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“I didn’t want to upset you or make you feel weird.” I gestured widely. “Obviously, I already did by not telling you the truth. So, I’m sorry for not sharing that with you. But at the same time, I’m not sorry for telling you something about my private love life.”
“Is that why my mother went after you?”
I swallowed hard. “No, she was after the amulet. She tried to hurt us, but it didn’t really work.”
“Did she ask about me? How did she seem?”
When I saw the hurt in her eyes, I felt it in my heart. My poor, sweet daughter was just dying to talk to her mother again. Even though the selfish woman had given us years of pain and questions, had torn us to shreds, and had disappeared, Kiki wanted her mommy.
That was when I saw her for the little girl she had once been. Full of worry and hugging her bear because she didn’t understand why the house was empty at night. There were tears in her eyes for two weeks straight, and there was nothing I could do to comfort her back then. Now, she was grown and so feverishly independent and loud about her opinions that I was proud to have her as my daughter.
But underneath that spiky energy was Kiki. Just Kiki. My little girl and her torn-up teddy with the eyes hanging by strings.
I reached out to take her hands. “She didn’t ask about you, no. I’m sorry, Kiki. I’m so sorry that she can still hurt you to this day.”
She squeezed my hands hard. “I shouldn’t be surprised.” Her eyes fell to the table, to where our hands were tightly wound. “I may have implied to Regina that I think she’s a slut. For sleeping with you. And maybe that she was lousy, or you were lousy, and I…Shit…”
A few tears streaked her cheeks. She kept staring at our hands while her lips turned from a frown into a grimace that told me she was about to break like a weak dam. But after a few choked cries, she sat up straight, sucked a breath in, and blinked away the tears.
I chortled. “You’re scary when you do that, Kiki.”
“I learned from you.”
“Yeah, well…” I had an inkling of worry remaining. “I’m still sorry. I know I can’t fix what your mother did to us, but I can apologize for it.”
“Dad, it’s not your fault.”
My heart felt like it was bruised from hearing my daughter say that. “And here I thought you blamed me for it.”
“What? No way!” She squeezed my hands in quick succession a few times. “Dad, I could never blame you for that psycho crap. She made her choices. And I’ve made mine.” She swallowed another sob. “And…I think I made a mistake blowing up on GG. I should have just tried to understand why you two did what you did.”
“Honestly, I get it. I know how it seems. Like I’m trying to steal your best friend away from you after so many years of being close.”
She looked mournfully out the window. “Yeah, I hated how cold it felt not to hear from her all weekend.”
“She didn’t text you?”
“I mean, she did. But it was so few and far between.”
I grinned playfully. “Come on, Kiki. Who says that phrase anymore?”
“Alright, you’re pushing your luck, old man.”
“At least Regina doesn’t think I’m old.”
She feigned shock. “Wow.”
“You gotta admit that was a funny one.”
She shook her head while clicking her tongue. But her smile told me she didn’t disapprove. Not entirely. “You are something else.”
“I’m something.”
“I’m nervous that you asked if I’ve heard from her. Because I haven’t. Which means you haven’t either.”
I frowned at the table. “Yeah, that’s basically why I asked. I sent a few messages, but she hasn’t even looked at them.”
“Did she tell you where she was going? Because she just took her bags and left.”
