“You okay, Princess?” Dad asks over the phone.

I flop back on my bed and close my eyes. I’m lying on the bed, wrapped in a towel with another smaller towel around my hair. I soaked in the tub for hours, adding hot water until there was no more hot water to be found. I’ve finally calmed down and now I just feel like an idiot. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did to that officer. It all just exploded and got out of hand. I don’t even think he meant anything about me being a landscaper. After all, it is a male dominated field—much like being a chef is these days.

Which is exactly the problem.

I’m touchy about it. I know. Living in Paris was amazing, but most of my classmates were males. Growing up you have this mindset that your mother does the majority of the cooking and that’s how it was for me—until she died and I took over. But, once I decided to pursue the culinary field it became clear that the most successful chefs that I wanted to emulate were males. Then, I enrolled in school. That was an eye opener for sure. Being in Paris, it became apparent that to succeed I had to try twice as hard, work twice as hard and never show weakness. That’s been forged inside of me over the last few years and I reacted badly to the officer. I should have held my tongue—

“Princess?” Dad says again, drawing my attention back to the phone and our conversation.

“I wrecked the lawnmower, Dad,” I tell him, starting out with the easier part of the story. I’m not sure how much I’m going to tell him, honestly. But, he needs to know about the police car and the damage.

“The lawnmower? What in the hell were you doing out on the lawnmower, Adelle?”

“I wanted to clear my head and working outside usually helps.”

“Clear your head. I can guess what about. You’re going to have to forgive me for selling the house, Princess,” Dad says softly and I can’t stop the tears that boil up out of nowhere and begin seeping from my eyes.

“You should have told me,” I whisper, keeping my eyes closed and ignoring the hot tracks of tears running done my face.

“You would have asked me not to.”

“So? It was our home, Daddy. It was her home.”

“But she’s not here anymore, Princess. I was alone in that home. You weren’t there, she wasn’t there. The silence was killing me. Maybe what I did was wrong to you… but, I had to do it to survive.”

“Daddy—”

“Your mother was a special woman, Adelle. I loved her with all of my heart. I always will, but I had to keep living. Being in Mason feels right. I think your Mom would be happy for me and I hope you will too.”

I think over his words and although I know he’s right, my heart breaks just the same.

“You okay, Addie-girl?”

I know he’s talking about me being upset over Mom. Honestly, I miss her so much I don’t feel like I will ever be okay again. It’s like a piece of me is gone. So, instead of lying to him, I play dumb.

“The lawnmower’s not. I hit a cop car.”

“A cop car?”

“A bee flew down my shirt and I panicked. There was an officer that came by to leave a file for you.”

“Who was it?”

I think for a minute. I know somewhere in our shouting match with each other he gave a name. It finally comes back to me.

“I think he said Sheriff Parrish, or something like that.”

“Yeah, Luka. He’s a good guy I think. What did you think of him?”

A good guy?

“Well, he wasn’t really happy with me, Daddy. I just ruined his car…”

“I suppose so, but he’ll get over it. I really like Luka. He’s nothing like his father, and trust me when I tell you that in this case—that’s a good thing. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. I’m okay, Daddy. I promise.”

“Okay, Princess. I’ll be home in a couple of days and we’ll spend some time together, just the two of us.”

“That sounds good.”

“For me too. Night, Addie-girl.”

“Night, Daddy,” I whisper as we hang up.

I lie there staring up at the ceiling for a little while. I’m still crying, but I ignore the tears. I’ve found that wiping them away just makes them fall harder.

“I miss you, Mommy,” I whisper out into the room.

Only quiet answers me and I didn’t think it was possible, but my heart breaks a little more.