Unfortunately, she hadn’t mentioned the spa in a while.
“I don’t know. Hopefully soon, so I can spend a week or two not having to hide in my room. Every time I leave the room, she finds some reason to criticize me or something to blame on me.” I put my sunglasses up on my head and pouted at Todd. “It’s getting worse. Tell me again how it’ll be soon.”
Todd pushed my sunglasses back onto my nose, and I rested my head against the lounge chair. “Ellie, doll, we’re going to have an incredible time. You get your trust fund two years from today. I get mine two months before you do. If we can, we’ll get you out of there before you’re even eighteen. We’ll get an apartment near campus, and I’ll decorate it perfectly.”
I began to imagine what an apartment decorated by Todd would look like. It wasn’t pretty. “We’ll make so many friends and have parties every weekend. And we’ll have access to our money, so nobody can tell us what to wear, what to eat, where to go, or when to be where. The monster can’t blame you for anything anymore.” It sounded heavenly.
“We’ll eat healthy foods and work out every day,” he continued, “and meet gorgeous guys getting high-level degrees to challenge our excessive intellects. Then, we’ll push them to the curb because we won’t have time for their nonsense.”
I laughed at his story. “Todd, you wouldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. You’re too nice.”
“You don’t know. I might. We’ll be grown and svelte. We might also be mean. Hush.” He handed me the sun block. “Time to reapply. One thing we won’t have is skin cancer.” I slathered the lotion on my skin as he continued.
“You’ll get your dual major, English Lit and Business. And I’ll get my MBA.” I turned my head to watch him. He always talked with his hands. I watched him flail them around as he spoke. “Then, fresh off of a successful college career, you’ll take over the company and fire the bitch, and I’ll start my spa. And she won’t be allowed in the door, no matter how much she tries to bribe my staff.”
He paused when my cell phone rang—my dad. I checked the time, but it was only four. He should’ve been at work for another two hours. I answered quickly. “What’s up, Dad, everything okay?”
“Where are you, Ellie?” he asked with an edge to his voice.
“Todd’s.” I kept it short. There was no telling what sort of story my stepmother had concocted to get me in trouble. Best to wait and see.
“I need you to come home, please. You can bring Todd, but I need to talk to you.” He disconnected as soon as he was done talking.
I turned to Todd and stood. “Dad wants me home and said you should come so we can talk.” My heart sank. “He didn’t even mention my birthday.” I shuffled my feet, dreading what was coming as we walked three houses down. Raquel would have some horrible story, and Dad would believe every line of it. He thought I was a rebellious brat. He always talked about how disappointed in me he was.
Every time I tried to tell him how horribly she treated me, he chalked it up to more rebellious behavior on my part. She’d done a number on him. He never would’ve believed I could be so bad before he met her.
I trudged up the front stairs and opened the door. “Dad?” The large home made my voice echo. Immediately after moving in, Raquel took down the classy decor my mom left and replaced it with ostentatious junk. Her taste was horrible. It was minimalist meets safari jungle tour. Todd faked vomiting every time he looked at the zebra skin hanging on the wall.
“In here, Ellie,” Dad called from the kitchen. Todd and I entered the kitchen to the sound of the garage door opening off the kitchen. Dad had a huge grin on his face, and my step mother looked like she’d sucked on a lemon for her lunch.
“What’s going on?” I asked. I looked from Dad to Raquel with apprehension. What had him grinning?
“Can you go out to the garage please?” Dad asked politely.
Todd snickered behind me. “Dad, c’mon. What did I do this time? Am I to have trashed the garage or something?” I dreaded the shoe dropping.
I felt a push from Todd behind me. “Just go out,” he hissed. I sighed and made my way to the side door that led to the garage.
I poked my head out the door, expecting to see Raquel’s Mercedes and Dad’s Lexus. Instead, a white Honda Accord with dark tinted windows sat alone in the garage. A huge red bow was pasted to the hood. I looked into the kitchen to my dad. His face lit up with excitement, as if he had received a car himself. “Dad! I thought you forgot!” Tears sprang to my eyes.
“How could I forget your birthday, Ellie-Bellie? You’re sixteen! Now, hop in, and I’ll take you to the DMV to get your license.”
The tears broke free and rolled down my cheeks. “Oh, Dad. I took driver’s ed last semester. All I had to do was take the certificate by the DMV this morning, and I got my license. Todd took me before school.”
Instead of being thankful for the car, my tears were because my own dad didn’t know that I’d taken driver’s ed. He hadn’t taught me to drive. He’d checked out when he married Raquel.
I still remembered the father who taught me to read while hiding under his big, fancy desk in his office. I remembered the dad who taught me to swim and ride a bike. He painfully and embarrassingly taught me about having a period and where babies came from. I remembered the man that had an active role in my life. He was a shell of the man he used to be. I tried to imagine he was still the old dad, but sometimes he made it impossible to pretend.
“Take her out for a test drive then. Take Todd. You two have fun.” He fiddled with his glasses, unsure what to say. I guessed he was realizing he should’ve known about my driver’s education class. I walked over and hugged him. Raquel rolled her eyes at me behind his back. Her venom spewed from her eyes. I’d pay for the car later.
Wes broke through my memories. “Earth to Ellie. Where’d you go?”
I laughed nervously. “I’m sorry, Wes. Since my dad died, I keep getting thrown into memories I’d long ago repressed. They say it’s normal, but it’s still unnerving.” I realized we were almost at the restaurant. How long was I silent, reflecting my own past? “I’m so sorry I was rude.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it. You looked sad, so I didn’t interrupt you for a while. I know grief when I see it.” He took one hand off the steering wheel to give my knee a reassuring squeeze. “Maybe, one day, you’ll feel like sharing memories with me. If tonight goes well, that is.” His voice took on a teasing tone.
I shook off the ghost of the memory and tried to come up with something to talk about. “So… Tell me something about yourself, Wes.”
