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“What is it?” I asked, I looked around her. “I don’t see anything.”
“It’s up there,” she said as she pointed to the top of the escalator.
It was then that I noticed there was another familiar face.
My dad was on the escalator.
“What! Dad!” I cried. “What are you doing here?”
Krissy squealed yet again. “It was my idea! I figured I was going to have a blast down here, and what better way to surprise you than to bring along your dad for the fun? With you staying with his best friend, it wasn’t very hard for me to convince him to come along.”
“Dad!” I exclaimed. I hadn’t had the chance to reply to my friend before he reached us, and he gave me a hug.
“How are you?” he asked. “Oh my damn, I was happy to see you out of the house, but I can tell you now that it’s lonely there without you. I hope things are going well for you down here, I haven’t had the chance to talk to you very much, which was part of the reason I came down here spur of the moment like this.”
“I was going to say,” I told them. “It’s so weird that you came down here without making the plans first. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do something like that before.”
“First time for everything I guess,” he said with a shrug. “It’s been quite some time since I’ve been able to catch up with Neils, too. It was really just a good time all around for me to come, and with Krissy on her way anyway, it only made sense for me to come along.”
“Of course, of course,” I said quickly. I didn’t say anything about asking Neils first, and I was glad that Krissy didn’t, either. I figured Neils would be able to figure out what to do with my dad being there. If he put him on the couch, or what he was going to do was up to him. But that didn’t change the fact that I had planned to tell my best friend about the relationship, but I wasn’t even close to ready to tell my father what I was doing.
“Alright, let’s go!” Krissy cut in. “I have so many things I want to do while we’re here. I hope your little girl likes to go out and do shit, because I’ve got the beach, shopping, doing our nails, spa day, and more on the list.”
“Jesus,” I laughed. “You make it sound like I’ve got all the money in the world.”
“Don’t you?” she asked.
I laughed again, but I knew she was only half joking. I already told her I was getting paid for another job on top of what I was doing, and I wasn’t sure if she had told my dad. I really hated not knowing how much my father knew about any of this, and I didn’t know how to ask him, either.
“Just got to send a text to let Neils know I’ve picked up the cargo, then are you two hungry? I was thinking it would be fun to go to dinner before we head back to the condo if you want?” I asked.
“Yes,” Krissy said before my dad had the chance to reply. “I’m starving, and you said that the seafood here was to die for, so you better be taking me to where this magical seafood is.”
“Deal,” I said.
Dad’s here. WTF are we going to do? Haven’t said a word to Krissy yet, but I don’t know how we’re going to go about everything now. I’m freaking out.
Alright,” I announced, sounding a lot more relaxed than what my text message said, “Now I’ve got that sent, let’s go get something to eat. You’re going to love the food here, Kris, trust me.”
“I can’t wait,” she said. “I skipped lunch because I wanted to get something good to eat while we were here. Let’s go!”
My phone vibrated as we put on our seatbelts, and I had to admit, I was glad my dad was in the backseat as I pulled it up to read what Neils said in reply.
Don’t panic. We’ll figure it out, I promise. Just focus on how good it is to see him, and we’ll play it by ear.
I rolled my eyes, but dismissed the text to my dad and Krissy as though it was just an acknowledgement of what I had said to him. Neither my dad nor Krissy seemed to catch on there was anything wrong, but my dad being there had caught me so far off guard, I wasn’t able to recover from it as quickly as I hoped.
Just having him around made me feel like he was able to see right through me, as though I was a little girl again and he was able to tell when I was doing something he wouldn’t want me to do. It had been impossible for me to hide shit from him when I was a teenager, and I felt like I was reverting back to that, despite the fact I was doing what I could to act entirely natural.
We went to the restaurant, but by the time we had our food in front of us, there was no denying the tension in the air.
“Are you alright?” Dad asked me. “You seem nervous or something.”
“No, me?” I asked, a little too quickly. “I’m fine. I’m just so happy to have you here, and I’m trying to think of the things I can take you to do that you’d love. I planned out the time I was spending with Krissy, but now I feel bad that I don’t have things planned to do with you.”
“Don’t worry about that,” he told me. “I know I came as a surprise to you, and I’m not going to expect you to give up the time you have with your friend or working to hang out with me. Besides, Neils is here, and I would like to catch up with him, too, so that ought to take off some of the pressure.”
“Right,” I said. “That’s true.”
