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“Friday morning.” That means I’d have only one day left here. One day left with my father.
“Just to be sure you make that Sunday flight home.” His gray eyes shift to the ground, as if searching for something in the potholes.
Is he feeling what I’m feeling?
That I just got here and I’m not ready to say goodbye yet?
I could stay, I remind myself. But why won’t my dad just ask me to stay longer, then?
Other than the obvious answer—that he doesn’t want me here.
I hush the insecure little girl’s voice in my mind and search for another reason.
Maybe he thinks I want to leave. Maybe he doesn’t want to say anything and make me feel obligated. Just like he never asked my mother to stay.
I feel Jonah’s heavy gaze on me. As if able to read the swirl of conflicting thoughts in my mind, he gives me a wide-eyed “you know what you have to do” nod.
I hesitate. “Or I could just move my flight out to next weekend.”
My dad’s eyebrows arch as he studies me. “Is that something you’d want to do?”
“I mean, if you’re okay with having me stay at your house longer. I know you’re starting treatment on—”
“It’s okay with me,” he answers quickly, following it up with a smile and, if I’m not mistaken, a sigh of relief. “It’s your home, too. Here, in Alaska.”
“Okay. I’ll stay a bit longer, then.” Am I making the right decision?
Agnes is beaming and Jonah gives me a tight-lipped nod, and it makes me think that I am.
The wind has picked up since earlier and it sweeps past us then, rustling my hair and sending a shiver through me, reminding me that I don’t have my warm clothes. “Did you get my bags, by the way?”
“Yeah. About that . . .” My dad’s face pinches. “When Billy went into the storage room to grab your suitcases, he couldn’t find them.”
And just like that, the happy little bubble that had been growing around me bursts.
“What do you mean, ‘couldn’t find them.’ They lost them?” My clothes . . . my shoes . . .
“With all the delays and shuffling back and forth, they probably just got shoved somewhere. I’m sure they’ll turn up soon.”
“And if not?” My voice has turned shrill.
My dad frowns in thought. “Insurance usually covers a couple hundred bucks. You got insurance, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, it’ll replace maybe a sweater and a pair of heels,” I mutter. My exhilarating day has just taken a nosedive into the ground. “I’ve been wearing two pairs of jeans since I got here. How am I supposed to manage even longer?”
Jonah, who’s been quiet this entire time, offers with faint amusement in his voice, “I’ll be more than happy to take you to Meyer’s to grab a few things.”
I stab the air in front of him with my finger. “This is your fault. If you took the bigger plane in the first place, my luggage wouldn’t be lost.”
“If you’d packed for a week instead of a year, we wouldn’t have had to leave your things behind,” he retorts smoothly.
“Hey, you admitted to being a jackass about that whole thing earlier!” Why is he changing his tune again?
“Give it a day or two,” Agnes says calmly, the ever-gentle referee stepping into a feud between opposing teams. “These things happen, but they have a way of working out.”
I grit my teeth against the urge to call bullshit. I know she’s only trying to help.
My dad sighs. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s go home.”
