Dawn by McKayla Box

Chapter 2

“You’re quiet,” my dad says.

It’s the next day. I did stay in my room last night. Kyra went out with Randy and Will, but I stayed in and tried to not watch the clock tick down as I mindlessly flipped through Netflix and then switched to YouTube. I failed.

I tossed and turned for most of the night, but pretended to be asleep when Kyra stumbled in at whatever time that was. The last thing I wanted to do was strike up a conversation in the middle of the night.

I managed to doze off for awhile, but I ended up getting up early and moving my stuff downstairs into the lobby area of the dorm. Kyra mumbled a sleepy goodbye.

My dad got there fifteen minutes earlier than he said he would. He gave me a giant hug when he saw me, then helped me load my stuff into the car.

“Really quiet,” he says.

We’ve been driving for about an hour and he’s right. I haven’t said much. Just been looking out the window as we drive south.

“Just tired,” I tell him.

“Were you out doing things you weren’t supposed to be doing last night?” he asks, glancing over with an arched brow.

I smile and shake my head. “No. I stayed in. I was boring last night.”

“I would’ve thought the last night before vacation would be a big party night.”

“It is,” I tell him. “I just wasn’t feeling it.”

He glances in my direction again, his brow now furrowed. “Everything okay, Pres?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I just didn’t sleep great. And I think I’m worn out from finals week and all that.”

“Well, you should have plenty of time to recover at home for the next couple of weeks,” he says. “What kind of plans do you already have lined up? Am I even going to see you?”

“Of course you’re going to see me. Why wouldn’t you?”

He checks the mirror and changes lanes. “I know you want to see your friends. And Trevor, obviously.”

“Yes, I’m going to see them,” I assure him. “But I’m going to see you, too.”

“The house has been weird without you in it,” he says. “I know we’ve only lived in it for a little over a year, but it’s just felt…empty.” He smiles. “I’ve missed having you there.”

“I’ve missed being there.”

He laughs. “I appreciate you lying to me.”

“I’m not lying!”

“I find it hard to believe you’ve missed being there when you’ve been living on your own in a dorm with new friends.”

“I have.” It’s the truth. “The dorm is noisy. The bathrooms are gross. The food gets boring. And I just miss talking to you.” Again, everything I have just told him is the truth.

He cackles, a pretty impressive villainous sound. “My plan has worked.”

“Your plan?”

He glances at me. “To guilt you into spending time with me.”

I laugh and shake my head. “You don’t need to guilt me into spending time with you.”

He reaches over and puts his hand on my arm. “I’m mostly teasing. You’re an adult now. You get to spend your time how you want and with who you want. I’ve just missed you.”

I know that he has. He’s been great about not calling me all of the time or text blasting me for no reason. And, for the most part, save for a few quick reminders to be safe and smart, he’s been really cool about me living several hours away on my own. And I like my dad. I think that’s an important thing because a lot of kids I know don’t like their parents. But I like him. I like talking to him and spending time with him. So going home and being with him isn’t going to be a chore. I’m actually looking forward to it.

“I do have a little bit of news for you,” he says.

I gaze out the window. I can see the ocean just out to our left. “Oh yeah?”

“Just all happened last week,” he says. “Frank brought me in house.”

I look away from the window to look at him. “Frank Robinson?”

He chuckles. “Uh, yes. Otherwise known as my biggest client and Trevor’s father?”

“Yeah, I know that,” I say, suddenly flustered. “What does that mean? In house?”

“It means I’m his general council now,” he says. “I’ve basically closed my practice and I work solely for him now.”

We moved to Sunset because my dad was looking to start fresh after the divorce from my mother and because he’d landed Frank Robinson as a big client for his new law practice that he was starting. I know that he’s had other clients, but Frank has always been the one who provided him the most work.

“Wow,” I say. “Is that… a good thing?”

He nods. “Yeah, I think so. I look at it this way. I really hated the work that’s required to chase down new clients. I’m not a salesman. I’m a lawyer. And, if I’m being honest, I might’ve been short-changing the other clients I had because I devote so much of my time to Frank’s business. So when he brought it up last week to me, I was hesitant. But then the more we talked and the more I thought about it, it just made the most sense. I don’t have to keep hunting for new clients and I can focus solely on his business.” He smiles. “And the offer he made was a really good one.”

It's always been a little strange that my dad works for Trevor’s dad. It was a shock the first time I went to dinner with him to meet his new client and Trevor showed up. We weren’t exactly on good terms at that point, but then things changed and it was sort of like all of our lives became intertwined in a weird way. Not bad. Just weird.

“Well, if you’re happy about it, then that’s great,” I tell him.

He nods. “Yeah, I am. Frank and I work well together. He’s got more than enough work to keep me busy. And the offer was generous, like I said. So, yeah. I am happy about it.” He glances at me. “I was thinking it might give me a little more time around Trevor, too, but I guess that won’t be happening.”

Hearing his name sparks something in my stomach, a twinge of some kind. “Why? Because you think he’s going to be spending all of his time with me?”

“No,” he said, giving me a funny look. “I mean because he quit working for his dad.”

I stare at him like he’s speaking another language. “What?”

“Because he quit working for Frank?” he repeats, glancing at me again. He checks the mirror, then changes lanes. “Two weeks ago? Whatever he’s got going with Brett is apparently taking up too much of his time. Frank was annoyed, I think, and he didn’t give me any real details. What exactly is he doing?”

I look out the window at the ocean again. I haven’t been able to put my finger on it, but Trevor and I have been off ever since I left Sunset. I knew it was going to be hard being apart, but I thought we’d be okay. Texts. FaceTime. Short visits. But the short visits never materialized. He was gone at Thanksgiving. He hates FaceTime and so do I. So a lot of our communication has been through text. I thought I was being paranoid half the time because it always felt…off. It just didn’t sound like him. And I didn’t want to make too much of it because I wasn’t sure I sound like me when I’m texting. Technology sort of fucks with communication, and not in a good way. But I just couldn’t help feeling like he either wasn’t into it or something else was going on. I tried to talk to Trevor about it, but he always blew me off, telling me I was overthinking everything. He loved me and we were good.

I wanted to believe that.

But now this has me thinking that I’m not wrong, that something is going on with him that I don’t know about.

“Pres?” my dad says. “Did you hear me?”

I take a deep breath, exhale. “Yeah, I heard you. And I don’t know what he’s doing. Because he didn’t tell me that he quit.”