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“My parents’ house? Fifteen.” He plated the meat and brought it to the table. “Enough about me. Tell me about you.”
I turned on the bench as he sat across from me. “What about me?”
He cut into the steak. “Just tell me about your life. Good and bad.”
I knew what he wanted to hear. Over a decade ago we’d sat at my parents’ kitchen table eating steak. All I’d wanted then was him, and all he’d wanted was for me to soar. I had the urge to tell Manning I was doing just that. Not to spite him, but because he wanted it so badly for me. It was almost as if some weight would be lifted from him if I’d just tell him that I was happy.
“I don’t even know where to start,” I said. “It’s a lot to cover in one night.”
Head cocked, he’d been about to finish off his beer. He seemed to think a moment before he said, “Start with your family.”
“I saw Tiffany last year, and it went okay. Not great, but she came to my job recently.”
He swigged the last of his drink and set the bottle down. “The reality show?”
“No. On the show, I have a job at a bar, so she came for a drink. She’ll probably be on an episode.”
He half-rolled his eyes. “She must be thrilled.”
“Yup.” I put my elbows on the table. “My mom and I talk, but there’s a still a distance between us that’ll always exist as long as I’m not speaking to Dad.”
“I saw you’re wearing your bracelet again. Does that mean you’re thinking of reconciling?”
Not that I wanted to make up with my father, but I did wish it could be another way. There was just too much anger and pride between us. “No,” I said. “Did you know about his affair?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Should I have told you in New York?”
If he had or hadn’t, I couldn’t imagine things would’ve turned out differently. It bothered me that Tiffany had compared me to our father, but knowing about my dad’s cheating would’ve only made me feel guiltier during my time with Manning. I scratched under my nose. “It wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“Didn’t think so.” He nodded to my plate. “Eat, Lake.”
“Oh.” I picked up my fork and knife and finally took a juicy, flavorful bite. “I thought you said you couldn’t cook.”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t grill.” He grinned. “How about work?”
I set down my silverware and took a moment to appreciate the taste of steak prepared just for me. Manning sat across from me, so real. If I was honest, this was one of the happiest moments I’d had in a really long time. Manning made me happy, but he’d made me unhappy more. “I quit,” I said.
“You quit the show?” he asked.
“Well, I still have a year left on my contract, but that’s what my meeting was about this morning. I don’t want to commit to a third season.”
He leaned on the table, eyeing me. “Why not?”
“I think back to that time you came to visit in New York. I was struggling and auditioning and bitching to my friends about the unfairness of the industry, but back then, when I got a part, it meant something. I miss that, even though I know, I know it sounds stupid.”
“You have to give me more credit,” he said. “You know that not once in my life have your thoughts ever sounded stupid to me.”
I did know that. It felt good to admit to him I’d taken some wrong turns over the years without worrying he’d blame himself or feel compelled to fix my problems. I’d already begun to fix them myself. I was more concerned about what it meant that he’d stopped eating halfway through a meal. “Your steak is getting cold,” I pointed out.
He picked up his fork again. “And how do you feel now, on the show?” he asked.
“A little like a wind-up doll. They point me in whatever direction they want and tell me to go.”
“Well.” He chewed and swallowed his steak. “That won’t do.”
“So many people told me it was the opportunity of a lifetime, but when I saw myself on TV, I didn’t feel good about it. I wasn’t proud.”
“So you can be now. It takes a lot of guts to walk away from something like that.”
I nodded. “As soon as I left the meeting it felt as though a weight had been lifted.”
“Then it was the right decision.”
I released a breath, relieved, as if I’d been waiting to hear what Manning would make of the situation. It was a good thing I’d already turned down the contract, because I would’ve hated for his last impression of me to be that I was doing something I didn’t care about. “Yes, it was.”
“So what’ll you do now?”
