Chapter 36
“I’m surprised you would even speak to me after the way I treated you yesterday,” Daniel said into the phone. “Holly and I would love to come to your place for Thanksgiving dinner.”
“You can bring a guest, if you like. And as many as you want, too,” Sarah said. “I’m in a giving mood today.”
Daniel could not help but laugh. How Sarah Anderson had summoned up the courage to call and invite them to her home for Thanksgiving dinner was a mystery, and one he could not solve, but she had reached out to him, and no way was he going to turn her down. Then there was the fact that he had heard what a fantastic cook she was. It would be nice, really. No more fake turkey and instant mashed potatoes. “I’m honored. Truly. It’s been ages since someone cooked for us,” he said into the phone.
“Oh, it’s my pleasure,” Sarah said. “To cook, I mean.”
He knew exactly what she meant, and instantly had a killer of an idea assault his empty brain.
“Thanks, I have . . . a friend who I am sure would appreciate a homemade Thanksgiving dinner.”
“The more, the merrier. Now, if I do not get busy, we’ll all have to settle for one of those plastic turkey dinners. Give Holly a hug from me.”
“Sure thing,” Daniel said, then placed the phone back in its cradle. He walked down the hall to the kitchen to pour himself another cup of coffee. It was after nine, and he decided to let Holly sleep in, given all the effort she had put into studying yesterday, not to mention he had kept her up late last night. Or late for a child. Apparently, she had not set her alarm clock.
He’d spent the better part of the night online reading article after article on Macintosh Air, its owner, and anything he could find connected to the family. What he had discovered blew his mind, and he was not 100 percent sure his findings were what he believed them to be, but he definitely planned to find out. As soon as he deemed it was not too early to make a social phone call, he returned to the phone and dialed the number he’d already memorized.
“Hello,” came a sleepy female voice.
“Did I wake you up?”
“Daniel?”
“The one and only,” he said, grinning. She recognized his voice already. That made him happy.
“Is Holly all right?” she asked, alarm in her voice.
He could have kicked himself for scaring her. “Yes, she’s still asleep. Is this a bad time? I can call back later.”
“No, it’s fine. I was just getting out of the shower,” she indicated.
An image of her getting out of the shower sent a thrill up and down his spine. It felt odd to have these sorts of feelings about a woman he barely knew.
He had not rehearsed what he would say when he spoke to her, but he just could not blurt his questions out. They were way too serious. So how did he go about asking her if what he’d read was true? “I thought you and I could, uh . . . go out for breakfast. I wanted to catch you before you ate.” He sounded like a high-school boy and was a bit embarrassed by the fact.
“You sure do eat a lot,” Ivy joked. “Will Holly be coming along?”
Did this mean yes? “She’s asleep. I didn’t want to wake her.”
“Well, I am up now,” came his daughter’s voice from behind him.
“Forget I said that. Holly is awake now, and if she would like, of course, she can come with us.”
“Where?” Holly asked as she danced down the hall to the kitchen.
Daniel held up a hand. Realizing Holly could not see behind her, he spoke into the phone. “Can you hold on for one second?”
“Sure.”
He laid the phone down and hurried to the kitchen. Holly was busy fixing herself a bowl of cereal, just like she did every single day. Sad that he never bothered making her a proper meal, he decided he was going to spend the rest of his life making it up to her. “You want to go with me and Ivy to have breakfast?”
Holly turned around and stared at him. “You really have gone cuckoo. But yes, I will go. This cereal is stale. Do I have time for a shower?”
He thought of Ivy and her shower. “Of course you do, but make it fast, okay?” He smiled, then hurried back to the phone.
“Yes, Holly wants to go.” Daniel just realized Ivy had not said that she would actually go.
“Do you want to meet at The Blackberry Café? I saw where they served breakfast on the weekends.”
“Yes, that’s perfect. Is half an hour too soon?”
“If you can make it forty-five minutes, you have a date,” Ivy said. “My hair is sopping wet, and I do not want to go outside without drying it first.”
A date? Is that what she thought his invitation was? Dates were for evenings and did not involve talking about tragedies. Or did they? It had been so many years since he’d cared about another female’s ideas, he was not sure what her words meant. Maybe it was just that. A word. He was reading way too much into this.
“I’ll see you there” was all he said before hanging up. He went to his room and changed into a chambray shirt and a pair of khaki slacks. He always wore jeans, but it was Sunday. He did not want to appear to be more heathenish than he was.
He combed his hair. Sometime in the near future, he planned to get a haircut. Reaching for the new bottle of cologne he’d used last night, he stopped. Holly said he’d used too much. He’d go without, as he’d taken a shower in the wee hours of the morning. One last glance in the mirror before closing his bedroom door. He had not slept in his bed, so he had not needed to bother making it up. And if he did not make up his bed, who cared? His OCD habits were starting to get on his nerves.
