“I’m reacclimating.”
“No, you’re hiding. And while I know that coming back here has been hard for you, you’re here now. It’s time to brush off the remnants of what you lost and start focusing on what you still stand to gain.”
“Stand to gain?” My voice takes on an edge. “How can I gain anything when I’ve lost everything?”
“Don’t be so dramatic. You’re too old for that.” He makes his way farther into the room and plops down in the reading chair he bought me for my twelfth birthday. It’s held up surprisingly well, given how much it’s been used.
“Well, I’m too old to be living at home with Mommy and Daddy too and yet, here I am,” I say bitterly.
“A temporary arrangement until you can get back on your feet.”
“Is that your way of telling me you’re ready for me to leave?”
“Of course not.” He shakes his head, the lines around his mouth becoming more prominent. “You can stay here as long as you need. Forever if that’s what makes you happy. But what you cannot do is hide in this house and live off of me and your mother because you’re too afraid to face the real world. You have to get out there. Figure out your next move. Get a job.”
“Yeah, because there are so many job opportunities in Wren Cove. I guess I could always go be a cashier at the new gas station in town. I’m sure my former classmates would justlovethat.” The thought makes me want to shrivel up into a hole and die.
“There is no shame in working at a gas station or anywhere else, for that matter. At least then you’d be a contributing member of society and able to make a living for yourself.”
“A living? Yeah, okay.” I push myself upright in bed, resting my back against the headboard. “What kind of living is doing something I hate?” I cross my arms in front of myself.
“You think I love what I do all the time? No, but it pays the bills and puts food on the table, and at the end of the day, that’s what matters. Not how flashy something is or how good it makes you look, but that you can survive on it.” He shoves a chunk of dark hair, peppered with subtle streaks of gray, off his forehead.
“I don’t want to just survive. I want to thrive,” I fire back, a little too aggressively if we’re being honest, but my father doesn’t even flinch.
There’s a reason he’s the one talking to me and not my mother, because I can’t guilt my way out of something with him like I can with her.
She’d come in here and tell me to get a job, I’d tear up and say I’m not ready, and she’d hug me and tell me to take my time. Not my father, though. He’s a loving, fair man, but he is not someone who is easily manipulated.
“And you’re going to accomplish that rotting in this room?” He gestures around the small space whose walls are still the same baby pink he painted them when I was eight.
“Maybe.” I huff.
“We both know if you don’t get out of this house, you’re going to keep finding reasons to never leave. We gave you time to get settled. More than enough time. But that ends now. You have an appointment tomorrow morning at the temp agency. I talked to Patty, and she said she had a handful of jobs available that could be a good fit.”
“Patty Stewart?”
“The very same.”
“You realize she’s Cat Stewart’s mom, right?”
“It’s a small town. I’m aware of what children belong to whom, yes.”
“So you know that the second I leave that place, she’ll be calling her daughter, who will then proceed to spread gossip all over town that I’m back and seeking employment at a temp agency of all places.”
“One, I think you overestimate how much people care what you’re doing—no offense. And two, the temp agency is a good way to get back into the work force without having to commit to anything full time.”
“Dad...” I open my mouth in an attempt to talk my way out of this but immediately snap it closed when he pins me with that look of his. The one that says this is not up for discussion, and I will do what he says or else. I’ve seen that look many times over the course of my life, especially during my teenage years.
“Proverbs 29:25 tells us that fear of man will prove to be a snare.”
“Please do not quote Bible scripture to me right now.” I groan.
“But whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” He finishes like I didn’t even speak. “You should care more about what God thinks than what anyone in town thinks.”
“Yeah, I’ll be sure to remind myself of that when everyone is snickering and talking about me behind my back. Hell, they probably already are.”
“Maybe if you came to church... Started leaning on your faith a little more.”
