Fix Me

He walked to the bar and made us a couple more drinks. The others had left a while ago, each of them stopping by to say goodbye. It was just me and him. He didn’t want to be alone. I understood. The guy had done a lot for me. The least I could do was hang out with him a bit longer. Once he got close to passing out, I would leave.

“How about pool?” he suggested.

I looked at the pool table, then the cue sticks. “I’m not sure I’m going to be a great shot.”

“That’s the fun part. We’ll see who is drunker.”

I threw my hands up. “Let’s do this!”

Truth be told, I wasn’t ready to go back to the cottage just yet either. I wanted to forget all about my mom and the dark road Bree was traveling down. I just wanted to be free of the worries for one night, even though I knew they would be there in the morning.

Chapter Nine

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Bree

I WALKED INTO THE DINING room, immediately smelling my father’s cologne and hearing the slight crinkling sound of the newspaper I knew was in his hands. I found my seat and sat down.

“Good morning,” he greeted.

“Good morning. Did you recover from your long weekend?”

“I did. It was nice to sleep in my own bed. How about you? You sound better than you did when I left.”

I smiled. “I am feeling a little better.”

“Good. Have you given any more thought to what Dr. Tanner had to say?”

I tried to hide the irritation. I should have known it would be the first thing he wanted to talk to me about. I smelled the eggs I knew would be on his plate and suddenly didn’t feel hungry. “I have.”

“And?”

“And I don’t know.”

He let out a sigh meant to let me know just how irritated he was with my indecision. “Alright. I need to head into the office.”

“You just got home,” I protested. “You’ve been working for a month straight. You’re not a young man Dad. You need to slow down.”

“It isn’t like my job incudes running marathons.”

“It’s still stressful and you’re working too hard,” I argued.

I knew what he was doing. He didn’t want to be around me. He didn’t want to see me the way I was. He wanted me fixed. He liked things neat and tidy and I was throwing a huge wrench into his plans. He had done the same thing after my mother died. He worked and worked and worked. He kept himself so busy he didn’t have time to think about anything.

I would like to throw myself into my art or swimming—anything. But I couldn’t. I was stuck in the big house he insisted I live in with him. Yet, I rarely saw him. He hired Luke and essentially washed his hands of me. He wanted me fixed. I knew it was hard on him to see me the way I was.

“I’ll be fine. Luke should be coming in soon.”

“I thought he was going to be off today?” I asked.

“I called him this morning and asked him to work today. I’ll try and get him a day off later this week.”

It was a nice surprise to know I would be able to spend some time with Luke today. We weren’t dating, but we were friends and it was nice to be able to hang out with him. If he asked me to go to the beach, I would do it. I had been rejecting the offers the last few days, but I had to try and snap out of the funk I was in.

“Have a good day,” I called out when I heard him leaving the room without saying so much as goodbye.

I heard him mumble something as he walked away. He was disappointed in me. Of course. He was working so hard to find a way to fix me and I had rejected the one offer on the table. Not rejected, but I was still mulling it over.