Cassidy:That’s not a word.
Turner:No. Rizz is not a word.
Cassidy:yeah it is. Check the oxford dictionary.
Turner:I did. That’s where I got catawampus.
Cassidy:If you keep pissing mom off, I’m going to catawamp your ass.
Turner:Funny but no points.
Cassidy:Fine but for real, can you make her happy again?
Turner:That question requires a much longer conversation.
Then came the day that Turner canceled on Cassidy because he stayed late to work the Barnes case with Josie. He’d texted her:I’m so sorry, kiddo. I can’t do the festival today. Caught a real bad case at work. See if mom can take you. I’ll make it up to you.
Cassidy:You already booked the balloon flight though.
Turner:I know, kiddo. I’m sorrier than you can possibly imagine. Take mom or a friend. I’ll text you the tickets. Don’t miss it on account of me.
Cassidy’s response was a single word:Fine.
Moments later, Dani began messaging Turner.
Dani:You really are an asshole. You know she was looking forward to this for weeks.
Turner:I know and I apologized to her. I’ll make it up to her, I promise.
Dani:Your promises mean nothing to us. How could you? She’s crying, Kyle. Crying in her room. She doesn’t even want to go now.
Turner:She should go with you. Those tickets were five hundred bucks. Don’t waste them.
Dani:I don’t give a shit how much the tickets cost. Your daughter is devastated.
Turner:My daughter has wanted to go up in a hot air balloon since she was four years old. Take her. She shouldn’t miss out because I’m an asshole.
Dani:If you know you’re an asshole, stop acting like one. Leave work and come take your daughter for the day like you promised.
Turner:I don’t like this anymore than you do but I can’t just leave work. Unfortunately. I’m sorry. This was the last thing I wanted. I was looking forward to spending time with her, too. We got a really bad case today. We’re already short-handed because of the festival. It was unavoidable.
Dani:So now it’s work that’s more important than us. It’s always something. You can lie to our faces and say we come first but it’s just not true. I’m sick of this. Sick of you being an inconsiderate, unreliable jackass. Sick of consoling our daughter every time you screw up.
Turner:Of course that’s how you see me. As a screw up. Guess that’s never going to change.
Dani:You’re never going to change. That’s clear now. We’re done.
Turner:What does that even mean?
But that was the last time Dani responded to any of his messages. He sent several to Cassidy asking her to talk to him. It wasn’t until the next day that Cassidy contacted him.
Cassidy:I can’t really talk right now.
Turner:Did you guys do the balloon ride?
Cassidy:No.
Turner:Kiddo, I really wanted you to have that experience, even without me.
