Character Analysis
Nikki's dad seems glad to have his daughter back, but he's also a little awkward about it. He tries to have a talk about expectations with her, such as random "testing" (2.69), a.k.a. drug testing, but he also doesn't actually want to admit that his daughter might be using drugs.
According to Nikki, her dad's a by-the-book kind of guy, who worries about whether he's "hip enough for a resort town" (23.53). During a busy part of his mayoral campaign, he schedules dinner in order to bond with Nikki: "every spare moment was spent on the campaign trail, but his secretary told me he'd scheduled in these dinners" (27.1). He's trying, we suppose, in his own way.
As a politician, appearances really matter to this guy. So when a picture of Nikki shows up in the paper after the brawl at the Christmas Dance, her dad is not pleased. Nikki protests that it wasn't her fault, and he responds: "It's not necessarily about the truth. It's about how people perceive a thing that makes it damaging" (19.15). While he totally has a point, he's still being extra harsh on his daughter. She's not running for mayor, after all.
Nikki's dad's a bit protective, too, at least before the Feed. When Nikki starts dating Jack, she notices, "my dad had become considerably colder toward Jack" (5.141). And after Jack drops her off one evening, her dad says: "Careful, Nikki […] I just don't want to see my girl so overwhelmed" (5.152-154). Pro tip: Young love can be kind of overwhelming, Pops—and you've got to let your daughter experience it in order to learn and grow.
After the Feed, Nikki sees her dad's softer side, too. She catches him talking to her dead mother late at night, wondering what to do about Nikki: "Do I try to be harder on her, and risk losing her again? Or do I go soft? Treat her like an adult… and risk losing her again" (22.5). Aw, poor guy. It's hard to raise a teenager, and even harder to do so as a solo parent. Nikki's dad is trying, and we've got to give him that much credit.
And indeed, Nikki feels closer with her dad as her Return goes on. During a scheduled takeout Chinese food dinner, Nikki realizes that she and her dad are "enjoying a level of comfort with each other that we hadn't experienced in a long time" (27.12). Yay. He even brings up Nikki's dead mom, which he rarely does. The saying time heals all wounds sure seems to apply to Nikki's relationship with her dad—and luckily for them, Nikki winds up sticking around.