Page 55 of Love at First Ride
I don’t move. When he saysEvelyn and I, I know that he’s really relaying some suggestion or other that Evelyn has made to him. She has that kind of influence over him, in the same way she successfully altered his name from ‘Rich’ to ‘Rick’.
I take a bite of sandwich, cover my mouth. ‘And you agree with her?’
He clears his throat. ‘I can see her logic.’
I can see the logic too. But I wasn’t the one who decided to upend our lives and move to a country where it was impossible for me to have paid employment, leaving me with the option of volunteering, sitting around watching Netflix all day, or moving to Europe to live with my unhinged, toy-boy obsessed mother. I could have stayed in London with Owen, but I had my reasons for leaving.
‘We’re not talking immediately,’ Dad says, finally digging into his sandwich. ‘But maybe in a month or two?’
In the grand scale of things, a month or two almost tallies up withimmediately.
‘And we’d love to have you live with us, of course, at least while you’re planning what comes next.’
The sandwich feels dry in my mouth. I put the remainder back down on my plate and swallow down a half-chewed lump. My father I could live with, at least the old version of him. My stepmother and stepbrother? Both a hard pass from me.
‘Evelyn and I, we think you’re being held back here.’
The image of my older brother, Noah, pops into my head. I wonder where he is and what he’s doing. If he knows that I think about him.
‘You know… just… reading to old people.’
‘I happen to like reading to them. Plus, I do more than just read to them. And this is America, Dad, they call them senior citizens. It gives them the respect they deserve.’
He looks shocked. ‘I didn’t mean—’
‘It’s fine,’ I snap, and I hate feeling resentful of him like this. I miss the relationship we had before my stepmother got her claws into him.
‘Anyway. Your brother is doing something similar to earn some extra credit at college.’
I look down at the sandwich on my plate, a single bite taken out of it, and I realize I’ve lost my appetite. ‘He’s not my brother,’ I mumble.
‘I’m sorry. Evelyn thinks I should just refer to us as one family unit. I see what she’s getting at. It’s more… harmonious.’
‘Or looks better for her PR machine, maybe?’ My shoulders sag.
‘Evelyn thinks that the other option is… well…’
‘That I go back to England,’ I cut in, because I’ve always been pretty sure that’s where my stepmother would prefer that I was based. She thought the same about Noah and ended up pushing him away without much effort at all.
‘You can work in England. We could help you out with rent, at least while you look for a job.’
I take another bite of sandwich, forcing it down. My Dad paid for it, and I don’t want to appear ungrateful. I hate that I am so reliant on him. If my parents had stayed together, I would never have even known Canyon existed. I would never have met AJ Callahan and spent my life pining over him.
My dad finishes his sandwich.
‘I probably need to be getting back,’ I tell him.
‘Of course,’ he says.
‘Maybe you and I could go for dinner one night? Just the two of us?’
He brightens. A flash of Rich, not Rick. ‘I’d like that. And you’ll think about… what I said.’
It feels like I’ve been putting off making decisions for a year. I look at the man opposite me. He doesn’t seem like my father anymore. I miss the bond we once shared. I miss days gone by, living in London, just me, him and Noah.
Though I’ve tried not to, I’ve always felt like an outsider in Canyon.
At the end of my shift, I get in my car. It’s just after five p.m. and I cling to the wheel.
