Her eyes flash to mine, filled with pain and tears. “Yes I do. Ido.”
“No you don’t.” I shake my head. “We had a great weekend together, it was a lot of fun. But it was just sex. Good sex isn’t all there is to a relationship, and the fact you think it is shows me you’re too immature for this.”
“Immature?” She rushes at me and shoves me in the chest. “How can you say that to me?”
“Go back to the party, honey.” I seize her wrists, and look down at her sternly. “Go to Boston, and forget about me. Forget about all of it. It didn’t mean anything, remember?”
“Fuck you!” She covers her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking as she cries.
Fix this. Fix it now. Fucking say something,you goddamn coward.
But she runs away from me before I can say anything.
Fireworks keep going off above my head, and the people I love, my family, my daughter, cheer and laugh and celebrate.
But I know that somewhere, a woman is crying her eyes out because of me. I ruined her graduation party, I ruined her memories of our time together, and I became just like all the other assholes who hurt her.
Even at my big age, I still managed to act like a little shit, and make her feel used.
You really don’t deserve her.
I float through the rest of the night, trying not to notice when Amber’s mother comes out of the house, concern on her face as she says something to her husband. He frowns and hands her a set of car keys, and she waves him off with a sad smile.
Amber’s mother leaves, and when Laurie asks where Amber is, someone says that she went home because she was sick.
I can’t take it anymore, and ask Mella to drive Laurie home.
I leave the party quietly, not wanting to ruin Laurie’s fun.
Then I go home, down half a bottle of whiskey, and pass out in my bed, hoping to god I don’t dream of tear-filled brown eyes and that sweet voice calling my name.
Of course, I fucking do.
10
THREE WEEKS AFTER THE PARTY
“Well,that’s the last of it,” Laurie announces, taping the last box and scrawlingBedroom - Dads Hon the top in black sharpie. She gets to her feet and gazes around the room that was her teenage bedroom, before her eyes land on me. “I can’t believe this is it.”
“Me neither.” I cross my arms and lean against the door frame. “I mean, if you’re really nice I might not rent it out right away. I might even let you come home for Christmas sometimes.”
“How generous of you, thank you, father.” Laurie grins as she picks up the box, shaking her head when I hold out my hands to take it from her. “I got it, dad.”
I follow my extremely capable daughter down to the U-haul she rented to move her life across the country to Seattle.
“You going to be OK driving this thing?” I ask as she slides the box into the back.
“Yeah I’ll be fine.” She rolls the door down and dusts off her hands. “Mom said she’s driven these before too, so I’m pretty confident we’ll be all set.”
“I wish I could be the one to drive you, peanut.”
Laurie waves me off with a smile. “It’s fine, dad. Mom’s really excited to do this with me. Besides, you’re coming to see me before the summer’s out, right?”
“I sure am.”
Laurie’s phone pings, and she pulls it from her pocket. “Aww, poor Amber.”
My stomach does a flip. “Everything alright?”
