Jia
“Come in,” Dad calls out, and I open the door and walk into his office.
I pull in a deep breath as he lifts his head and meets my nervous gaze.
It’s early, first thing in the morning. I thought I’d be early for work today because I wanted to see him.
He knows about me and Paul, and I don’t want to go through the day without talking to him.
“Morning,” he says with a little smile. He looks like he’s in a decent mood.
“Hey, Dad.” I return his smile and make my way over to sit in the chair in front of him.
“Jesus, you look as frightened as the day you came to tell me about your trip to Vegas.”
Lord… if I look like that, it’s not good. I lost twenty grand at a casino, all money from my trust fund I shouldn’t have known about. I managed to get access and persuaded the trustees to give it to me all without Dad knowing. I said it was for a trip for my course. He went ape shit when he found out the truth.
Unlike that time, I won’t dance around the topic and try to soften the blow. He already knows the secret, it’s just for me to explain my side of the story.
“Dad, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about me and Paul,” I say and bite the inside of my lip.
He sits forward and studies me. “Which time? Now or years back?”
“Both. This time was just…” I don’t know what to say. I absolutely won’t mention Montrose Place. That will take away from the real goal of Paul and me giving ourselves a second chance.
“It doesn’t matter what it is. Are you happy?” he asks, and I nod.
“I’m happy.”
“Then I can’t ask for anything more. What happened before? Weren’t you happy then?”
I hold his gaze. How do I answer that? How do I begin to form the explanation when I’m not sure myself?
I could give him some lame excuse, like it just didn’t work out, but this is my father. He can see through bullshit like none other. Most weeks may see us fighting like cats and dogs, but if I had a problem or if something was up with me, he’d be the first person I’d go to.
In my life, there’ve only been a handful of things I kept from him. They were all to do with Paul, or as a result of him.
“I was happy,” I answer and think about how to phrase the rest of that response. He wasn’t going to ask me something like this if he didn’t already suspect that we had a bad breakup. “I don’t know what was going on with him, Dad. He just changed and seemed to want something else.”
That’s my best attempt at an answer. Even as I say it, however, I get that feeling again. Like there’s more to the story.
Sadness fills Dad’s eyes. “Maybe he had a lot going on at the time.”
“Yeah. Maybe. You aren’t mad, are you? I know I should have been the one to tell you.”
He shakes his head. “Please don’t worry about that. Are you okay otherwise? Neither of you have talked about Montrose Place.”
I draw in a breath. “He wants to give it to me, but I think we can share it.”
That’s what I’ll be telling him next week when we get to day thirty. I want him in on it, whether that’s to keep it as a spa or otherwise. That’s the only way to take the building out of the equation.
“I’m real glad to hear that, Jia.” He smiles. “And… I hope things can work out for the two of you this time.”
He looks like he really means that.
“Me too,” I answer.
I really do.