Dawn by McKayla Box
Chapter 16
“How was your day?” my dad asks, collapsing onto the sofa next to me, a beer in his hand. “It had to have been better than mine.”
It’s later that night and I’m on the couch under a blanket, scrolling through shows on Netflix. I didn’t eat dinner after I got home from shopping with Bridget and I’ve avoided my phone like it’s coated with poison.
“You’d be surprised,” I tell him. “But it was fine.”
He pats my leg beneath the blanket and takes a drink from the beer. “Good. Surprised you’re home, actually. Thought you might be out.”
I shake my head. “Nope. Here I am.”
He pulls at the tie around his neck and loosens it. “Do I ask if all is well in your world?”
I wrinkle my nose. “No.”
“I feel like I should.”
I shrug. “Just…it’s whatever.”
“I think that is daughter-speak for things aren’t great.”
I shrug again.
He raises an eyebrow. “Trevor?”
I hesitate, then nod.
“You care to fill me in on the specifics?”
I shake my head. “Not really. And it’s not because I don’t want to tell you, but it’s more because I’ve thought about it all day and I truly have no idea what’s going on, so I just…want to leave it alone for the night.”
He takes another drink from the beer and nods. “Alright. Fair. But you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I am.” I hope I sound convincing enough.
He pats my leg again. “Okay. It’s nice to have you home. Don’t mean to insinuate otherwise.”
“It’s nice to be home.”
He pulls the tie all the way off. “Not sure how much you’ll actually see of me, though. Work is…a lot right now.”
“Yeah?”
He nods slowly. “Yeah. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy I made this choice to go in house with Frank. I really am. But getting everything in place, plus handling new stuff is proving to be…a lot.” He smiles. “Think I already said that.”
“Just regular work stuff?” I ask.
“Pretty much,” he says. “He really wants to be aggressive with some developing and investing the first part of next year, so that means we need to have all of our ducks in a row right now before we hit January.” He waves a hand in the air. “It’s all boring stuff, really. Just means there’s a lot to do and I need to do most of it.”
I give him my best reassuring smile. “You’ll get it done.”
He nods again. “You’re right. I will.” He glances at me. “Just not sure what that means for me and you over the next couple of weeks.”
“I’ll be fine,” I tell him. “Do what you need to do.”
“I appreciate that,” he says. “But I’ll make sure we have some time. I promise.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
We sit there in silence for a minute as he drinks his beer.
“You think I should go see mom during the break?” I ask.
He raises an eyebrow. “Wow. Where did that come from?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I just hadn’t thought about it.”
“I mean, if you want to, sure,” he says. “We can get you a ticket. Or she can. I didn’t know you were even thinking about that.”
“I wasn’t,” I tell him. “I mean, not really. But I don’t know. Just wonder if I should.”
“Well, selfishly, I don’t want you to,” he says. “But that’s how I always feel. If you want to go up there, I get it. And I’m sure she’d love to have you.”
In truth, I hadn’t thought at all about going to see her until I got home and everything turned to crap. I can’t say that I really want to go, but it might be a way to escape whatever the hell is going on in Sunset.
“I don’t know.” I finger the edge of the blanket. “Just something that crossed my mind.”
“Maybe talk to her and see what their plans are,” he suggests.
My mother is so much more difficult than my dad. Just talking to her can be a chore. And the longer I think about going to see her, the more resistant I am to the idea. I’m just looking to escape, and I’m not sure that’s an answer that will make me feel any better.
My dad nudges my foot. “Hey. You still with me?”
“Huh?”
“You zoned out there for a second.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” he says, winking at me. “Just checking in with you. If you want to go to your mom’s, it’s fine with me, Pres. Really.”
“I don’t think I really want to.” I sigh. “I don’t know what I want.”
“This is where I’d ask a whole bunch of questions if I wasn’t so cool and didn’t do that kind of thing,” he says.
“Well, thank goodness that’s not you,” I say.
“It’s not me right now,” he clarifies. “But if this keeps up, I’ll be forced to go all dad mode on you and pry into your personal life a bit more.”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“I always worry about you,” he says. “It’s sort of my job.”
“Well, you don’t have to,” I tell him. “I’ll be fine.”
He stares at me.
“What?” I ask.
“I’m not dumb. I know something is going on with you and Trevor.”
It’s impossible to deny, so I don’t even try. “Yeah. Well.”
“I’m sorry,” he says, squeezing my foot. “I won’t pry, but I’m sorry. Seems like you’re upset and I hate to see that.”
I shrug. “I’ll be okay. Whatever happens.”
“That sounds ominous.”
I don’t say it, but it feels ominous to think it, too.