Her first instinct was to rush at him and hug him, the way she’d done when she was a little girl and she heard his key in the front door at the end of the day. She craved that same feeling of security she’d had then when his arms had wrapped round her.

But she wasn’t that little girl anymore.

She assumed her most nonchalant expression. “What?”

“What? You took a cab to the station without leaving so much as a note, and you’re seriously asking me what?”

“I just—I have to go. You wouldn’t understand.”

He sat down next to her. “Try me.”

“I don’t want to talk about this.”

“I can see that, but it’s weird because the Izzy I know, my daughter, never runs from a problem. She looks it in the eye and handles it. Or she asks me to handle it, because that’s what dads do. What she doesn’t do is climb in a cab without telling anyone and get a train to a city she doesn’t know.”

“It’s time I started being more independent.”

“Maybe. We’ll talk about that at another time, but for now we’re focusing on why you ran away.”

“I’ve told you—I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well I do, and I’m your father so you have to listen to me.”

“We both know you’re not.” She glanced at him and her heart lurched as she saw the hurt in his eyes.

“When did I ever give you the impression that I don’t think of you as a daughter? Because if I messed up as a father I deserve to know so that I don’t make the same mistake in the future.”

“You didn’t mess up.”

“Did I love you less than I should have done? Tell me, because something has made you think you don’t belong with this family and I need to know what it is.”

Crap, did they really have to have this conversation? “I’m not yours.”

“Oh honey—” His voice was rough. “You were mine from the moment you were born. Screaming your lungs out, by the way. If I’d wanted to give you away or back out, that would have been the time to do it but I didn’t because I loved you. I never believed in love at first sight until you came along. And maybe I should have told you how I felt more often, but I’m a guy and we don’t always get it right. If you’re going to be a journalist, and I know you’ll be a great one, you need to learn to examine the facts. And there is a ton of evidence if you look for it.”

“I don’t—”