She cleared off her bed, grabbed her books, and sat down to get to work on her homework.
“You hard at work again?”
Her dad’s voice came from behind her, and her heart instantly started pounding.
She turned around to see him standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. He wore a pair of jeans and a plain T-shirt, and his feet were bare. At home he usually wore this kind of casual attire, but she was also used to seeing him wear his pressed business suits.
As she stared at him, she expected to see rage on his face, but when he looked at her there was just a man that was looking at his daughter without any anger.
Clearing her throat, she nodded. This was the most he’d said to her since he had stormed out of the house after the fight. “Yeah, I’m always studying it seems.” She pointed to the books on her bed.
He nodded and walked into her room. “That’s good to keep your head in school.” Her father sat on the edge of her bed. After he pushed her books away, he patted the mattress, gesturing for her to sit beside him since she was on the other side of the bed.
She stared at him for a moment, took in his short dark hair, looked into his blue eyes that were the same color as hers, and knew that this man’s opinion meant so much to her.
He meant so much to her.
Lake moved closer to him and shifted her body so she faced him. For a second he just stared at her, not speaking, but the emotion was clear on his face.
“I first want to say I shouldn’t have acted that way, period. But my emotions got the better of me.”
She nodded, not trusting her voice to speak.
“I also want to apologize for not speaking to you, and for avoiding you this last week.”
“I’m sorry things went down the way they did, Dad. We didn’t mean for things to happen that way, didn’t set out to make anyone upset. Things just happened, and I’m just as much involved as he was.”
He reached out and took her hand, gave it a squeeze, and smiled. “You love him?” He stated it without any hatred or anger in his voice.
She didn’t answer right away as she thought about his question. She shook her head and looked down at their joined hands. “I don’t even know what love is, Dad, but I care about Reese a lot.”
“You understand why I got so angry?”
She nodded, even though he wasn’t looking at her. “Yeah, I do.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “But we really didn’t mean to hurt or betray anyone, Dad. Things just kind of happened, and as uncomfortable as I feel talking about this with you because, well, we never really have before, I want you to know that I want to be with Reese, and he wants to be with me.”
Her dad nodded again.
“He makes me happy.”
“Yeah, I understand that.” He gave her hand a squeeze and looked up at her. “I didn’t mean to blow up like that, hurt you or Ginny, or go after Reese. I just kind of snapped. What I did was extreme, and I should have thought about it, and listened to you two before attacking him like that.”
“I wish you would have let us explain, but I know things were fast all the way around.” She squeezed his hand again. “I’m an adult and know what I’m doing, and if things don’t work out, well, I’ll learn from that, too. But this is my life and my choices and mistakes to make, Dad.”
He didn’t respond for several seconds, and then he nodded. “Yeah, sweetheart. I know where you’re coming from, and although it’ll be hard for me to accept that my little girl is a woman now and can make her own decisions, I know you have a good head on your shoulders. You’re smart, so damn smart.” He lifted his hand and brushed a stray piece of hair from her forehead. “But you’re tough as well. I knew from the moment you were born, watched you grow up, and after your mother passed away I saw the strength inside of you. You’re so damn strong and smart, Lake.” He smiled softly at her. “You didn’t let life drag you down even though I know it would have been so easy.” There was sadness in his expression. “You held it together better than me after your mom died, and if I’m being honest you still hold it together better than me.” He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “Your mom would be so proud of the woman you’ve become. I love you, and I want you to be happy.”