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Dani: Okay, Ben. Load it up
We watch the movie at the same time, sending the occasional reaction or discussion texts. And when Liv and Ben—who I now know are Grace and A.J.—have their famous animal crackers scene, I can’t help myself, I dial Dani’s number and laugh when she answers immediately, predicting exactly what I’m going to do.
“Don’t even think about—”
I start singing Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,” as Dani laughs. And when I finish, she sighs.
“How did I know that was going to happen? You just ruined one of my favorite songs.”
“Ruined! How dare you?”
Dani giggles, and it’s a beautiful sound. “I’m sorry, do you think your voice is superior to Steven Tyler’s?”
“No. I don’t.”No one’s voice is.“But Icanplay that song on guitar,” I admit, laughing as Dani’s voice raises in excitement.
“You can?”
“I can.”
“What else can you play?”
“Oh, the list is endless. Maybe I can show you?”
“Yes!” she blurts and then huffs out a sigh. “I mean, yeah, if you want.”
I bite back a cocky remark because I don’t want her to pull back again, and instead, I give her honesty. “Yeah, I want to.”I’ll take any time I can get.
We watch the rest of the movie talking on the phone together, and when the climax hits, Dani sniffles, and I don’t blame her. It’s hard not to let the emotion of the scene get to you.
“Do you think you’ll ever forgive your dad?” she asks after the credits roll. And while the question throws me a little, I find myself wanting to talk to her about it instead of keeping it bottled up like I normally do.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, actually. And yeah, I will. It’s probably time we had a chat.” I stop short of telling her she’s the one that led me to this decision.
Dani takes a deep breath and goes silent. I know it’s because she’s not sure she can forgive my dad herself yet. Nor does she have to.
“I imagine you have just as many questions as I do,” I say, breaking the silence.
“I have a few.”
“The biggest? You know, if I get the chance to slip it into my conversation with him.”
A soft laugh escapes her, and I can almost hear her mind working, but she doesn’t respond.
“I’m guessing you havemorethan a few questions.”
She sighs slowly, dragging the breath out. “I do. But the main one would be to ask if he knew why she moved away.”
She’s said something to this effect before, and I never gave it a second thought, but now…
“Wait? Your sister lived here?”That can’t be right.
“She did. Up until six years ago.”
“When we moved.”
“Yeah.”
That doesn’t make any sense, but I don’t say anything. I always thought we moved so that Dad could be closer to his kid. But then Mom told me that wasn’t true, that everything happenedafterwe moved. I really need to talk to Dad. I need answers for myself, but I also need closure for Dani. She sounds so lost when she talks about her family, and if I can help with that at all, then I’ll suck up my pride to do it.