“Woo-hoo! You look like a . . . man,” Holly said, stating the obvious. “I mean not my-dad-kind-of man. I did not know you even had normal clothes.”
“There are a lot of things you do not know about your dear old dad, but you’ll find out soon enough.” Daniel looked at his daughter. “And you do not look like the eleven-year-old I sent to bed last night. You look like you’re . . . almost twelve.” He laughed, and Holly did, too.
Holly wore a pair of jeans with a red sweatshirt, her long hair pulled in a high ponytail. Daniel almost said she was the spitting image of her mother, but he did not. It would not mean anything to her, at least he didn’t think so. Maybe someday, when she was older, he would let her look at her mother’s professional photos. She was sure to see the resemblance.
“I’m almost twelve. You mean I could probably pass for thirteen, right?” Holly asked.
“No, that’s not what I meant, kiddo. I mean you look really pretty in that red sweatshirt. Now let’s get a move on, so we’re not late.”
Once they were inside the truck, he turned on the heat to take away the chill from inside. He backed down the drive and headed for The Blackberry Café. He checked the clock on the dash. Right on time.
“Dad, can I ask you a question?”
“Of course,” he said.
“You’re really not acting like the dad I know. The mean one. Sorry, but it’s true. I can’t remember us ever talking as much as we have in the past two days. Are you trying to be, like, super cool and nice because something bad is gonna happen to you? I am old enough, you know. You can tell me if you’re sick or something.”
Daniel physically had to force his foot to remain on the accelerator and not slam on the brakes in the middle of the road. Did his daughter really think so little of him? Of course she only based her opinions on his actions in the past, and past behavior always indicated future behavior. He was not acting like himself. He knew this very well, but how to explain?
Taking a deep breath and easing off the gas, he reached across the seat for her hand. “I guess I am acting kind of different, huh?”
“Beyond weird, if you want to know the truth.” She squeezed his hand.
“This is not easy for me, Holly. I know I have not been the most attentive father. I have not made much of an effort to involve myself in the daily details of your life, and I have not allowed you to have a peep into mine, and I want to change that. Starting now. I do not want you eating stale cereal for breakfast every day. I do not want you to be afraid to voice your opinion. Most of all, I want you to . . . I want you to be proud of me.” His eyes watered when he said those last few words. He did want her to be proud of him. It was normal for girls to think their fathers were . . . the pie in the sky. At least he hoped. Holly would be a teenager in the blink of an eye. He knew the years ahead would be hard on both of them. If he did not have an easy, comfortable relationship with her now, before those teen years, he never would. The words weren’t coming out as smoothly as he would have liked, but he felt like Holly got the gist of what he was trying to tell her.
“Dad, I am, like, super proud of you. Miss Carol thinks you’re the best horticulturist in the world, and I do, too. I see all that grass and bushes, and stuff. I know what it looks like in the back of one of the trucks, and I see what happens when you plant them. You are kinda old-fashioned, though. I really think you need to think about a computer and the Internet. I’m gonna need one, once I’m in high school, and all. Just so you know.
“And, Dad, can you please, just this once, let me practice for the musical? It’s, like, the most important thing in the world to me now. More than a computer or a cell phone. I do want one, though. Roxie and Kayla are asking their parents for cell phones for Christmas this year. Or I’ll take one for my birthday. That would be so cool.”
Now probably was not the best time to tell her he’d had a computer for several years, that his work required using one. It was the reason he locked himself in his den every evening. He did not want her to see that he owned one. Why? He knew why, and now that he’d told her about Laura, he saw no harm in revealing his little secret.
“Holly, I have had a computer for a number of years. I do not know why I have kept it such a secret, but we have Internet, and there’s a laptop in my desk.”
Holly scooted to the edge of the seat, then turned to look at him. “Are you for real? Like, telling the whole truth? You’re not just saying this to make me, like, feel good or anything? Because if you are, Dad, this is a very uncool thing to do. I really hope you’re being truthful.”
He pulled into the parking lot behind the restaurant, shut the engine off, and turned to his daughter. “I am being totally honest with you. I’ll even show you my MacBook later.” He wanted to laugh when he saw her eyes almost double in size.
A light tap on the window took their attention away from their conversation.
“It’s chilly out here,” Ivy said when Daniel opened his door to get out of the truck. Holly jumped out and ran around the front of the truck.
“Ivy, you are not going to believe the stuff my dad has been hiding from me. I am, like, in major shock. I can’t wait to call Roxie and Kayla. Unreal. Let’s go inside. I am positively starving.”
Ivy smiled at Daniel, and the ice around his heart melted. It did not matter one little bit that the temperature was close to freezing.