Broken

Oh God, this isn’t the chat I need to be having right now. I haven’t decided what I want to do yet so I don’t want to talk about it. “I’ve just had a lot going on, that’s all.”

“Yeah, Sandi told me. She said you aren’t talking about it to anyone, but everyone knows that there’s some girl in the picture.” He narrows his eyes at me. “Is that true? Are you really throwing everything away for some gold digger?”

Fucking Sandi. Honestly, what a nightmare. Even when I don’t tell her anything she finds a way to wreck things for me. This has to be a revenge thing because I’m not interested in her. I’ll fire her, if I have a job to go back to. If I even want to go back.

“Dad, not every woman is a gold digger…”

I know why he has this opinion, it’s because of my mother, but that doesn’t mean everyone is the same. He might want to throw himself wholeheartedly into work and to just screw around, but that isn’t me. I know that now.

“Son, don’t be a fucking idiot,” he dismisses me as if I’m a child who knows nothing. “They’re all up to something. You just need to figure out what…”

I part my lips, ready to yell at him but I don’t get the chance to do so. Before I can say anything, a sugary sweet voice interrupts the pair of us.

“Hello.” I spin around to see Lola standing on the stairs in one of my oversized tee shirts. “Mr. Heat

h-Smith, I presume?”

I give her a warning look as she moves closer with her hand outstretched. She doesn’t know what she’s getting herself in for here. I never let my dad meet anyone, which is why I wanted this meeting to be controlled by me. It’s already spiraling.

“Yes,” my dad replies coldly. “And you are?”

“Oh I’m Lola Boots.” Her bright smile seems to disarm him. She has a way of melting people, which I haven’t noticed before. “Good to meet you.”

“You are dating my son, are you?” He dives right in. “Are you the one who’s made him miss so much work.”

“Oh.” Lola is taken aback, of course she is. He’s being so rude. Her father has been nothing but nice to me and my dad is like this? It isn’t fair. “Right, well, I don’t know about that…”

“Dad, what I do is up to me. Don’t you think?”

“I suppose, but like I just said you’ve been amazing for the past year. Now you’re never about.”

I nod slowly, wondering how my morning went downhill so drastically. This is supposed to be the time that me and Lola are working things out, seeing what might happen next. I don’t want to be here in the middle of this awkward situation. It’s all wrong.

“Dad, now isn’t the time and place for this conversation…” I try, but he completely rail roads me as usual.

“What do you do, Lola Boots? Are you not missing work right now to spend time with Brandon?”

She holds her head high and answers him confidently. “I care for my father, which is why I’m in the city so he can see a medical specialist. When I’m not doing that I’m running the farm for him, working in the local store to pay for his treatment, oh and I sing.”

I cringe and slide my eyes closed as I wait for my dad’s scathing response. He won’t like this at all, he’ll see Lola as a small town, country bumpkin who isn’t good enough for me. It’ll make him even more convinced that she’s a gold digger. Then if he ever finds out that I paid for her dad’s treatment he’ll do his nut in. My shoulders hunch up around my ears and I brace myself desperately for what’s about to happen.

“Well that is impressive.” My eyes snap open as he actually sounds in awe. “You are a very hard working girl. And to look after your father like that, it’s a lot to take on. Do you mind if I ask what’s wrong with him?”

I take a step back and watch in sheer admiration as Lola somehow charms my father. I know him well and I can tell that he actually thinks she’s something special as she talks all about her father’s illness and the effect that it’s had on him. When she discusses looking after him, she does so in a way that isn’t only a show off at all, which of course impresses my dad. Actually, I’m starting to think that he might like her more than he does me. All the iciness surrounding him has thawed and he’s treating her well.

“I’m going to make drinks…” I say to them both, but neither of them acknowledge me so I race into the kitchen to try and think this through. My dad is such a hard man, he’s known for being a terrible, harsh person by many people. He started off being cruel to Lola but she’s turned him around. She’s put him in his place. I wish I could do that.

She really is something else. This just proves it.

As I walk back into the hallway with the drinks in my hands, my father and Lola are gone. I can hear them in the living room, which of course he’s gone into because he thinks he can do whatever he wants, so that isn’t the weird part. The strange bit is it sounds like Lola is singing. To my father. I never thought this meeting would turn out like this.

Once I get into the living room, I lean up against the door frame and watch her for a moment. She is sitting on the couch with her eyes closed, bellowing out a familiar tune. Actually, it’s the one she was singing on the first night I saw her. When she was up on that stage with her hot pants on, her cowboy boots, her checked shirt… that’s the moment I felt intense desire inside of me that rapidly turned into something more.

“That was amazing,” Dad says once Lola finishes. “You have a very raw talent.”

“What on Earth is going on here?” I ask nervously as I bring the drinks inside. “You giving my dad a show?”

“Actually, the reason I’m interested is because I’ve just invested in a recording company.”