Seventeen
Pretendinglike I didn’t completely despise Juliet was harder than the race. Dad and I managed to beat our last race time, which was more than either of us expected. Cheering each other one and competing together was fun, but it all ended as we crossed the finish line and Juliet appeared with two bouquets of roses.
I accepted mine and said thank you despite wanting to hit her across the face with them. We had a tradition of eating a delicious, carb-heavy meal after, complete with the richest dessert to celebrate the end of training and another race.
“Where are we going?” I was hoping I’d had time to shower and change before our reservation, but Dad looked at me with confusion on his face.
“What do you mean?”
My smile wavered, but I tried not to let my voice show my disappointment. “For dinner.”
He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Juliet. “I. . . well, we have plans with another couple from the office.”
I let him get away with so much these last few months. I didn’t complain when he went back on his word and started staying in the city for days on end. I let it slide when he forgot plans or canceled last minute, but this was one of the few traditions that we had. Just me and him. I refused to let him off easy this time.
“But we always go out after a race. It’s our tradition.”
Juliet looked between us with a look of concern. “We can go another time, Ron.”
Dad shook his head. “They got tickets to the symphony. We can’t just cancel on them.”
“I’m sure they could find another couple.”
“Not this last minute. That’s rude.” Dad clearly didn’t see the irony in his words.
“But it’s okay to bail on me?” I interrupted their mini-debate.
Dad looked as if I slapped him. “Honey, no.”
“That’s exactly what’s happening.”
“We didn’t have set plans,” he argued.
“I thought it was an automatic thing. We have a race, and we go to a big dinner and eat until we’re ready to puke. We’ve done it for years.”
He finally looked guilty. “I didn’t even think of it.”
Now, I felt like the one that had been slapped. “Fine. Have fun tonight.”
Juliet reached for me, but I twisted out of her reach.
“Avalon, wait. We can at least get lunch or a treat.”
I shook my head. “It’s fine.”
“I’m so sorry, honey. I’ll make it up to you,” Dad promised.
I met his eyes and ignored the plea on his face. He wanted me to forgive him, to take away the pain of disappointing me. That wasn’t happening. “I’m sure you’ll try.”
“Tomorrow. I’ll come home tomorrow, and we can have a special dinner, just the two of us.”
“Fine,” I agreed only because I was confident he would change plans later. “There’s something I need to talk to you about anyway.”
I fought every urge in my body to look at Juliet. I couldn’t give anything away.
“Okay. I’ll be there.”
Sure. I turned and walked away without saying goodbye to either of them. I never held it against my dad when he didn’t show up or canceled plans last minute. He was busy and life happened. I told myself he didn’t do it on purpose. This was different. This was the first time I felt truly disappointed by him.