The earthy scent of brewing coffee pulls me from sleep the next morning. I crack my eyelids open slightly to gauge the time of day. It’s not bright yet, but the sun is up.
Dad must drink dark coffee these days, because the smell is powerful even in the upstairs bedroom I’m sleeping in with the door closed. I groan and pull the covers back up to my neck.
“Hey, you’re up.” My father is leaning against the frame of the door to the room, which is very much open. “Morning.” He walks into the room and sets a steaming mug of coffee on my bedside table.
“What?” I croak as I squint against the light, my eyes fully open now. “It’s early.”
“We’re leaving in forty-five minutes. You’ve got time to shower and pack before breakfast is ready.”
I give him a confused look. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You are, though.” His voice has a chipper edge to it. “You’re coming to work with me.”
I hum with amusement. “Oh, is it bring your hot mess daughter to work day? Everyone already knows I’m a disaster, so we can skip that.”
He walks over to the other side of the room and opens the blinds, light flooding the room. I protest with a dramatic groan.
“I don’t get up this early. Leave me alone.”
“Tally, you’re welcome to stay with me for as long as you want, but your days of rotting in bed all day are over.”
Ugh, this is the last thing I’m up for. My dad thinks he can bring me out of my perpetual bad mood by spending time with me, and he’s so far off. What I need is to be left alone.
“I rot on the couch, too,” I quip. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine.”
“Yes, I am,” I fire back. “I’m here because I’m broke, not because I need help.”
The blinds are open in all three windows of the room now, and it’s like a spotlight being beamed directly at my skull. My father is standing at the foot of the queen-size bed, arms crossed in his trademark I mean business pose.
“It’s been five months, Tally. I get needing some time after what happened, but enough. You shouldn’t have quit your job. It’s time for you to focus on something other than your hurt feelings.”
I balk at that. “Hurt feelings? Like I was snubbed at someone’s dinner party? I’m humiliated. I’d rather take a one-way flight to hell than go to their fucking tropical wedding. Do you know that Audra asked me to be a bridesmaid?”
“I haven’t talked to her much lately, so I didn’t know that. Let’s focus on today. We’re leaving for a four-night road trip. Tampa, Phoenix, and Seattle.”
I lie back down. “Have a good trip. I’m not going.”
I’m pulling the covers back up to my chin when they all fly off me. After pulling them away, my dad drops them to the floor.
“What the hell?” I protest.
“You’re coming on the road trip. I don’t expect you to be happy about it, but I expect you to go.”
“I’m twenty-five years old, Dad. I’m not a teenager you can order around.”
He shrugs. “This is for your own good. Get ready.”
I laugh bitterly. “No way. I’m not going on a road trip with your entire team. When you asked me to come stay with you, you didn’t mention anything like that. And I haven’t even been here twenty-four hours. Let me settle in.”
“It’s time to join the world again.” He looks at the watch on his wrist. “Forty minutes. You can get ready, or I’ll carry you from this bed out to my car.”
“Good luck with that.” I curl up into a ball, cold without my blankets. “I’ve gotten a lot bigger and you’ve gotten a lot older since the last time you picked me up.”
I close my eyes, ignoring him. He leaves the room and I’m drifting back to sleep before he’s all the way down the stairs.
I’m once again pulled from sleep, but this time I inhale sharply as I’m whisked out of bed.
