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Rheawasalmosttoocaught up in the sights of Malibu to make it to her father’s house in one piece. Between that and the last of the summer tourists veering off the PCH to take pictures, Rhea was a few minutes late, which was not unnoticed by Danny.
“When I’ve got nothing else to do on Thursdays,” he said while looking down at his phone, completely killing his point, “every second I wait is another second I think you’re dead.”
Rhea rolled her eyes as she restocked her father’s fridge with healthy groceries. They were a mishmash of things out of her pantry and food she picked up at Whole Foods on the way. Her father had long stopped complaining about quinoa and mung beans. Whether he actually ate them or pushed them off to his neighbors was unknown to Rhea… and she didn’t want to know.As long as someone’s eating it.
She hadn’t picked up any take-out on her way to Malibu. Instead, Rhea made her father a spinach and black bean salad wrap inside his favorite brand of flour tortilla. He claimed that this particular local brand was the closest it came to his late wife’s cooking. Unfortunately for him, Rhea’s mother had never imparted any real cooking knowledge to her before passing away. That also went for tortillas, which were the biggest commodity in their house.
“More green food.” Danny wheeled into the kitchen instead of walking. Even though he was allowed – nay,encouraged –to move around on his feet now, the man married the wheels whenever someone else was around. He claimed it was faster than walking. “Does this have to taste like the dirt it grew out of, too?”
“Yes.”
Scoffing, Danny patiently waited for lunch at his small table. When Rhea finally delivered, it was with a pat on his shoulder.
“Admit it,” she said, “you like spinach now.”
“I’ve always thought spinach was fine.”
Yeah, right.Rhea remembered him blowing his tiniest gasket back in high school after her nutrition and diet section of health class taught her the importance of eating leafy greens. When she brought home whole bags of spinach and started putting it on everything, a riot had been declared in the state of Kennewick.
“What’s got you moping, huh?” Danny slammed his next bite of salad wrap into the ranch left on the side of his plate. “Never seen you walk in here with such a face.”
“What face?”
“That face.”
She knew she wasn’t getting a more solid answer out of him. The best she could do was address what hung from the ventricles of her heart. “Nothing. Just stuff going on at home.”’
“So is it ‘nothing,’ or is something going on in your house?”
“When do you suddenly care about that stuff, huh?” Rhea was only mildly miffed that her father would bring this up. Like now. Likethis.“I thought you didn’t like talking about ‘domestic’ stuff.” She had made her own mini wrap since she had a light breakfast. Yet as she brought it up to her mouth, sliced tomatoes and feta cheese instantly threatened to spill onto her plate. Apparently, she hadn’t wrapped it up as good as she thought.
“I’ve got nothing else to talk about,” he said with his mouth full. “The most exciting conversations I have in this house are with the nurses, and I’m lucky if they tell me anything.”
“I’m not used to you taking an active interest in my personal life, I guess.”
“Yeah, well. I got old.”
Rhea laughed. “You’re still not getting any grandchildren. We’ve talked about a dog a couple of times, but I think that’s Paige’s way of getting me out of the house twice a day. What she doesn’t know is that she’s getting the morning walk shift.”
“Eh, I don’t care about grandkids. Not like I’d be around long enough to be any decent part of their lives at this point.”
“Come on. Don’t talk like that.”
“I’m being realistic, kid.” Danny only accepted a napkin after Rhea shoved it at him.
While he cleaned himself up and contemplated the rest of his lunch, Rhea had a little time to decide what she wanted to say. “Can I ask you something personal? About Mom?”
Her father almost choked on a single crumb. “Is this your way of getting back at me?”
“No. I’ve simply been wondering something lately.”
“What is it? I’m not gonna talk about mushy stuff if that’s what you’re wondering.”
Rhea scrunched her nose. “No way. Why would I ask aboutthat?”
“I don’t know! Everything’s topsy-turvy now. Parents talking to their kids about sex, kids talking to their parents about drugs, I don’t even know what high schoolers are up to these days.”
“Sex and drugs, mostly.”
