I start to sob some more. He puts an arm around me. “Okay, okay, Katie. Just calm down. It’s okay.”
“I thought . . . “ I say between sniffles. “I know you are both leaving, but maybe I can stay here until I figure out what to do?”
He lets out a sigh. “Well, that’s a problem. We sold the house. We’re closing at the end of the summer.”
I swallow. “Really? So fast?”
Then my father says the most unhelpful thing ever: “Did you say anything that would make it impossible for your company to take you back?”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “Dad. No. I told my boss off. He’d never consider taking me back, and anyway, I don’t want to. I—“
“Well, rule one of the business world. Sometimes you have to learn how to swallow your pride and eat crow,” he says gently. “Besides, you want to stay here for good? In this one-horse town?”
I nod. “I do. I don’t mind it so much anymore.”
He studies me, something dawning in his eyes. “Oh, I see. Dax, right?” He stands up and distances himself from me. “Dax put you up to it.”
“No, I—“
His eyes scrape the ceiling. “I should’ve known. Even in high school it was the same thing. You started staying out past curfew, acting out, become a different person when you were seeing him. He’s always had that hold on you. But you’ve got to realize, you can do so much better—”
“I know, I know. I can do so much better than him. You tell me that all the time. But did you really even get a chance to know him?” He starts to speak, but I cut him off. “The real him, not the rumors. Because dad, I’m telling you, I have and . . . there’s no one better for me. No one. There can’t be.”
By the time I finish, tears are streaming down my cheeks.
“That’s just wonderful. So you’re going to stay here and . . . do what? You have so many opportunities, Katie, and you’re throwing them all away because some guy tells you to.”
I shake my head. “No, dad, you don’t get it. Do you know what he did? He told me to go back to Boston.”
My father snorts. “That’s the first intelligent thing I’ve ever heard him say.”
I throw up my hands. “That’s right, he is intelligent! You won’t give him the time of day!” I say, shocked to find myself still defending Dax, even as he walked away from me and rejected me yet again.
But I still continue, because my father needs to hear the truth. “He told me to go because he knows what you and everyone think of him. He thinks he can never measure up or be good enough for me. But he is good enough, Dad. He really is. I just need to make him see that.”
He sucks in a breath and lets it out slowly. “No. No, Katie. That Dax Harding is a dead end, and hell if I’m going to let me only daughter ruin her life by running off with him!”
He’d said nearly the exact same thing to me four years ago. But this time he’s not going to scare me away, because I’ve seen more of the world now, and I know better.
“Dad,” I say gently. “You don’t have any say. I’m an adult now. And you have to let me do this.”
He won’t look at me. His face is rigid as I plant a kiss on his cheek. I grab my things and climb the stairs to my empty bedroom.
Lying on my bare mattress that morning, I’m both thrilled and scared to death at the prospects. Even in this one-horse town, I’m more excited about the future than I ever was in Boston. I throw a plan together in my head. I’ll go through the online want ads and see what places nearby are hiring. Then I’ll look for an apartment in the center of town—the ones across the street from Murphy’s looked cheap. Maybe my parents will front me the money for a security deposit.
I’ll show Dax I’m not going to leave again.
Am I crazy for planning all of this when Dax himself has basically told me that he doesn’t want to do this? That he doesn’t believe we’re right for each other?
I don’t know, but I do know that I’m finally willing to fight for him, and then we’ll see if he will step up for me in return…
My phone starts to ring on the floor near my mattress. I inspect the display and my heart lodges in my throat. Speak of the devil.
I pick up. “Katie,” he drawls. He doesn’t have to say more. I know he’s drunk. I just hope he didn’t end up screwing that blonde before calling me. I pray he’s better than that.
“You didn’t go back to Boston,” he says, after a bit of silence. He just knows, he didn’t even need to ask.
“I told you, I’m not going back,” I tell him. “With or without you, I’m done with Boston. I’m staying here for good.”
“You’re fucking up your life. You know that, right?”
“Everyone keeps telling me that. But I don’t care. I told you, I don’t care anymore what people say. Even you. Maybe I won’t be a douchebag lawyer like my boss, but I’ll get over it.”
A pause. “Katydid?”
“Yeah?”
“I want to show you something tomorrow. Will you be around?”