Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
I smiled back. “It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?”
She nodded, took another sip, as did I.
And she spoke again. “I just wanted Dad to know that I heard him. It bugged me, the whole semi-intervention thing. It felt like they were ganging up on me. But I heard him. And Mom. And all that. They were right. It was when I talked to Gage about it, and he said everyone was flipping their shit about me, it made me think on it. I didn’t like people were flipping their shit. It hurt to think they were upset. I just didn’t want to come to Dad without, you know, having a plan. Getting it together. I don’t know what’s next. I like doing it, but I’m not going to work in a coffee shop my whole life. But Gage said I couldn’t figure it out if my mind was filled with where I was going to sleep that night. You know? Or I was always driving back and forth to Prescott. I had to be settled and have some rituals so my head could be clear. And he was right.”
“Sounds like Gage is very wise.”
That brought forth a giggle.
A giggle she explained.
“Gage is a frat boy without the frat or the asshole parts of frat boys. What I mean is, he likes a good time and isn’t about settling or rituals at all. Though I think he’s finally getting good grades. I just realized we’re both figuring out how to grow up.” She shot me a rueful smile. “It sucks that Gage figured out that was where we were at before me, but whatever. He did, and he gave me some real so I would too, and there we are.”
“I think your dad will be very relieved to hear this,” I shared. “He should be landing soon. I’m sure he’ll get your text and call. And Cadence will be back in a couple of hours, and that’ll bring us close to dinnertime, so I hope you stick around. We can keep chatting. You can meet the cats, Tom’s brought them here. You can help us make dinner and stay and eat with us. And I’ll show you around the house and you can have your pick of a private place to talk to your dad when he calls.”
“Do you think Dad’ll be mad, me showing up here?”
She should know him better than me.
However, I assured, “I think he’ll understand you were looking for him to share something important that would ease his mind. And he’s getting to know me pretty well, and he knows I wanted to meet you, so I don’t think he’ll be mad.”
She tipped her head. “Sure?”
Yes, she loved her dad.
Yes, she was upset she worried him.
Yes, she was a good kid.
A little lost, but who wasn’t in one way or another?
“Yes, honey, I’m sure.”
She rubbed her lips together then nodded her assent.
I’d known her not even twenty minutes, so I didn’t know how to broach my concern about what I felt coming from her.
On the one hand, it seemed she was getting her shit together.
On the other hand, something was very wrong.
“I had difficulty finding my way too,” I shared.
That visibly shocked her. “Wow. From your stuff, you seem to have it all together.”
“Well, I’m twenty-seven years older than you,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but you did that documentary on women’s hair when you were, what? Twenty-five? I mean, that stuff is a big deal now. People are talking about it a lot. And you were talking about it decades ago.”
“I also lived in New York and had a lot of friends from many different walks of life, and I was a good listener,” I said. “And you might not know, but that documentary got zero attention when it was released. It’s only now that people have discovered it and are taking onboard what it had to say.”
“But you had it together like Chloe has it together.”
Okay, maybe some sibling rivalry issues?
“I did,” I agreed. “Because I walked right into where I knew I needed to be when I left Philly, and a dad who didn’t get me, and a mom who encouraged me. Though, you know, people don’t make as big a deal of it, but girls need their dads just as much as boys do.”
Her face grew gentle, and I knew why—Cadence and Rollo—before she replied, “Yeah. They do.”
“So I was dealing with some issues and I was lost. I had itchy feet all my life. I think I wanted to impress him. I wanted him to know, even if the path he chose for me, college, a solid career, marriage, children, was not the path I decided to take, I was a worthwhile human being.”
“I bet he knows that now.”
“You’d bet wrong.”
She blinked.
“He doesn’t understand anything I do,” I shared. “He was infuriated I didn’t find another man to fill Rollo’s shoes, though, at the time, when Rollo was alive, he didn’t approve of my choice for a husband. Since I lost Rollo, my father feels I opted to raise Cadence as a single mother just to spite him. I didn’t respect him, and that was my way to prove I didn’t respect him or any man.”