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“How about me?” my voice cracked.
He gripped the chair. “What are you implying?” His voice said to proceed with caution.
I was done being cautious. For once in my life, I had something worth fighting for—me. “All my life, I’ve done what everyone else has wanted. And the first time I do something I want, you’re trying to ruin it. Why?”
He took a moment and cleared his throat. “I’m trying to protect you,” he defended himself.
“From what? A man who has been nothing but wonderful to me?”
“Wonderful for now,” he scoffed. “Do you think this will last, Scarlett? You’re twenty-two years old. Your focus should be on other things.”
I looked up to the tray ceiling, trying to think of what to say. I wasn’t naive enough to think Kane and I were a forever thing. We had never even discussed being a couple or beyond the next few dates we had planned. But Auggie was right about one thing: I was twenty-two. With a brave deep breath in and out, I faced my father. “I’m an adult now, and honestly, who I date and what I do on those dates is none of your business. I can’t believe you interrupted us tonight. Worse, you asked Naomi to find out if I was sleeping with Kane. If you were that concerned, you should have asked me yourself. Better yet, maybe you should be the kind of father I could go to and tell you if I was having sex.”
Wow. Look at me, telling someone off. Except, maybe he was the wrong person to start with.
Auggie jumped up, and his tall frame seemed to fill the room. The look of shock and horror on his bright-red face didn’t help either.
I pushed back as far as I could against the door, but my eyes held firm on him, even if they were beginning to well with tears. Auggie couldn’t stand the show of emotion.
“Are you having sex?” he spluttered.
That was all he got from that. I rolled my eyes and sighed. “I’m going to my room.” I turned to leave.
“Scarlett,” he breathed out.
I gripped the doorknob, not facing him. The tears I had been holding back began to fall. “What?” I whispered.
“Don’t throw your life away for a man who will eventually leave and hurt you.”
“Are you speaking about yourself?” I threw open the door and ran out before he had time to respond. I ran across the house, through the kitchen, and up to my room. The entire way there, it was as if my life flashed before me. It struck me that maybe I was throwing my life away for the wrong man—Auggie.
Why give him my dreams when I knew in my heart he would be the one to hurt me the most?
My Girl
Five weeks. How was that possible? Kane and I had been dating for five whole weeks, and we had crossed five items off our list. World of Coca-Cola, indoor go-kart racing, the history center, the art museum, and a tasting tour at a local Tuscan winery. Kane was quite the wine connoisseur. Tonight, we were doing something not on our list, that Auggie had been adamant I attend. He’d never cared if I came to Armstrong Labs’ corporate sponsor night at the Braves game before. I’d almost declined, but Kane thought it was important that we go. He said it was like our coming out party. Not that everyone at the office didn’t already know we were dating, but we had been careful not to advertise it while at work. No need to poke the bear, as Kane would say.
The bear was my father, who had been acting odd ever since he’d returned from his honeymoon. He was driving me to work most days now, and we would sit in awkward silence for the twenty-minute drive. Once in a while, he would say something like, “Did you get your med school application turned in on time?” I would give one-word responses like, “Yes,” before going back to staring out the window. I think Auggie figured if I was with him, I couldn’t be having sex.
Maybe I should have put him out of his misery and told him I wasn’t sleeping with Kane, but honestly, it wasn’t any of his business. And I figured if we had a real relationship, he would already know the answer to that question, or it would be something I wanted to talk to him about. I mean, he was my father. But I needed a dad. There was a distinction. I needed someone who wanted to work on our relationship in truly meaningful ways. Ways that would have me spilling my guts to him. Did Auggie know how badly I wanted that kind of relationship? Did he want that? If so, he needed to do more than drive me to work.
