Cadence nodded.
“The problem is that you’re stubborn. Your pride has been hurt, and you can’t let go of it to forgive him. Sounds like someone else I know.”
Cadence snapped her head up. “Don’t you dare . . .”
“What? Compare you to your father?” Fanny asked.
Cadence stood up, and Fanny grabbed her arm.
“Honey, you’re my ride home,” she reminded her.
Cadence plopped back down on the bench. She was seething, and Fanny saw.
“Hear me out, you little steam engine,” Fanny said. She took Cadence’s hand. “Look at what your father’s pride has done to your relationship with him. Just think about it for a second. He did an awful thing to you, and his pride won’t allow him to ask for forgiveness.”
Cadence tried to pull her hand free, but Fanny clamped on to it like a lifeline. One way or the other, she was going to make Cadence understand.
“Pride breaks even the strongest people. It wrecks relationships, marriages, friendships. It’s ugly and can warp even the gentlest hearts. Cadence, look at me,” Fanny said.
Cadence looked up reluctantly.
“It’s happening to you. Your pride—if you cannot check it, if you cannot learn to break it, if you cannot learn to forgive Mark—your pride will be your undoing. It will destroy you and Mark.”
Cadence stared into the old woman’s eyes. She saw wisdom and love and a softness that comes from years of experience in learning how to be selfless—how to put another person first. She wondered if her eyes would reflect that when she was older. If she didn’t start learning now, they never would.
“Are you hearing me?” Fanny asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Cadence replied.
“Are you thinking about it?”
Cadence nodded.
“Then I’ve done what I’ve come here to do,” Fanny said. She stood up slowly. “Come on. Let’s go home for tea.”
Cadence smiled. “I hate tea,” she mumbled.
“Well, I thought at some point it’d grow on you,” Fanny said.
“No, but I do what you tell me. I take it, and I drink it when it’s offered to me.”
“Well, Cadence, that right there shows me that you’re not a completely hopeless cause.”
Cadence burst out laughing. Fanny giggled too as they headed down the flower-lined path towards the car. She silently prayed for Cadence’s heart, and Cadence knew it.
***
Cadence searched the bottom cupboard for the rum, but all the liquor was gone. She swore there were several bottles just the other day. What? Did Mark drink all of it?
“Mark?!” she called.
He rounded the corner of the kitchen and stood over her.
“Where’s the rum?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I gave it away.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t think it needed to be in the house,” he replied.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why?”
“Because I don’t wanna encourage any more of—” He paused and waved his hand around. “—this.”
“What’s ‘this’?” she asked, mimicking his hand wave.
“You. Drinking.”
She stood up. “Excuse me?”
He scratched the back of his neck. “I think you’re drinking a little too much, Cadence.”
She laughed disdainfully. “Seriously? What? Are you my dad?”
“No. He’s an asshole. I’m not,” Mark replied.
“That’s debatable,” Cadence mumbled.
Mark drew in his breath. “I just thought that maybe you’d wanna ease up a little bit. Every time I see you, you’re throwing back.”
“Every time you see me?” she snapped. “That’s been, like, five times in the last two weeks! Suddenly I have a drinking problem?”
“Let’s talk about that for a minute,” Mark said. “Why have I only seen you five times in the last two weeks? We live together. Shouldn’t I see you more?”
“I’ve been busy with school,” Cadence lied.
“You’ve been busy getting wasted,” he countered.
“Fuck you!”
Mark rolled his eyes. “You’re mad at me. I get it. I get what this is all about. And I don’t know what more I can do, Cadence. I’ve apologized to you. I’m sorry. Genuinely sorry for lying to you. Why can’t you accept that?”
“Because it’s not enough!” she screamed. She pushed past him and grabbed her purse and book bag from the dining room table.
“Where are you going?” Mark asked.
“None of your business,” she barked.
His feet moved before his brain registered his intentions. He grabbed her book bag strap and forced her to a halt.
“Let go!” she screamed, twisting against his hand.
“I will,” he said softly. “Just tell me where you’re going.”
“No!”
“Tell me where you’re going, Cadence!”
“No!”