CHAPTER 136: Spam

“Desiree,” he says, with a sigh that feels too familiar. “Let’s not go down that road. She just wants to make amends. You know how she is.”

“Oh, I know exactly how she is, Dad. Remember, she’s the one who threw me out because I wasn’t living up to her standards of… what was it?” I snap my fingers, recalling the exact wording she used, “moral purity? Because I was, God forbid, dancing?”

I can almost hear him wince. “She… she wasn’t fair to you. I’ll give you that. But she’s tried to see things differently. We both have.”

My stomach twists at his words, but I don’t know if it’s anger or something darker, something lonelier. “So that’s all it takes? I get married, and suddenly, she’s seeing things differently?”

“Desiree, this isn’t easy for me either, you know.” His voice is low, pleading, as if he wants me to understand something I’m not quite grasping. “When you left… it wasn’t just you who left. It was a part of our family. A part of me. Maybe now… I don’t know. Maybe now we can…