When I pulled up to my dad’s house, I was relieved that Betsy’s car wasn’t out front. I was happy for Dad and Betsy, but I didn’t feel like doing this—whatever this was going to be—in front of her.
The front door opened, and Dad stepped out onto the porch as I got out of the car. He must’ve heard me drive up. Tears stung my eyes again, but I swallowed them back.
“Hey, sunshine,” he said as I walked up the porch steps. I could tell by his voice that he could see something was wrong. His demeanor had that soothing dad quality.
“Hi, Daddy.”
He gave me a sympathetic smile. Held out his arms for me and wrapped me in a hug. He felt stronger than he had since I’d been here.
“Come on in, sweetheart.”
Instead of me waiting on him, like I’d been doing when he was sick, he sat me down on the couch and went into the kitchen. Came out a few minutes later with two glasses of whiskey on ice.
“It’s nine in the morning,” I said, taking the glass from him. “I was expecting lemonade or sweet tea.”
“I have a sneaking suspicion this isn’t a lemonade or sweet tea kind of visit.” He sat down in his recliner and rested his glass on the arm. “Wanna talk about it?”
I took a sip of my drink and shrugged. “I suppose. I think Jameson and I broke up last night.”
“Hmm,” Dad said, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “What happened?”
“Well… I went to his house to see if he wanted to go out,” I said. “But he said no, and then we got in this big fight.”
“About going out?”
“No. I guess it kind of started out that way, but we ended up fighting about… well, about his brother Gibson, and then the show.” I didn’t really want to get into the details of all that with my dad. I had a feeling he could figure it out, anyway.
“Gibson Bodine, huh,” he said, the words coming slow, like he was turning that over in his mind. “He’s had a tough time, that one.”
“Has he?”
Dad shrugged off my question. “Yeah, but what about the show? Why were you fightin’ about that?”
“I don’t know, it was like he was just ranting at me,” I said. “He asked me about things he should already know, and it hurt that he’d think that of me.”
“So he kinda blew up at you?”
“Yes, exactly. And then he told me to go home. And he…” I paused, feeling tears trying to well up again. “He called me Leah. He never calls me that.”
“Is this all surprising to you, sweetheart?”
I blinked at him. “What? Of course it’s surprising. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Well… Jameson Bodine is a quiet sort. Keeps to himself.”
“Yeah…” I didn’t understand what he was getting at.
“And lately, he’s had a lot of attention heaped on him,” he said. “Not all of it putting him or his family in the best light.”
“Yes, I know. I feel terrible about that.”
“I’m not sayin’ it’s your fault,” he said. “I just mean he’s a man who’s been under a lot of extra pressure recently.”
“Right.”
“So, him blowing up at you makes a lot of sense.”
“I…” I paused, unsure of what to say to that. I had a feeling my dad was trying to make me feel better, but he was only confusing me. Wasn’t he supposed to be on my side? Mad at Jameson for breaking up with his daughter? “Daddy, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He shifted in his seat. “Sweetheart, people tend to blow up at the ones they trust the most. A child will behave for everyone but his mama, because he knows his mama is going to love him even if he’s bad. Grown men do it, too. It ain’t right, necessarily, but it’s human nature.”
“So you think Jameson and I got in a fight because he trusts me?” I wasn’t quite buying his logic.
“In a manner of speaking,” he said. “We let go when we’re with someone safe. With someone we think is going to love us anyway. I’m not sayin’ he thought it through. If he had, I reckon he wouldn’t have fought with you at all.”