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him
soon.

Chapter 14
    Braden Young’s Apartment
7:15 AM
    THE ALARM sounded with a harsh
buzzing.
    Braden Young arose from the couch
after a fitful and restless few hours of sleep. His head throbbed
like a herd of mustangs thundering through his brain.
    God, I’ve got to stop this drinking,
he thought. His back ached from the uncomfortable sleeping position
on the couch.
    Young padded across the room to the
bathroom and downed two Tylenol tablets trying to silence the
thunder inside his skull. Next stop was the kitchen to put on the
coffee – elixir of the gods, or at least that of
journalists!
    “ Good Morning,
Daddy!”
    Young turned to see his daughter Megan
rubbing the sleep from her eyes and dressed in one of his XL
T-shirts that went down to just above her knees. “Mornin’ Princess.
The coffee will be ready in a few minutes. Did you sleep
okay?”
    “ Not very much. What with
everything that has happened and the uncertainty of my future, it’s
hard to rest.”
    “ I know, sweetie. It’s a
lot to take in, but give it time. I assure you things will get
better. You can stay here as long as you like to get your life back
on an even keel. You need to figure out what you want to do. It’s
not the Ritz, but it’s a roof over your head. “
    “ Thanks, Daddy. You’re a
lifesaver. I’m so glad you are here for me.” Megan moved over and
kissed Young on the cheek.
    “ That’s alright, baby. I
haven’t been much of a father to you in the past, but I will be
here for you now as long as you need me.”
    “ Daddy, I’ve always loved
you. It’s too bad it has taken this long for us to get so
close.”
    Young wasn’t a sentimental type of guy
so tried to switch the topic of conversation.
    “ Sorry there’s not much
food in the place, but I’ll go shopping later and stock up on some
groceries,” he said. “Being a bachelor and with the hours of my
job, I’m afraid I eat out a lot. I’m not much of a home
cooker.”
    “ That’s okay, daddy. I can
do the cooking.” Megan smiled at her father.
    Young opened a cupboard below the sink
and pointed to a row of cereal boxes.
    “ Help yourself to some
cereal. There is milk in the fridge and some yogurt I
think.”
    He grabbed two mugs from another
cupboard and began to pour the coffee. “How do you take yours? I
like mine black, no sweetener.”
    “ Black’s fine with me,
Daddy. I don’t feel very sweet right now and I’m not
hungry.”
    “ Like father, like
daughter, eh,” said Young. “Now tell me about this shit heel of a
boyfriend. He’s lucky he’s not here right now or I’d smash that
pretty boy face of his. It would be a long time before he got in
front of another television camera, or any kind of camera for that
matter. You will be much better off without him.”
    “ But Daddy I love him. I
thought things were going so well with us. Then he started staying
out nights. He said it was work, but I began to get suspicious. I
checked his e-mail and there were notes to Heidi Harris, that
blonde bimbo who is his co-anchor. They were getting together
evenings.”
    “ Are you sure it wasn’t
work related, honey? After all they are television reporters. Maybe
they were working on a story together.”
    “ Yeah, the only way she
was working was on her back. I found credit card receipts in his
home office desk for dinners at fancy restaurants and rooms at the
Sheraton. When I confronted him with it, he at first claimed it was
just work. He later admitted to sleeping with her, but says it just
happened -- it’s only physical and he still loves me. It happened
all right and it happened several times. So excuse me if I find it
hard to believe he still loves me.”
    Young placed his hand on Megan’s
shoulder. “Well then, Princess I think you have a big decision to
make. Whether you’re going to fight for him or cut him adrift. I
know which choice I think you should make.”
    Megan took another sip of her coffee.
She looked like a lost child not