Grace gagged. “Ew, dad! Don’t say that ever again!”
“You know you love us.” I smiled at Grace and she mouthed ew again. It was probably because I had pieces of pasta stuck between my teeth.
“Wait,” she frowned, “does this mean you’re going to miss my graduation?”
“Sorry, Gracie.” I shrugged in a whatcha-gonna-do gesture.
“You can’t wait to leave? My graduation is Friday. That’s only three days away.”
I shrugged again. “I’ll talk to Willow. She’ll probably be cool with it and want to go. I mean, you guys are friends too, right?”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. “I thought so, until she left for college. I never heard from her after that. I texted her a few times and just got a few one word responses so I gave up.”
“Aw, Gracie, you know how she is. She gets so focused on what she’s doing that she forgets the rest of the world is still turning. She hasn’t talked to me in forever either.”
“And yet she somehow managed to speak to you long enough to get you to go on a road trip with her.”
“Hey,” I said in a warning tone, “I offered. She didn’t ask.”
Grace frowned down at her plate. I knew she was probably hurt by Willow’s radio silence, and that hurt had only been deepened by the fact that I was the first one Willow came to.
At eighteen, Grace was closer in age to Willow than I was, but age didn’t have anything on the connection between Willow and me.
“Gracie,” I said softly and she looked up with forlorn brown eyes, “I’ll be at your graduation, I promise.” Willow could hold out on her trip for a few more days.
Her lips twitched with the threat of a smile.
“Come on,” I coaxed with a grin, “it’s okay to smile. You know you want me there.”
She finally smiled. “Thank you.”
I dipped my head in acknowledgment of her words.
“Do you want me to ask Willow if she wants to come?”
I wasn’t going to invite Willow to Grace’s graduation if she didn’t want her there.
“Yeah,” she nodded, pushing around a piece of pasta with the end of her fork. “I’m not getting my hopes up, though.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Willow
“No, absolutely not.” My dad made a slashing motion with his arms and hands.
“What?” I shrieked. “Why not?”
“Because I’m your father and I said so.” He lifted the hedgehog he held onto his shoulder.
“You were fine with me going on a road trip with Lauren and Greta!” I exclaimed, feeling defensive.
“Yeah, well they’re girls,” he muttered.
“Oh I see,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “But don’t you think I’d be better protected on the road by a guy?” I argued. With a frown, I added, “Although, this is Dean and he’s more of a lover than a fighter. But if we encountered anything bad I’m sure he could bore an assailant to death with his vast knowledge of Pokémon.”
He moved into the kitchen and I followed. No way was I letting the conversation end here.
“If that’s your way of trying to convince me to let you drive all the way across the country with a guy you’re certainly not helping yourself.” He pulled out a barstool and took a seat. Grabbing the hedgehog, who was trying to make her way into his hair, he said, “Isn’t that right, Amy? She’s crazy if she thinks I’m letting her do this.”