“Well they are cool. They gave me the guest room. And get this, it has its own attached bathroom. It’s perfect. If mom weren’t such a bitch, maybe I could just stay there all the time.”
“Hey, don’t call your mother that.”
“Why not? I’ve heard you call her that plenty of times.”
I ran my hand down my face.
“Because she’s your mother. Listen, has she ever had the talk with you?”
“Oh god.”
“If you are going to be sleeping over at your boyfriend’s, one of us is obligated to talk to you about this.”
“Please don’t.”
“Candace, I’m being serious. I have to make sure you are being safe.”
“Jesus, dad. Yes, I am ok? I am!” Candace covered her ears and closed her eyes.
“Are you guys…”
“We are NOT talking about this!”
Just then, Candace’s phone rang and she immediately answered, jumping up from her seat and walking away from me and this conversation.
“We’ll revisit this Alex conversation another time! Mark my words!” I yelled to her.
After about twenty minutes, she finally returned and sat back down in her chair, refusing to make eye contact with me.
“Do you have any other friends who you could be sleeping over with?” I continued.
“Oh my god. I thought we were done talking about this!”
Candace got up once again, walking in the direction of the car. I ran to catch up with her.
“I have plenty of friends,” she said to me, waiting with her arms crossed for me to unlock the passenger door.
“Alright, alright.” I opened the door for her. “How’s volleyball going?”
I knew the season was over, but sports was the topic I always reverted to when I didn’t know what to say to my daughter.
“Club ball just ended. We were pretty good. I got to play setter for a while.” Her proud expression made me smile.
“That’s awesome! I’m sorry I didn’t make it to a game.”
I had tried to come to several games, but Amber kept telling me the wrong times and locations, and Candace, per usual, hadn’t responded to any of my texts. When I confronted Amber about it later, she would just feign ignorance.
“Whatever.”
“The school season starts up in August right? You should still be with me for the first few weeks, so I’ll definitely make it to those games.”
“Alright. I think I’m going to make varsity this year, so the matches will be later in the evening.”
I watched as Candace’s eyes flickered to me, testing my response.
“Even better.”
“Cool.”