“Remember when we were at the sheriff’s office today? When Mom asked you not to make me choose? Why would you want to do that? I’m twenty-seven, and you know I need to make a life for myself. I can’t live at home forever.”
“Not forever, Carly. Just until…”
“You can’t even finish that sentence because you don’t know the answer. You know I’m right. I told Mom that she already had me by my age. I’m not a child and you need to stop treating me like one. You know how hard I’ve worked to move forward, and part of moving forward is being able to date. To have a relationship. And I found a man who makes me feel things that—”
He raises a hand to stop me. “Please. Spare me the details.”
“All I was going to say is that it’s important that I be able to feel. Love. Happiness. Joy. Contentment. A connection with someone else. For so long I wasn’t sure I could, but now I know that I can, and it’s wonderful and I won’t give it up.”
“Does it have to be a Bridger?” he counters, his voice full of crankiness.
I push on. “Yes. It has to be Austin Bridger.”
“Do you really see a future with him?”
Do I?
Absolutely.
I just don’t know what he’s feeling. But he did come home from Seattle for me. He did leave his mother because I needed him. My God, what a day this has been.
“I’d like to think so. But does it matter whether there’s a future? He makes me feel things now. He makes me love my body again, Daddy.” It’s not something I ever expected to tell my father, but I’m not a kid and he’s being ridiculously hardheaded. “He makes me want something more than to merely exist. Isn’t that what you want for me?”
He doesn’t reply right away, and I understand. What he wants mostly is my safety. He’s scared to death of losing me again, and I don’t blame him. But being in a protective bubble because something might happen isn’t a life.
“You’re not going to lose me,” I preempt him. “Especially not to Austin Bridger.”
“Carly—”
“You’ll always be my father, and I’ll always want you in my life. No matter who I end up with.”
“You don’t need anyone, Carly. You can stay here with your mother and me.”
“Austin Bridger aside, you know I can’t do that.”
He sighs. “I know. I just didn’t think you’d be ready to leave us so soon.”
“I didn’t say I was leaving you. I came back, didn’t I? It was Austin who drove me here. He doesn’t want to get between us.”
“Then he shouldn’t have—”
“He hasn’t done anything, Daddy, except make me feel special. And important. And enough.” When he stays silent, I prod, “Is it Austin Bridger you have a problem with? Or is it any man who might find me appealing?”
“I don’t like the Bridgers,” he says gruffly.
“You’ve made that more than clear,” I remind him. “And I’ll tell you again. You don’t know the Bridgers. Not these Bridgers. Please give them a chance. For me.”
He runs his fingers through his hair, and then he rubs his jawline. “I can’t do this right now, Carly.”
“But I came home.”
He nods. “I know you did. And I appreciate that more than you know, but let me sleep on this. I need to get my head on straight. It’s been a harrowing day for everyone. As mayor, I have to figure out what to tell the town about the dead body.”
I can only nod, because he’s right about that. As for the rest, it’s a start, although I have a feeling I have a long way to go to convince my father of anything.