Chapter Twenty-Two
Candice
It took a lot for my mother to convince me to come to dinner at home. I told her that I wasn’t ready to see my father, but she somehow managed to persuade me that it was a good idea. I knew I couldn’t avoid him forever. Also, I wasn’t even with Dominic anymore, so it seemed pointless to argue.
There was one shining light in my life in spite of all this. I’d actually made a friend. Lily was a beautiful Japanese girl who had moved to America a few years ago. She understood what it was like to have a domineering father, and the two of us easily connected over these similarities. Her father wasn’t into politics, but he had strong views and believed that she should follow them. I liked Lily. She was fun, and kind, and a ray of sunshine in my otherwise dull life. I was glad that I finally had someone to talk to. I loved my mother, and I knew she was there for me, but it was good to finally talk to someone that didn’t have links to my father. It might have taken me a long time to make a friend, but I was glad that the one that I did make was someone I knew I would be friends for life with. I’d rather have one good friend than have ten that didn’t get me at all.
Lily had knocked on my door that morning, holding two steaming cappuccinos and a bag of croissants in her hand. I let her in, and we enjoyed a mini breakfast on the floor of my dorm room. For some reason, we always enjoyed sitting on the floor of my room, our backs against the bed or the wall.
“Bad news,” she said. “I’m not going to be here for spring break.”
“What? Why not?” I said. I had envisioned the two of us spending all our waking time together. I already had a long list of things I wanted to do with her. We had already talked about it so many times. The thought of her not being there immediately made me feel sad.
“We’re going to Japan. My father sprung it on us at the last minute. He has some work that he has to attend to. I wished he had at least given me some notice. I thought I was going to spend the whole time with you.”
“Can’t you stay?” I pleaded.
She looked at me with raised eyebrows. “Are you kidding me? My dad would never leave my mom and me here unsupervised. Trust me, I tried, but he shook his head sternly like he always does. And my mom is no help. Anyway, she wants to go back. She misses home and all her friends, so she doesn’t mind at all. I tried to get him to take you with us, but he said we have lots of family things to do while we are there.”
I smiled at her. The fact that she had even asked her father meant a lot to me. “Thank you. That’s so nice of you.”
“Yeah,” she said while taking a bite of her croissant. “Well, I’m not all that keen on going without you. It would’ve been so much fun with you around. You would’ve been the talk of the town too. The town that I come from doesn’t have many pretty blondes walking around.”
I giggled. “Oh, that’s a pity. Ah, what am I going to do without you? You’re my partner in crime.”
“I’m sorry. At least it’s only for two weeks. It will go quickly. Are you thinking of staying here?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Yeah, maybe. I have dinner with my parents tonight. I’ll see what they say. We still have a few more weeks until spring break, so maybe I’ll come up with something. I know my mom wants me to go home but I’d way rather just stay here. I don’t care how quiet it is around here. I would much rather spend all my time reading and sleeping than trying to avoid my father.”
She pulled a face. “Argh, dinner tonight? That sounds like fun. Have you seen your father since the fight?” she asked. I had told her all about the last conversation I had with my father.
I shook my head. “Nope. Not once. We haven’t even talked on the phone. It’s crazy, really. After years of doing everything he asked me to, we are now fighting because of the one time I did something he didn’t like. I had no idea I had so little control over my own life. Anyway, at least with me being in college, he has no idea what’s going on. He probably thinks I’m still running around with Dominic.”
“Nah, he probably has spies on you. I’m sure he knows you’re not seeing him. Otherwise he would’ve done something about it.”
I smiled at Lily. She understood my father well even though she had never met him. I liked that I didn’t’ ever really have to explain to her.
“You’re probably right,” I said. “He probably knows everything. I always underestimate him.”
“I wonder if he knows about me,” she said. “Hey, you should totally tell him that you’re lesbian now, and that I’m your girlfriend. Can you imagine what he would say about that? Then, when he complains, you can turn around and tell him that he has a choice between me or Dominic. See what he says. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see what he says? He’d be stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
I burst out laughing. “He would have a heart attack. But that really annoys me, you know. I mean, why couldn’t I be with you? Or Dominic for that matter. Yeah, Dominic broke up with me, I know that, but say he didn’t. Why would it be such an issue? Surely the most important thing is me being happy. I’m his daughter. That should be his main concern.” Apparently, so I was told, that is what it was like in other families. Neither Lily or I had any idea what that was like, though. We both had fathers that simply wanted to tell us what to do.
“No, Candice, don’t you understand? The most important thing is for you to meet a nice man with strong political ambitions. And then you can be a stay-at-home mom, and look after the household. You can cook and clean.”
I laughed. “Isn’t that what the housekeeper is for?”
“Oh, of course. My apologies. You can just sit and look pretty then.”
We both groaned. “What a boring life,” I said. I pitied my mother then. I was sure that she wanted more out of life than just sitting around and being the pretty wife. Why did she put up with him? She deserved more than that.
“Tell me about it. There is more to life than that.”