He sighed to fight back his anger. “He took my cell phone, and disconnected the house phone. Took my car keys and changed the security code on the gate so I couldn’t get out at all. He’s pissed.“ AJ laughed to himself. “I was just glad that he didn’t decide to frisk Karl when he came in to see if he had a phone on him.”
Hearing his voice was like having a cool drink of water after being in the desert for a week. Words couldn’t even begin to describe how relieved I was. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine that he was there with me while we talked on the phone for nearly an hour. Our conversation was cut short when he had to hang up abruptly. I figured that his father was nearby and he had to hide the phone. But I could handle it as long as I knew that I’d hear back from him soon. My heart and my mind were finally at peace.
Chapter Fifteen A week had passed since I’d seen AJ. I was trying to let our brief phone calls a few times a day be enough, but it was hard not seeing him. We’d be back at school in a few short days, but each day felt like an entire month, so there wasn’t much comfort in that. The New Year came in and I had yet to see his face. I settled in on the couch and rested my head on one of the throw pillows. The smell of mom’s pot roast floated in from the kitchen. My appetite was still scarce, but I started forcing myself to eat after she became worried that I was starting to lose weight.
“Dinner’s ready,” Mom called out. I rolled my eyes and lifted myself from the couch, shuffling to my seat at the dining room table. Both of my parents stared at me as I moved my food around on my plate.
“Honey, you should really try to eat something. Pot roast is your favorite,” my mother pleaded. I looked up at her face and saw the concern in her eyes. After taking a deep breath, I shoved a forkful of food into my mouth, swallowed, and forced a smile for her sake. She seemed to feel a little better, but daddy wasn’t buying it. He hadn’t said much to me about AJ since Christmas. I explained briefly to both of my parents that it didn’t go so well, but neither of them had been able to pull any details from me. They definitely noticed that I was spending more time in the house than usual.
“Samantha, baby you’re gonna have to get yourself together. Your mother and I can’t help if we don’t know what’s wrong,” he said caringly. “I know you’re not comfortable talking about AJ with me, but maybe we need to give it another shot. I’m willing to be as open minded as you need me to be. Just let me try to help.” I looked into his eyes only to find pure love and concern for me. He really did just want to help.
I nodded, agreeing to try again. It wasn’t going to be easy opening up to him because of the way he’d responded to AJ in the past, but something about the way he looked at me made me believe that he was really going to try to see things differently this time.
After dinner he led me to his study while mom straightened the kitchen up. My hands were clammy and I was beginning to have second thoughts. Daddy shut the door behind me and then sat behind his desk.
“Alright,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I’m ready when you are.”
I stared at him for a few seconds before I began. “Dinner at AJ’s house was a total disaster. His mom was really nice, but his dad……” I hesitated. “I overheard him and AJ talking on my way to the bathroom and he didn’t even give me a chance. He took one look at me and made up his mind.” Daddy hung his head a little, feeling ashamed as I said the words. I’d just described the very thing he’d done to AJ on my birthday. “He told AJ that I wasn’t good enough for him.”
“Based on what?” He asked defensively.
“He told him that he didn’t want him with a black girl because I was gonna drag him down,” I replied. This was the first time since the incident happened that I talked about it. Even the few times AJ brought it up, I quickly changed the subject.