I dress for work and then sit on my bed, sighing. There’s no way I can focus on work today. It’s off the menu. I place a quick call first to my assistant at the gallery, letting her know that I need her to take over for the day. That done, I stare at my phone, sending out a silent prayer that this time she will actually answer.
And I dial her number.
To my surprise, she actually picks up after several rings, sending my heart into overdrive as I hear the sound of the call connecting. “Lexie?” I say immediately, so excited to hear her voice.
“Dad.” The word is flat, leaving me no idea of how she’s feeling – other than it doesn’t sound as though it can be good.
“I’m so glad you picked up,” I say. “I’ve been going out of my mind with worry all night.”
“I stayed with a friend last night,” Lexie says, all but cutting me off. I swallow down the rest of my worries. I guess she doesn’t want to hear it right now. “I’m fine. I have class to get to today.”
“Right.” I understand a hurry-up when I hear one. “Just give a moment, Lexie, alright? I…”
“I don’t want to,” Lexie cuts me off brusquely. It makes my heart stammer in my chest. I’ve never heard her like that before – anything less than polite and cheerful, like my daughter, always is. This is my fault. What have I done to her happy nature? “I’m running late as it is.”
“I get it,” I say, sighing. She doesn’t want me to talk to her – whether she really is late or not, I can hardly tell. She isn’t going to give me much of a chance here. But at least she picked up the call, which is something. “Lexie, I just want to sort this out. I want to get things back to normal, I know it won’t be easy and it won’t happen right away–”
“Dad, stop it,” Lexie says, her tone bristling again. “I can’t stand it. The thought of you with my best friend – it’s sickening. I can’t bear it. I don’t want to talk about this, ever again.”
A lump forms in my throat. Won’t she even listen? But I guess it’s too early. Still, that word – sickening. It’s a strong word. I never thought I would hear it from my own daughter. Then again, I guess I never expected to fall in love. Even though I hoped for it, it’s been so long that I had started to relegate it to the realm of fantasy only – something I barely even had time to think about anymore.
Maybe Lexie was the same. I’ve spent so long being just her Dad, she couldn’t see that I’m also a man, with the same needs and desires like any other. Spending my whole life alone would be cruel. If I can’t make her see that right away, I just have to keep trying.
“Alright,” I say, trying to give into her a little, to show her that I’m willing to meet her at least halfway. “I just want to explain it to you. So that you can understand – this wasn’t done to hurt you. And it wasn’t like I wasn’t thinking of you at all, either. I wanted to make sure that we did this in a way that wouldn’t hurt you. I got it wrong, I can see that.”
“Got it wrong?” Lexie scoffs. “Dad, you couldn’t have got it more wrong if you were actually trying to. I told you, I don’t want to talk about this. I mean it. Don’t bother calling me again if you’re just going to try to justify yourself.”
“Alright, wait, wait,” I say, desperately, trying to stop her from just putting the phone down on me. “I won’t. I promise. I… I’ll call you later tonight, alright? After you’re out of class. Just to… to catch up. Nothing else.”
“Fine.”
Lexie ends the call, but at least I’ve got her permission to call later – well, sort of. She didn’t object, anyway. And that’s a start.
For now, I have to let the matter drop. She’s obviously too angry to even talk about Candy, even in a roundabout way by discussing my decisions. It’s too soon. The wound is still too raw. I also have some work to do in trying to clean up my reputation, making sure that no lasting damage has been done by Robiye’s stupid little prank.
I’ll leave things how they are for now – with Lexie. My daughter needs time. But that doesn’t mean I have to leave everything just as it is right now.
There’s one more person who I still need to talk to – one more person who hasn’t been answering my calls.
I need to fix things with her, too – or all of this won’t even have been worth it.