Page 12 of Over Time Advantage

Kennedy rolls her eyes in annoyance. We’ve been at the restaurant for an hour while she attempts to teach me how to use my new iPhone. I can tell she’s at her boiling point with my technological ignorance. “Dad, it’s a touch screen. You don’t need to press so hard. It senses the touch of your finger. I don’t know the precise technology of it—maybe it’s the heat of your finger—but it just senses it and acts accordingly. Don’t fucking press so hard.”

“Watch your mouth,” I mumble before I blow out a breath. “So it won’t work if my finger is cold?”

She lets out a laugh. “No, Dad, that’s not how it works. Watch me.” She moves her fingers, and the damn phone just does things. It’s like magic.

She’s looking at the phone, but I’m looking at her, my stunningly beautiful daughter with her dark hair and green eyes that so closely resemble my own. She’s twenty-five now. It feels like she was a baby just yesterday. I didn’t know how much I could love another human being until the day she was born.

I’ve barely seen her for the past several years, and regret fills every single pore in my body over the deterioration of our relationship. Growing up, her home life wasn’t a happy one. I was gone all the time, and my ex-wife lacks in the maternal department.

Ginny was attractive in her youth, but she was never in Kennedy’s league. It was almost as if she resented Kennedy for all the attention she received, not only for her beauty, but for her incredible athletic talent and larger-than-life personality. It was clear from an early age that Kennedy was meant for greatness. She has the special “it” factor Pierce lacks. I always pushed her on the basketball front but encouraged him not to look to play football in college. He would have been doing it because he thought it was expected of him. Football doesn’t live in his heart the way basketball does for Kennedy. I love him endlessly, but he doesn’t have the same shine she does.

She had her choice of colleges and chose one in California, as far away from us as possible. She never came home and cut off communication. After college, she was drafted to the pro basketball team in New York City. Again, she never came home.

But five months ago, she was traded to the Philly Beavers professional basketball team and moved back to Philly for the first time since she left for college.

I’ve done my best in that time to slowly reestablish a relationship with her. I attended every single home game of hers this season until my season started. Then it had to be worked around my football schedule, but I do my best to avoid conflicts so I can be there to watch my superstar play ball.

We also share a love for the sport of pickleball. We won a tournament today. I knew inviting her to do anything competitive was the way to get her back in my life, and it’s starting to work. We’ve played a few times, and this is our first meal together in years. Many years.

Even though I’m frustrating her with my technology deficiencies, I love that we’re having this meal and bantering like family should. I can’t remember the last time we were so…normal. If ever.

At least she talks to me, albeit in small doses. She refuses to speak to her mother at all. When she was sixteen, she walked in on Ginny having an affair. I don’t think Kennedy has spoken a single word to her mother since that day. I don’t condone my ex-wife’s actions, but I would love to see them mend fences at some point. Kennedy is so obviously aching for a maternal presence in her life. She has a hardness to her that only a mother can soften. I’m not sure Ginny Jeffries is the ideal candidate for the job, but she’s the only mother Kennedy has.

While I managed to remain faithful in my crappy marriage, Kennedy isn’t privy to just how bad things were between her mother and me. We did everything we could to hide it from the kids until it became too much to bear. When Kennedy left for college, we legally separated and eventually divorced, trying to ease Pierce into it since he was only ten years old at the time. Now he’s seventeen and a senior in high school, but he still struggles at times. Our less-than-ideal home life has taken its toll on his fragile psyche. He suffers from depression and severe anxiety, something we’ve done our best to deal with throughout the years.

Kennedy looks up at me and narrows her eyes. “Why are you smiling?”

I reach over and squeeze her hand. “It’s nice spending time with you, kiddo. I’ve missed you. So much.”

Her face tightens. “You had eighteen years with me living in your house, but you chose not to spend any time with me then.”

I nod in agreement. She’s not wrong. “You’re right, and I regret my behavior. All I can do is tell you that I’m sorry. I can’t change the past, but we can attempt to move forward in a positive way. I want that. Very much.”

Her face softens a drop. “I’m trying, Dad. My first order of business is to rebuild a relationship with my brother because he’s the only innocent one in all this.”

“Absolutely. He idolizes you. Thank you for agreeing to come to his senior night football game. You have no idea what it means to all of us.”

“I’m doing it for him and only him, not you and certainly not Ginny.”

She’s refused to call Ginny anything other than her first name since she walked in on her and the random man. The pain Kennedy still bears is written all over her pretty face. It breaks my heart.

“I understand, and I appreciate it. Pierce is over the moon.” I point to the phone. “Back to that. The salesman said I could make the font bigger so I can read certain things without my glasses. Can you help me do that?”

She nods as she returns her attention to the phone and swipes her fingers with purpose. Suddenly, again as if by magic, the font gets bigger. Ooh, this is much easier to read.

She looks back up at me with an amused look on her face. “Do you want help with this dating app I see downloaded?”

I shake my head, feeling embarrassed. “No, no. I was…umm…just toying with it. The salesman must have done that,” I mumble.

I quickly grab for the phone, and she cracks a mischievous smile.

I know she’s fucking with me, but it’s progress, and I’ll take it.

Pierce and I walk into my house. With a few inches of height over him, I reach over and mess up the top of his already purposefully disheveled blond hair. “Great game tonight, buddy. I’m proud of you.”

He cracks a lopsided smile. “Thanks, Dad. It was dope that Kennedy came.” It’s the first time she’s ever seen him play, and he had one of his best games ever. He even gave her the game ball.

“It was certainly…dope.” I raise an unamused eyebrow.