“It’s a maybe right now. Get me destinations and dates and we’ll see.”
She stands and rushes around my desk to hug me. “Thanks, Daddy. And you won’t have to worry about paying my way. I have some money saved and I’ve been saving since I moved out, so it’ll just be you and Gregory to worry about.”
I shake my head. It’s a nice gesture, and I’m glad she’s growing up, but isn’t it too soon for her to pay her way on a big trip like this? “Kayla—”
“No, Dad. I live on my own and I work. It’s my responsibility to pay my way on vacations now.” She’s so determined that I nod and relent.
Kayla talks about possible destinations while she eats and soon, conversation evolves to her living with Logan. They’re still in the honeymoon stage of things, it sounds like. But as long as she’s happy, I’m happy. She soon leaves to return to campus for class.
The rest of my day goes smoothly. Gregory comes by after school to work with me. We recently struck up a deal. If he comes in to work, he’ll learn about cars and the biggest bonus to him, he can earn some money. He’s an erratic worker so far. I never know if he’s coming in until about thirty minutes after he gets out of school when he shows up. But he comes at least three times a week and that’s good enough for me right now.
“Did things get settled last night?” I ask him.
“Yeah. Glenn apologized and said he’d treat Mom better.” Gregory chuckles. “Like I care.”
“You don’t care how he treats your mom?” I don’t believe that.
“If Mom allows him to treat her like crap, why should I care?” He looks at me. “This is all your fault, you know. You just had to teach me chivalry and all that crap, didn’t you?”
“You get plenty of dates because of it, so why are you complaining?”
Gregory grins. “Good point, Dad.”
Having him work with me is one of the few ways I can keep up with what’s going on in his life, aside from when he comes over to stay at my house every other weekend. It’s always good to spend time with him and Kayla. That cruise will be a good idea, I think.
“Am I dressed okay?” Jamie asks, glancing down at herself. I just picked her up from campus for our date on Friday. “I feel weird and you should’ve seen the looks I was getting when I was walking down.”
“What was the first thing I said to you?”
A smile lights up her face as she says, “That I’m beautiful, but that doesn’t really answer my question. You told me to dress like it’s the fifties and I feel like you didn’t really do your part while I went all out.” She wears a black pencil skirt that drops a few inches below the knees, a cute red and white polka dot blouse, heels, and even white gloves. Her hair is curled as well. “You’re just wearing a suit!”
“Men kept things simple,” I say with a shrug.
She can barely hold in her laugh as she says, “Speaking from personal experience?”
“Don’t start teasing me now, and honey, just so we’re clear, the fifties were before my time.”
She laughs freely now, enjoying this difference of ours way too much. “What are we doing anyway?”
“There’s some festival going on a little north of here and they’re celebrating a different decade each night. There’s food, dancing, and then a drive-in movie.”
“A drive-in movie? Really?”
I relax at hearing her interest and excitement; I was worried about this date idea. “Yeah. There’s actually still a few outdoor theaters around, this being one of them. They’re lending part of their land for the festival part of the event.”
My phone rings with a call from Kayla. I debate not answering it because if she’s calling to tell me I should work less, I don’t want to argue with her in front of Jamie. But it’s my little girl calling and I have to at least find out why.
“Excuse me for a second,” I say to Jamie as I swipe across my phone to answer. “Hey. How’s my little girl doing today?”
“I’m worried, Dad. Yesterday, you were late to work and today, I come by to see you, but apparently, you left early and you’re not at home! Are you sure you’re not sick?”
I laugh. “I’m not sick. I’m on a date, Kayla.”
There’s a long silence on her end before she says, “Oh. Okay. Well, I’m dropping off potential cruise destinations with dates. I’ll leave them on the kitchen table. These are just what I’ve found so far with one cruise line; I’m still looking. Gregory hasn’t really helped me, so I don’t know if he wants to go to any of these places.”
“Okay, sounds good. I’ll look over them this weekend. Anything else?”
“You’re on a date?” she asks as if she can’t quite believe it. I’ve been on dates since the divorce and I thought the kids realized this, but maybe Kayla hasn’t paid attention.