“I know, Daddy. I love you, too.”
“But that doesn’t mean you need to get married or have babies to make me and your mother proud, or to be the woman we dreamed you’d grow up to be. Without going to college myself, I didn’t fully understand how proud I’d feel today. How amazing it would feel to watch you—” He presses his lips together, too choked up to continue. Which makes me choke up, as well. And for a moment, we’re both silently swallowing air and wiping our eyes.
Finally, Dad gathers himself enough to open the box, and I gasp at the sight of the diamond-encrusted ring inside, the one I remember my mother always wearing with such pride on her lovely hand. Beaming with his love for me, my father says, “Amorina, today, you’re exactly thewoman your mother and I always dreamed you’d be. Wear this ring, and let it always remind you of that.”
I slide the ring onto the ring finger of my right hand, but it’s too big. I try my middle finger next, and smile when it’s a perfect fit. “Isn’t it pretty?” I say, holding up my newly decorated hand. “Now, I’ll look like a queen whenever I flip someone off.”
“Georgie.”
I giggle. “Aw, come on, Dad. You know it’s perfect Mommy’s ring fits my middle finger, instead of my ring finger. We both know I’ll get far more use out of it this way.”
Dad sighs. “You’re still sure you ‘never’ want to get married?”
I purse my lips, considering. “No, I think I’m over that. I only felt that way right after your divorce from Paula. But only because you and Paula made marriage look like an exceedingly stupid thing for anyone to do.”
Dad rolls his eyes. “That’s an understatement.”
“I think nowadays I’m open tomaybegetting married one day. Just not until I’ve gotten my career going. And certainly not before age thirty. I only want one kid, though, so I don’t need to be in any rush.”
Dad looks satisfied. Maybe even relieved. And I totally get it. It’s not that my father believes marriage and babies is the only endgame for a woman. Not at all. He’s a traditional guy in some ways, but not about that. No, I think in addition to him wanting me to experience a love like he had with my mother, and the love he has for me, he simply wants to feel confident I’ll be safe and protected, and loved unconditionally, my whole life, even after he’s gone, whether his departure from this earthly life comes way sooner than either of us would want, or, God willing, decades from now.
Dad takes my hand and gazes at it, perhaps thinking about the happy day, so many years ago, he married a nineteen-year-old spitfire who, tragically, wound up leaving this earth far too soon. He says, “She’s smiling down on you right now, you know.”
“I know,” I say. “I can feel her. She’s smiling down on you, too, Daddy.Always.”
I put my palm on my father’s face, letting my mother’s ring brush his stubbled cheek, and then kiss his other cheek tenderly.
I’m not lying about my motheralwayssmiling down on him, by theway. Even when Dad stupidly married Paula, in the midst of his grief, I know my kind-hearted mother was in heaven, cheering him on. Wanting him to find love again. Wanting him to feel joy after so much sorrow. True, it wasn’t true love for Dad and Paula, to put it mildly, but I’m positive my mother didn’t hold it against my brokenhearted father for blindly stumbling through his pain in that way.
“Don’t worry about me, Daddy,” I whisper. “I’ll always be okay. I’m a fighter. Ahustler.”
He chuckles. “Ahustler?”
I wink. “All good things come to those who hustle.” My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out, check the screen, and whoop. “This is the call I’ve been waiting for, Daddy! Oh my God!”
“I’ll give you some privacy,” Dad says excitedly. He beelines for the door of the kitchen. “Good luck!”
When he’s gone, I hastily answer the call, my hands shaking and my heart thrumming in my chest. “Hello, this is Georgina.”
“Hi, Georgina,” a woman says. “This is Margot, CeeCee Rafael’s personal assistant.”
Oh my God!This is it.The call I’ve been waiting for since I walked out of that coffee date with CeeCee. I collapse into a kitchen chair, praying this woman is calling with happy news.
“Hello, Margot. How are you?”
“Couldn’t be better. CeeCee was wondering if you might be able to come to the office tomorrow morning at ten? Sorry for the late notice, but she’s traveling internationally the following day, and she wants to personally give you some great news. It’s about a job opportunity she has for you. I think you’ll be pleased.”
I squeal, making Margot chuckle. But before Margot responds to my exuberance, a male voice in the background on her end says something to her. “I’m sorry, Georgina, can you hold for a minute? So sorry.”
“Sure.”
And she’s gone, leaving me on hold listening to Katy Perry tell me I’m a firework.
Okay, Georgie, I say to myself.Don’t get too excited.You might have to turn down whatever CeeCee offers you.
Sadly, it’s the truth. I’ve done my research, and therefore knowRock ‘n’ Rollnever hires recent college grads for paid positions. Indeed,there’s a mandatoryunpaidthree-month internship for college grads, which the company uses as a proving ground. If it weren’t for Dad’s medical expenses, I’d take anything offered to me, whether paid or not. Anything to get my foot in the door. Hell, I’d be this assistant’s unpaid assistant, if that’s what was offered to me. But the reality remains, I can’t afford to take anunpaidjob, for more than a few weeks, given Dad’s situation.
Of course, Dad always says it’s not my job to take care of him financially. “I’ll be able to pick up carpentry work again any day now,” he always says. But that seems like a gigantic stretch to me, given the lasting side effects Dad has been experiencing from his treatments.
