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native.” He and Justin had made sure of that.
    “Yes, but she’s never written it.”
    “So where did she say she was last night?”
    “At the bowling alley. Supposedly, Allison’s mother got a flat on the way home.”
    “But that wasn’t really Dani’s fault.”
    “If you were an involved father, you would know our daughter’s not supposed to go out on school nights—at all.”
    Right. How the hell was he supposed to be involved from three thousand miles away?
    “On top of all that, her guidance counselor called this morning to tell me Dani also cut first period. It was her Human Development class with Jake Manion.”
    Whoa. That was bad. If she’d skipped Algebra, her least favorite subject, Nick could understand. But their neighbor, Jake Manion, an ex-NFL quarterback with two Super Bowl wins to his credit, was the high school’s football coach and an extremely popular teacher. The man nearly had his doctorate in psychology and connected with the students on a level none of the other teachers could match. His classes were always overfilled, and none of his students ever cut his class.
    “Apparently, Jake knew she was there,” Sam continued, “because he saw her talking to Haley and some boy right before homeroom. Ms. Carlson didn’t know if the boy cut, too, but she did mention the teachers applaud whenever he shows up for class two days in a row.”
    “Great.” It sounded like him in high school. When he’d moved his family to their small town of Redemption, he’d hoped to protect his daughter from some of the negative influences in the city.
    “I walked over to Jake’s house this afternoon to ask if he has any idea what’s going on with her, and he said Dani’s rebellion isn’t unusual for an adolescent from a broken home—especially a girl who has health issues to compound her emotional problems.”
    “What would you like me to do? I try calling her every day.” Even when he did manage to get a hold of Dani, the one-sided conversation elicited only monosyllabic answers from her, indicating she was angry at him.
    “I know you do. I’m not saying it’s your fault. But Jake also explained that girls who feel neglected by their dads tend to develop low self-esteem, which often results in promiscuity to get the male attention they miss.”
    He’d recently read a newspaper report that a girl his daughter’s age had been caught at a local suburban high school selling her favors during school hours. Nick had already laid down the law that Dani couldn’t date until she was fifteen, but evidently that might not be enough to protect her. “She obviously needs more supervision than she’s getting.”
    “I’m only one person, Nick. I can’t watch her every second.”
    Someone had to.
    “And you may not want to hear this, but Jake also said girls like Dani frequently act out to punish their absent fathers.”
    Okay, now he was pissed—even if he did respect his neighbor’s psychoanalysis of his child. “If I’m absent , it’s because you made sure my daughter and I were separated. This is exactly why I wanted you to move with me. So if it’s anyone’s fault—”
    “I’m not pointing a finger. I simply want to know what you think we should do about it.”
    He released a humorless snort. “There isn’t a hell of a lot I can do from here, is there?”
    “Well, we’d better figure something out. The last thing I want is her falling into some boy’s arms because she’s starved for your affection. We both know how that can turn out.”
    “Now you’ve crossed the line, insinuating I don’t love my daughter!”
    “I never said that. We’re talking about how Dani perceives your relationship.”
    “And why do you think her perception is warped, Sam? Have you told her you filed for divorce, or that I took the promotion because I hoped you’d come with me?”
    In Dani’s mind, he was a heartless bastard who’d left his family for a glamorous life in Hollywood. Of course, passing