AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You, okay? You zoned out for like five minutes.”
I nod. “I’m fine.”
“LA is really beautiful, isn't it?” She continues as she walks into the bathroom. “Mimi grew up there.” She’s absentmindedly fiddling with the ruby pendant Ashleigh picked out for her birthday years ago. It’s a cheerleader, and she hasn’t taken it off since the day Anna and I gave it to her. “She studied at Jordan Academy.”
Was it weird that my ex-wife is best friend’s with Ashleigh’s twin sister? Absolutely. Mimi moved to New York eight years ago, she needed an OB/GYN and ended up in Anna’s clinic. Anna mistakenly thought she was Ashleigh, at first. Their mutual hatred for her fueled their friendship.
“Mom’s been looking at transferring me to a performing arts school recently,” Stephi says. She’s perched herself on the edge of the closed toilet lid and is looking at the floor. One hand is still swinging the pendant back and forth along the twenty-four-carat gold chain. “Jordan Academy really is the best one, so I was thinking… maybe you’d let me transfer to a school in LA?”
What?
My heart stops. I couldn't possibly have heard her right. I could have sworn she'd just said she wanted to leave Anna, Harvey, her two brothers, leave her grandparents and the rest of her family, her school, her friends, her entire life, and move to LA!
No way. No matter how good Jordan Academy is, or how many stars have been born there, my daughter doesn’t like me enough to visit with me, let alone live with me. Sad, but true.
“Yeah, of course.” I laugh sarcastically and turn back to fussing with my hair in the mirror. “Because your Mom will only let that happen when we're building snowmen on South Beach.”
“Mom said I had to talk to you.”
“Fuck!” I spin around to look at her. “You’re serious?” Her expression hardens and she stands, and I realize my reaction has done damage. “Stephi, wait. You surprised me, that’s all. It’s the last thing I expect you’d say.”
“Why? You’re my dad. Why wouldn’t I want to live with you?”
“Because you don’t like me!” I say honestly.
“I don’t like her!” Stephi hisses. I know exactly who she means. I’d hoped that her hatred of Ashleigh would fade. A long time ago Stephi’s favorite person in the whole wide world was Ashleigh—or Lee-Lee, as she’d called her back then. But ever since Anna and I broke up, Stephi’s hated Ashleigh. “But she’s gone now. You said it yourself, your life doesn’t revolve around her anymore. So, I won’t have to put up with her if I live with you.”
I blow out a long, slow breath. I’m not sure I can have this kind of frank conversation with Stephi. Our relationship was too screwed up for this. Gee, Anna. Thanks for the heads up on this!
If she’d been talking with Stephi about her career prospects, her hopes and dreams, and they were serious enough to move her schools, then she could have at least warned me.
Jordan Academy is not a school any kid could just transfer to. They were invited.
“You have an offer?” I ask and Stephi beams a huge white toothed smile at me. “Wow.” I let out another long breath and lean against the whirlpool bath. “Well done, Kiddo.”
“They came to my performance at Christmas.” She grins. She was amazing. The star of the show and I’m not just saying it because I’m biased. Oh okay, I am biased. But I didn’t believe it was my kid on stage when I watched her performance. She’s gifted.
“Mom says I have to fly back home once a month to visit her,” she continues. “This is going to be so ace. Do you know how many famous people have graduated from Jordan Academy? Do you know how many child stars have come out of Jordan Academy? And my friends can come to LA for holidays. How cool will that be? I can't believe I'm going to go to Jordan Academy.”
“School of dreams Stephi, they don't just accept anyone. It might be Mimi's grandfather who founded the school, but their admissions board doesn't care who your Mom is best friends with.”
“Or who my dad is sleeping with.”
“Stephi, I’m—”
My gaze meets hers and I can’t bring myself to lie to her. That’s exactly what I did a few hours ago. Not for the first time in the last twenty-four hours, either. I might have no intention of doing it again, but who knows what’ll happen the next time Ashleigh and I are alone. She said she had something to tell me.
“I'm proud of you, Stephi. But—”
“You're not even going to consider it?” She looks at me with those big silvery gray eyes, the ones she’d inherited from my grandmother. They glisten with moisture as she holds back her disappointment. Still, her lower lip trembles and pulls at my heartstrings. “I can’t believe you're choosing her over me. Again!”
“You know what Dad?” Her eyes fill with rage. “Mom was wrong all these years. You never wanted me. You shouldn’t have married her. And you do love Ashzilla more than me. The reason I don’t come to visit you is because I don’t want to. I’m a lot happier without you. I couldn’t wait for the day she took you away for good. Because I knew she would. Once she left, it was only a matter of time before she came back to get you. I’d be a lot better off without you and your two-timing bitch in my life!”
I’m not sure how long my jaw gapes, or how long I stare at the space she vacates. But for a long time, my only movements are the conversion of oxygen to carbon dioxide and the blinking of my eyelids. What the hell!
What do I say to that? She’s right about most of it. I shouldn’t have ever married Anna. I only married her because she was pregnant. Stephanie was an accident, and I did what was right, what was expected of me. I was twenty-two and hadn’t even graduated from college!
It doesn't mean I loved Stephi any less!
