s up?”
“Feel like a trip to Milwaukee next week?”
I walk into the living room, out of Bug’s earshot, and sigh into the phone. “Rich, we’ve talked about this. I won’t do back-to-back weeks away. I don’t even like more than one trip a month. Is it something I can manage from here? Over Zoom calls?”
“They don’t work like that. In person only with these guys.”
Bug walks through the room, gets my suitcase, and rolls it into the laundry room where I hear the washer start moments later. I smile thinking of how she always takes care of me. How we take care of each other.
“I’m sorry to have to let you down, but I literally just walked through the door.”
“I knew it was a long shot, but you’re my best guy. And this company is desperate to fix their vulnerabilities. Cyber-hacker got in and messed with all their client data. Huge clusterfuck.”
“I’m sure it is. Can Arjun handle it?”
“Probably. Can you back him up if needed?”
“As long as it’s from sunny Florida.”
“Fair enough. How is your daughter?”
“Good.” I lower my voice. “I think she’s discovered boys, so I may be having my mid-life crisis a bit early.”
Laughter echoes through the phone. “I hate to tell you this, but as the father of two teenage girls myself, she most likely discovered them years ago. You’re probably just finding out about it now.”
“I’msonot ready for this.” I rub my temples. “Short of being Arjun’s backup, do you have anything else for me next week?”
“Check your email. As long as Arjun doesn’t run into any roadblocks, it may be a light week for you.”
“I could use one of those.”