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“Aunt Rebecca?”
“Yup.” He looks me dead in the eye. “When I knew for sure it looked like you’d be going down there, I called down to talk to her and Tim about giving you a place to stay.”
“Dad,” I whisper, almost giddy. “Maybe I could use the scholarship money set aside for housing to add a double major!”
“You can do whatever you want,” he says with a winking shrug.
“That’s great news,” I almost shout. “Why are you being so serious about it? I’ve got all summer to get ready to head down in the fall.”
“Not exactly.” A strange sorrow fills his eyes, and my heart gets tight. I know where the whole thing is going, but my throat has closed up, so I can’t stop him. “They’ve agreed to have you move down this summer, so you can get used to life in a bigger city and get ready for college.”
All the air rushes out of me at once, and I get all lightheaded.
“When…” I can’t seem to find my words. “When would I leave?”
“Next week,” he says. “Right after graduation.”
It’s like I’ve been hit in the head with a two-by-four. I’d prepared myself to move to Houston a thousand times in my imagination, but suddenly, it’s all shockingly, insurmountably real, and I have no idea how to even begin to process it.
“I’m not ready to go,” I mumble, numb.
“Well, they’re ready to have you.” His smile returns, almost mischievous. “Rebecca was over the moon for you, and she says your cousin Kelsey is practically beside herself at the idea of having you come to stay. Besides, you’re damn near grown, and you could use a female role model. A mother figure.” His voice caught on the word mother, raising a knot in my own throat to match. I shoved my hands across the table and took his.
“I’ve been so selfish, Abby.”
“Dad,” I try to interject, but he cuts me off.
“No, let me finish. I’ve been selfish. Because I wanted to keep you all to myself, and that meant not even sharing you with someone who could be a kind of mother to you.” His eyes sheen with water, and it’s clear how much he’s working not to let it break free. “I never loved anyone like I loved your mom, and I just couldn’t imagine anybody who could replace her. And certainly not anybody who would deserve to have you as a daughter.”
“That’s not being selfish.”
“Maybe not to you.” He lets out a low chuckle. “But the fact is, you’re going off to college and I won’t have you shortchange yourself on anything just because I needed to keep you close. So, how about you let me do this for you, huh? Go, live with your aunt. Enjoy having a woman around to ask all the questions Iknowyou’ve been too embarrassed to ask me. Hell, go shopping! Get your nails done. Enjoy gossiping.”
“That’s not all there is to being a woman, Dad,” I joke, but he won’t let me off the hook.
“When your mom and I got married, I promised her we would live every day to the fullest with no regrets. Now, it's your turn, so please go, and don’t even think about looking back. And if not for you, do this for me."
While I can’t bear the thought of leaving him so soon, all I can think about is all the sacrifices he’s made for me. It’s time I return the favor.
“Alright, Dad,” I say softly then lean closer, so he can see how much I mean it when I say, “Thank you.”
Chapter Three
ABBY
As soon as we get home, I bolt next door to tell Brooke all about my whirlwind of a day. Outside of my dad, she’s basically the only other person in the world I have to talk to about things like this.
“Hi, Mrs. Matthews,” I say as Brooke’s mom answers the door. “Can I go upstairs?”
“Of course.” She laughs, stepping to the side, so I can duck past her. She calls after me, “I’ve told you, you don’t have to knock anymore!”
Bursting through Brooke’s door, I find her where she always is—lying on her bed propped up on her elbows, nose buried in a book.
“I don’t get it,” she says without even looking up from her book. “People get all worked up over Jane Austen, and I really have tried, butcome on!” She thumps the book shut, tosses it onto her pillows, and sits up. “It’s all just a bunch of rich people pretending they’re not going to get married, then getting married anyway. I mean what’s the—” Her voice stops dead when she sees my face, and a wide, gawky smile explodes across hers. “Abby?”
She asks me with her eyes what she already knows to be true, and when I offer the tiniest nod, she sails off the bed and tackles me with a hug.
“Aaaah,” she screams. “I knew it! I justknewit!”
