Jackie Draws A Straight: The Journey Series Book 5 by Patricia Green Page A

Jackie sat in the hide covered chair across from him. He looked tired, his face drawn, the wrinkles on his face pronounced. Leo was still a strong, handsome man, but tonight he looked pretty close to his nearly seventy years. Jackie felt like a total heel in the face of his disappointment in her.
    "I just got off the phone with Pete Kaminsky."
    "Phone?"
    " Yep. We had ourselves a little talk."
    "Daddy…I… What about?"
    "Sonora, in general and you specifically."
    Her chest felt like a big rock was sitting on it. "Daddy, my relationship to Pete has nothin' to do with you."
    "You are my daughter."
    "I'm your grown daughter. " Irritation crept into her voice though she was trying to remain calm. "Did you do this to Queenie, too, while I was away at school?"
    "We got standards," he said, leaning back in his chair. The light dimmed on his face and she couldn't gauge his expression except by his voice. His tone was clipped. "You don't go to a man's house late at night after a night on the town. You know better."
    "What I do ain't none of your business!"
    "You live in my house, li'l girl, you live by my rules. That's the way it's always been. Your sister had to live by the same rules."
    "This is the twenty-first century, Daddy! Those rules are archaic!"
    "Watch your tone with me, Jackie. You had me worried sick. I don't know what you learned at that private college up there in Belton, but I hope you didn't throw all your morals out the window as you got your education."
    She tried to be calm, but she was mad enough to cry. "Why are we talkin' about my sex life?"
    Leo drew in a long slow breath. It was a sound he made when he was trying to rein in his temper. "You have a sex life, li'l girl?"
    Time to regroup. "Um, no…"
    "I'm pleased as a child at the circus to hear that. "
    "He spanked me."
    "What?" Although she couldn't see it, she heard the frown in her father's voice.
    "Pete spanked me. That's all."
    There was a long pause, but eventually Leo spoke up. "He didn't mention that on the phone. He said he'd found y ou in the bar, that you'd had too much to drink and he didn't want you drivin', so he took you back to his place where you played a few hands of cards."
    "That's all true."
    "Then where does this spankin' come in?"
    "I cheated."
    "At cards?" She nodded, there was a nother pause and then Leo laughed like he'd heard the funniest joke in the world.
    "Daddy!"
    He snorted and wiped his eyes. "If that don't beat it all. Your mama used to try th at with me . I walloped her ass for it, too. Same as your doc."
    Jackie was chagrined, and her voice was snippy as she replied. "He's not 'my doc', Daddy."
    "You are the spittin' image of your mama, Jackie-girl, and now I see you've got her tendency toward mischief as well. I thought you'd grow out of it, but you've only gotten more wily."
    She liked the idea that she was like her mother, even though she only knew the woman through photos and stories. " Yeah…well…What did you say to Pete?"
    " We clarified a few matters."
    "Like?"
    "Like you ain't gonna be goin' to his personal home again unescorted."
    Groaning inwardly, she tried to defend modern behavior. "Daddy, I'm not some precious flower that needs to be protected."
    "You are to me, daughter."
    Anger shot through her. Much as she loved her daddy and wanted to be loved in return, she did not want to be treated like someone from the 1800s. Why, if he knew what all her friends at school got up to, he'd have made her come home from there lickety-split. "Daddy, girls don't follow those rules no more."
    "My girls do. Your mama was a virtuous woman, your sister Q ueenie was, too—although she married that jackass Harry Tatum the first time around, at least she wised up after."
    She interrupted. "But, Daddy, Ace, Deuce and Trey, they all had girlfriends before they got married. How is that different?"
    "It's like this, daughter. A key that fits many locks is a valuable key, but a lock that fits any key is a really crappy