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April was fed up with him to say the least. It took everything not to continue ranting. But she knew it would just go in one ear and out the other with him. After some time maybe he would understand.
“So, Georgia is welcome to stay with me here as long as she likes. Is that our final decision?”
Carl scoffed. How could he argue with her when he was off in a different country unable to handle this appropriately? It was April who stood beside Georgia and was trying to support her. And it was Carl who was waiting for some kind of circus act to get on stage. “I still don’t like it. I think she should be in school. She needs to buckle down and get this stuff done. It’s important. It’s her education, April.”
She hated her name in his mouth. “You listen to me very closely because I’m not going to repeat myself. Our daughter is going to stay with me while she decides what she wants to do next. You are going to stop being a hypocrite and leave her alone while she makes that decision. No pressuring her into doing what you want her to do. Hear me?”
Carl took a deep inhale as he was about to let loose on April. Instead of listening to his rant, she hung up the phone and switched it to silent. If Carl had a problem with it, at least he would bother her now instead of Georgia.
She waltzed back into the house and found her daughter laying on the air mattress. “Is it comfortable enough for you?” April asked as she lay down beside her.
Georgia didn’t answer. Slowly, she turned towards her mother and took a deep breath. “Is he going to hate me forever?”
As much as April wanted to hurt Carl, she knew messing with their father-daughter relationship wasn’t going to help anyone. She knew that Georgia was loved by them both. Even though her father had a hard time showing it and happened to do all the wrong things. “He doesn’t hate you.”
A tear fell down Georgia’s cheek. April wanted to reach out and get it for her, but she gave it a minute until she did it for herself. “Why does he act like that then? He gets so angry when I make a choice he doesn’t like.”
April wondered if that was truly parenting in a nutshell, kids making choices you didn’t agree with. It happened all the time as Georgia grew up. She was always so independent and willing to take on anybody about anything she believed in.
“I know it seems that way. I think he’s just scared that you dropped out. An education is really important to him. He wants to see you succeed.” Complimenting Carl felt like she was twisting the knife in her own back. She didn’t want to, but knew it was what Georgia needed to hear. “He worries about you on your own out there.”
Georgia’s tears continued to fall and her hands continued to wipe them away as if they were never there. April hadn’t seen her daughter cry much in the last few years. Probably due to her bedroom door being closed constantly. Or the fact that she wasn’t home enough to see it in real time.
“That’s not an excuse for his actions today. He shouldn’t have yelled like that. I’m really sorry,” April said, swinging her arm around her daughter’s shoulders and pulling her closer. “I’ve talked with him. If he has a problem, he’ll come to me now. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you’d like. Even the whole semester.”
“The whole semester?” Georgia slipped away to look at April’s face and make sure this offer was serious. “You would let me do that?”
“How else am I going to finish this house? I need some serious help around here. And if you’re not doing anything for the next few months… I could use the extra hands.”
April knew this was the right thing. Her impulsive trip ended up helping them both. Georgia could spend time away from the pressures of being a new adult, and April could find out who she really was out from under people’s opinions of her.
“I only have one rule. If you’re staying with me, you have to help with the renovations.”
Georgia smiled and tucked her head under her mother’s arm. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Three days after Georgia arrived in Sandcrest, the renovations were in full swing. “And when could you come to inspect the house for that quote?”
April jotted down the dates and times on the notepad in front of her. “Great! Let’s do Thursday at three!”
Georgia tapped her mother’s arm and whispered. “Can’t do Thursday. That’s when the contractor is coming to help with the permitting.”
“Oh, uh… Could we actually switch that to Friday? Great, thank you.”
After April hung up the phone she took a deep breath. “How did I miss that?” she asked, flipping through her pages of notes and calendars. Then she took out her phone and looked through her calendar, finding nothing posted for Thursday.
“They had to reschedule because they weren’t sure if they could make it before the water testers come tomorrow,” Georgia explains. “You just forgot to write it down.”
This wasn’t the first time her daughter had saved them. April was typically good with details, but this renovation work was chaotic. Every subcontractor in a hundred mile radius would only give days that worked for them, not hours. They would get there when they got there and it was the best they could do.
Thankfully, they worked seamlessly as a team, so they helped each other with the details. “Oh and we got the quote from that one electrician. I’ll put it in a new pile so that we don’t lose it. I want to talk to a few more before we make a real decision because I’m not sure I liked him,” April explained as she flipped papers into their designated piles on the kitchen table.
Eventually, they wanted to get file folders and binders for all the paperwork they had. But so far it was hard to make it to the store. Georgia and April were too excited to get things moving. There was too much to do.
“What do you think about fixing the cabinets ourselves?” April asked.
Georgia shrugged. “We could figure it out, sure.” Immediately, she began to look up DIYs for refinishing cabinets, building cabinets, and painting furniture.
