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His words were like a punch to the gut and I reared back. “Excuse me?”
He shook his head. “I’ve told you time and again, nothing serious on the front pages. What the hell is wrong with you girl?”
“I am not a girl!” Roaring the words probably wasn’t the best way to get my point across, then again nothing would get the point across. I was a forty-five year old, divorced single mother, and still, all he saw was a little girl incapable of doing anything. “You know what Daddy? You know how to do this, and you do it better than anyone else in the whole entire world, so why don’t you just do it yourself. That way each day you can rest easy knowing that your precious paper is done to your standards.” I stood and gathered my things, picking up half a dozen photos of me and Stevie, me and my brothers, Stevie and her uncles, and shoved them in my bag.
“Don’t be dramatic, girl. I’m just trying to teach you how to do things the right way.”
“No, you just want things done your way, the same way things have been done for fifty years.”
“Damn right, and it’s been working for the past fifty years. It would be nice to see it go for another fifty,” he shot back, his implication clear.
“Good luck to you Daddy. I’m out of here and I’m not coming back.” I pulled out each drawer, one by one, and removed every personal item that had gathered over the years from hair bands to magnets, a stray Christmas ornament, notes and more photos.
“You’re not going anywhere, Lacey. Where will you go? What will you do?”
“Don’t act like you care now, Daddy. You have the thing you care about most, this paper. Enjoy it.” With my bag bursting at the seams, I glared at my father, turned on my heels and stormed off in a cloud of fury all Hollywood actresses would envy.
I was too angry to go home to an empty house, too wound up to just pace the living room with a glass of wine, but I had nowhere to go. It was too late to disturb Pippa, even though she would welcome me with open arms.
Levi.
His name came to me and instantly I knew, he was who I wanted, who I needed in the moment. It was late, but not indecently late, so I drove to his place and sat in my car for five minutes before I gathered the courage to go to his door.
“Lacey, hey.” His voice was low and unsure.
I took a step back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here. It’s late and you’re busy.”
Levi’s hand shot out to grab my wrist before I could take another step back. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I shook my head.
His lips curled into a lopsided grin. “Don’t go lying to me now Lacey.” He tossed my words back in my face and dammit, it irked. “Come in and tell me what’s wrong.”
I let him tug me inside, surprised to see the television off with papers scattered on the coffee table. “You’re busy, Levi.”
“Not too busy for you. Just outlining a story on some of the vendors at the festival.” He clasped his hand with mine and led me to the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
“I quit.” I ignored the stab of pain in my chest as the words rushed out of me.
“You quit CCDJ?”
I nodded. “Yes. Just now, in fact.”
Sympathy flashed in his eyes and Levi turned to the fridge, reaching on top for a bottle. “It’s not whiskey and it’s not cold, but according to Michelle tequila can fix nearly all ails, and she’s a doctor so you can trust her.”
I laughed and accepted the shot with a smile of gratitude. “GG came in acting like I was shirking my duties because he hadn’t seen me in the office. I mean, how else is the paper getting out every day? Every single day,” I growled and knocked back the shot.
“I’m sorry it didn’t feel as good as you thought, Lacey.” His strong arms wrapped around me in a tight, enveloping hug. “It’ll get better.”
“I know,” I sighed into his chest. “I know I did the right thing, I just hate that he pushed it like that.” Tears started to sting my eyes and I blinked them away.
“It’s all right to be emotional about it. This is the end of a dream, of a future you thought was all but guaranteed. That’s sad, also maddening.”
“Right?” It was nice to know someone else understood that this wasn’t about my ego. “I am mad,” I admitted and knocked the bottom of the shot against the kitchen table to ask for more. “I put my own dreams on hold, stayed here and settled down because Daddy promised I would run the paper someday. He was never going to let me run it.” My shoulders sank and my head fell forward as sadness swamped me. “Never.”
