AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just to say call me when you get up.”
“I’m up.” I wave a hand around my home gym as if she can’t see I’m in the middle of a set. After all, what else is there to do first thing in the morning?
“I see that.”
“Do you have your arrival details?”
Her face scrunches up. “About that.”
“Don’t tell me you’re delayed again.” I grab a cucumber mint water from the mini fridge and take a swig. “I would have chartered you and Justin—hell, the whole corps, a flight, you know, honey.”
“I know, Dad.” Kendall gives me a wry smile as an airport announcement blares in the background. “But don’t worry,” she adds. “As long as they don’t close LaGuardia, I’ll still be home tonight.”
Water rivulets stream down the window outside. The Upper East Side is blanketed in white. From my vantage point, the city looks like a snow globe that’s been turned upside down and shaken. Central Park might as well be the North Pole.
“If they do, I can get you into Teterboro on the company jet. I know it’s in Jersey, but—"
“If LaGuardia is closed, then it wouldn’t be safe, and I know you wouldn’t want me to take the risk.”
“No,” I admit, running a hand through my hair. “You’re right. Especially not when you’re finally coming home.”
“Only for a few weeks.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Kendall is off to Stanford for her master’s in education, along with her—as of two days ago—fiancé, Justin, who’s going to be starting med school there in January. I was hoping they’d pick Columbia or even NYU, but no, they had to choose a school across the country. As if Africa hadn’t been far enough. But I can’t blame them. They’re young and in love and want nothing more than to be together—just like Kerry and I at their age.
“I heard you had a date last week.” Kendall’s abrupt change of topic along with the subject snaps my attention back to the present. “How’d it go?”
“Terrible.” And that’s putting it mildly.
“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.” She sounds just like her mother, always looking on the bright side.
I drop onto the weight bench. “You weren’t there.”
“Thank goodness.”
I would smile, but the memory of my date is still too fresh. “She was a socialite who could barely hold a conversation. And that’s being generous.”
Seriously. What kind of woman do my friends think I’d be into? It’s like they don’t even know me. But then again, the one who set me up this time around never met Kerry. He never had the pleasure of getting to know the feisty, passionate woman I loved with all my heart.
“Worse than that date last summer, who did nothing but talk about herself?”
“Believe it or not, yes. And I’ll thank you never to remind me of that dreadful date ever again.”
Kendall smiles but doesn’t relent. “I’m just glad you’re finally getting back out there. It’s about time, you know.”
“You keep telling me that, Ken, but it’s not the same.”
“It’s not going to be the same, and that’s okay. What you two had was special, but mom would want you to be happy, to find someone else to love.”
Kendall has always been wise beyond her years. She got that from her mother, too. And she’s right. Kerry would want me to be happy and find someone else to love. But what she doesn’t understand is that once you’ve had a taste of love as deep as what I had with my wife, anything less seems almost…pointless. I rise and make my way to the window, lifting my gaze to the sky, and sigh. “I know.”
“When you meet the one, you’ll know. You just have to be open to it.”
Lightning doesn’t strike twice. Falling in love at first sight once in a lifetime was a blessing. A second time would be a miracle. “Don’t get your hopes up, honey.” I’m certainly not.
“This isn’t getting my hopes up,” she says, wincing. “But Susie was thinking of bringing her mom as a plus one and I—”
