Page 133 of Forever Dead

“Maybe I was, a little...”

Selena frowned.

Robert gave a small shrug. “I was your father. I wanted to be the person you came to.”

“Dad, please.”

“I’m not saying you did anything wrong. Neither did she.” He leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees. “It took me a while to understand that she was giving you something I couldn’t.”

“What?”

“A place where you didn’t have to worry about me.”

Selena said nothing.

Robert continued, “You were frightened about your mother, but you were frightened for me, too. Eleanor saw it. She told me you needed somewhere you didn’t have to be brave for anybody else.”

Emotion tightened Selena’s throat.

That sounded like Eleanor.

“She never told me what you talked about,” Robert said. “I asked once. She told me if you wanted me to know, you’d tell me yourself.”

Selena smiled faintly. “That sounds like her, too.”

“I thanked her. Plenty of times. Still doesn’t feel like enough now.”

“She wouldn’t have wanted more.”

“No. She was never much interested in praise.”

“She was the first adult outside the family who took me seriously when I said I wanted to become a detective.”

Robert raised his eyebrows. “Outside the family?”

“You laughed at the idea, Dad.”

“C’mon, Lena. You were investigating the disappearance of Diane’s hairbrush.”

“She stole it.”

“She had the same one.”

“That made the crime easier.”

Robert laughed softly. “You were exhausting.”

A car engine sounded outside.

Robert turned toward the window.

Tires slowed near the house, followed by the familiar crunch of gravel.

Selena’s amusement faded.

Robert stood and crossed toward the curtain. “That’ll be Diane.”

Selena remained on the couch.