“I’m going to be a physicist. Or a physics teacher. Daddy says I can be anything I want if I work really hard. So what do you want to be when you grow up?” Twyla asked, finally taking a breath.
“Oh. I, um… I don’t know. I’ll probably find another campground or resort to work at.”
She definitely preferred the campground to waitressing. Or maybe she could get a gig at Howard’s, the fancy grocery store. That might be nice, especially if they gave an employee discount. She really should be working on harder to find a job. Hopefully some of the new hires for the high season would leave soon or get fired and she’d be able to snag their spots.
Twyla interrupted her planning. “No, silly. Not the boring job you do to make money but like, yourcareer.”
This must be a distinction Mr. Fox had made because Twyla obviously took it very seriously.
“I do filing and other admin stuff at a tech company, but that’s just to make some money while I’m in school. So what’s your calling? Your, um, yourvocation, that’s the word.”
“Good vocab word, sweetheart,” Mr. Fox said from the front seat.
Wow, she totally did not have one of those. Carey had wanted to be a nurse but Lilith… All she’d ever wanted to do was have enough money to live and do her makeup and dress the way she liked and she hadn’t thought too much more about it than that.
She could feel her cheeks getting hot. Yeah, Vance was out of her league and she’d known that from the start but it hadn’t stared her in the face in quite the same way despite his fancy townhouse and his fancy car and his fancy job and—
“I think Lilith’s still figuring that out. Aren’t you, little girl?”
She met her daddy’s eyes in the rearview mirror and was at once grateful that he hadn’t left her twisting in the self-conscious wind Twyla’s question had kicked up but also even more uncomfortable. Vance obviously thought she should have a vocation, like being a lawyer was for him. Would he be disappointed in her if she never did?
“Mm-hmm,” she agreed, because what else was she supposed to do?
She was so relieved when Twyla squealed, “We’re here! I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!” and she tried not to bolt out of the car even as she felt as though she was crawling out of her skin.
* * *
Vance had been to this ice cream spot before with Arthur and Saoirse since it was one of Saoirse’s favorites and he couldn’t wait to see what his little girl ordered. He suspected it would be either one of the offbeat flavors they sometimes had or, hilariously, vanilla. He couldn’t wait to find out.
He also wanted to tuck Lil under his arm and tell her he didn’t give a rat’s ass about what she did for work or whether she wanted to work at all. It was nice that Twyla was so into physics and worked so hard and that of course Gunnar was supportive. But being a driven, go-getter had never been an essential on his list of desired traits in a partner.
Hell, part of him wanted to go the old school route and have a wife who didn’t work because he could support them both. That’d make him feel like a big man, like he’d really made it.
Twyla had waited for Gunnar to open her door and hand her out of the car, but Lil had let herself out and was standing on the gravel with a tight smile on her face.
He closed the gap between them and slung his arm over her shoulder, leaned down to murmur in her ear.
“You feeling a little awkward sauce, poppet?”
She pursed her lips and looked away but then conceded, “Yeah.”
Poor little girl. Probably didn’t help matters that a few people at the ice cream stand had started staring at Lil’s getup. Yes, it was very dramatic with the blood splatter tights and boots, and the dark red Stevie Nicks-esque dress, not helped any by the fact that she’d popped her parasol to shade herself from the sun. Luckily it was resting on her other shoulder, otherwise the thing would’ve poked him in the eye.
Twyla had dragged Gunnar over to the ordering line at a skip and when Gunnar shot him a “Everything okay?” look, Vance held up a finger to tell him it’d be a minute.
“What’s bothering you?”
Her whole pretty face scrunched up and the back of Vance’s neck started to prickle because there were definitely parents telling their kids not to stare at Lil and a group of teenage girls who were whispering behind their hands as they stared in their direction.
Being the center of attention like this was uncomfortable. Reminded Vance of his school days when he’d get teased about the out-of-style clothes he wore, or how he hadn’t been able to invite the girl he liked to prom because he didn’t have enough money for tickets never mind to rent a tux. Made him think about how he’d picked what sports he tried out for in high school based on how much equipment he’d have to buy.
He had to stomp those ugly feelings back down into the pit of shame where they’d come from when Lil started to talk, her voice soft and wobbly.
“Would you like me less if I told you I don’t think I even have a ‘vocation’?” She put the word vocation in air quotes and looked at him searchingly with her black eyes. “Like maybe it’s not that I haven’t found one yet but maybe I never will?”
He squeezed her against him as hard as he dared and shook his head. “Nah. Some people are lucky and they find a job they’re really passionate about and that they’re amazing at. Some people have jobs they do to pay the bills and they’re super into their hobbies. As long as you’re happy, I don’t care.”
“You don’t think it makes me boring?”