“Oh yes, of course. I will page her right now.”
By page, I knew she meant she would say Victoria’s name over the whole school intercom, so that everyone Vic knew would hear her get called to the front office and wonder whether or not she was in trouble. I winced as I heard the woman say, “Will Victoria Hollis please report to the front office, Victoria Hollis,” and I crossed my fingers under my desk that she wouldn’t betooupset with me.
“I will put you on hold until she gets here, is that alright?” the woman asked.
“Yes, of course.”
I was on hold all of a minute before Vic answered. “Dad?” she said.
“Hey honey.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I said quickly. “I just wanted to talk to you about this afternoon. I have to stay at the office late, so I need you to find a friend who you can hang out with until tonight.”
She groaned. “That’s it? Why didn’t you text me?”
“I did, but you didn’t answer.”
A second went by where she said nothing. “You texted me like five minutes ago! You have to give me some time to answer,” she said. “I was in class!”
“I know, I know, but I will be in and out of meetings for the rest of the day, so I wasn’t sure when or if I would see a message back from you. I just wanted to make sure you had a place to go.”
“I can’t believe you called the officeagain,” she said. “I’ve told you how much I hate when you do this. And for something as stupid as an afterschool play date!”
“Hey now,” I said. “No need to be rude. I already explained to you why I did what I did, and while I know it can be embarrassing for me to call the office—”
“It’s not just embarrassing Dad,” she said, her tone sharp as a knife.
I paused. “Then, what is it?”
She sighed. “Nothing. Never mind. It’s fine, I will find someone to go home with. I’ll text you whose house I’m at once I figure it out.”
“Wait, honey, tell me what’s going on,” I said.
“It’s nothing, Dad,” she said. “I have to go. I have math starting soon. See you later tonight.” She hung up and I was left sitting at my desk looking confused and wishing I had a do-over. Not just a do-over for that conversation, but a do-over for a lot of things.
Maybe it was time I pulled back a little.
Victoria wasn’t a kid anymore, and the longer I treated her like one, the more she would end up resenting me. So, I made another promise to myself, similar to the one I’d made last night when I decided not to think about Kat inthat wayanymore. I was going to stop thinking of Vic as a child.
I just hoped I would be better at keeping this second promise than I was the first.
* * *
I woke up with my face stuck to a memo that had been sitting on my desk. As I brought my head up, the piece of paper came with it, attached to my cheek. I pulled it off and put it in my drawer to be dealt with tomorrow and rubbed my sleepy eyes. It was dark out, and I must’ve fallen asleep after eating my dinner, which my secretary had been kind enough to pick up for me before she left for the night.
I checked the time, it was going on nine, and I had texted Vic saying I would be home by now. I cursed under my breath and patted my pockets, looking for my phone. As I did, however, I heard a sound coming from outside of my office.
That’s odd.
The cleaning crew didn’t normally come to this floor on Monday nights, and I had just assumed that everyone else who worked in the office left long ago. I strained to listen, thinking maybe it had just been the sound of the heat shutting off or something, but then I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps, so I knew someone was there.
“Hello?” I said. I stood up and headed for the door to my office, which was open even though Ialwaysclosed it behind me. “Is someone there?”
I was in the doorway now, and I had this memory of something Vic told me happened in the scary movie she watched with her friends the other night. A man was being haunted by a demon he’d accidentally unleashed, and it stalked him through his day, even following him to work at one point. “Uh, hey, is someone else here?” I called out, laughing a little at myself for thinking a demon might answer back.
“In here,” a smooth, seductive voice called from the breakroom.