Free Blind Love by SUE FINEMAN Page B

Tony. “I don’t want you driving into LA in that car until you make sure it’s safe.”
    “She’s not going back to LA,” said Father.
    Catherine’s jaw clenched and her body stiffened. He was bossing her around as if she were sixteen, and she didn’t like it any better now than she did then.
    “My daughter doesn’t have to work.”
    Megan walked into the room with a little bag from a bakery. “Listening with half an ear again, Walt? It isn’t a matter of money.”
    Father motioned Catherine closer. She walked to the side of the bed and took his hand. “I didn’t know you wanted to run the hotel business, Catherine. If I’d known, I would have saved a hotel for you.”
    “Not the whole business?”
    “No. After nine-eleven, the business went into the toilet. We were already overextended, and I had to sell or lose everything, including the house. I wanted to tell you the day I signed the papers, but you’d already left.”
    Catherine had to swallow the lump in her throat. “I thought I wasn’t good enough.”
    “Good enough? Honey, you’re too good to put up with the business crap, and you’re too good to be Henry’s gopher. I want something better for you.”
    “Henry gave me the television show. The concept is mine, and he put me in charge. I have to go back to LA and get things set up for the filming.”
    “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
    No, it wasn’t what she wanted to do, but she couldn’t quit now. “I have to finish what I started.”
    “That’s my girl. You want to run a hotel someday?”
    “It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Would you have listened?”
    He lifted his hand and dropped it. “Probably not, but I will from now on. You can’t use the Timmons name. I sold that with the hotels.”
    “I’ll think of another name.”
    “Princess Catherine,” said Tony. “Lady Catherine, Queen Catherine, Duchess Catherine.”
    “I like it. Start out small, with one place,” said Father. “Don’t take on more than you can handle, and hire experienced, trustworthy people.”
    Was he saying he thought she was capable of running more than one hotel? Why had he never given her any validation as a businesswoman? She’d worked for Timmons Hotels for four years, and he’d never given her a word of encouragement. “I thought you sold the business because you didn’t have a son to take over.”
    “Nonsense. A son couldn’t do any better than my daughter.”
    “Everyone knew about the sale before I did. I felt like an idiot, with everyone talking behind my back. They were all angry, because they thought I knew all along and they didn’t see it coming.”
    “I was going to tell you that night. The buyers weren’t supposed to say anything until the next day, until after I spoke with the employees, but once the deal went through, it was out of my hands.”
    Megan cleared her throat. “Enough about business, Walt. Your new bed arrived this afternoon, and I bought a wheelchair. If you don’t like that one, they said we could swap it for another one.”
    Catherine glanced at Tony and then at her father. “We have to go. I’ll see you in the morning after I take Tony to the airport.”
    Tony stepped around Catherine and stuck out his hand. “Mr. Timmons, I hope to see you again one of these days.”
    Father shook Tony’s hand. “Thanks for your help, Tony. Come back anytime.”
    Catherine walked out to the car with Tony. Father had made nasty remarks about every man she’d ever spent any time with, except Tony. “My father likes you.”
    “Yeah, I like him, too. You have to respect a man who tries to do what’s right.”
    “Is that what he did?”
    They stood beside the car. “Catherine, he was in a hole, so he did what he had to do. He sold the business before he lost everything, including your family home.”
    “He should have told me first.”
    “Yes, he should have, but he didn’t, and it’s over.”
    Was it? Father