Page 11 of Take My Hand

Before I know it, I’m three episodes deep and I think I just found my new project after Whisper Me Nothings is no more.

5

CARTER

“And here is the bedroom. You have a lot of natural light in here because of this beautiful stretch of windows. Plus, the carpeting is brand new. They just replaced it, along with the bathroom floors.”

The building manager walks us through the apartment, putting on a good show considering that the unit is on the lower end of my price range for the area. It’s small, only one bedroom and one bathroom with an open concept in the living area and the kitchen tucked into one corner.

But I don’t need anything big. This would be the first place I’ll be moving into on my own, so I just need enough space for me.

“What do you think, Cars?” Dad asks, his sharp eyes scanning over every inch of the apartment. The baseboards, drywall, ceiling, window panes, all of it. He builds houses for a living, so I would expect nothing less.

“I think it’s perfect,” I say, nodding my head, taking in the empty space and picturing what I could fill it with. Turning to the building manager, I give her a thumbs up. “When can I move in?”

She beams and jingles her keys as she moves toward the entry door, holding it open for us. We head back into the hallway of the building, down the elevator, and to her office.

After signing a one-year lease, getting a key to the building and to my unit, I’m shaking her hand twenty minutes later with a smile on my face.

“Welcome to the building, Miss O’Connor.”

“Thank you.”

“Roger, great to meet you as well.” She directs her attention to my dad, taking notice of his naked left ring finger and shooting him an even brighter smile.

If he notices, he doesn’t show it. “Thanks for your time.”

As we exit the office and step out into the blinding sunlight, my dad turns to me and pats me on the head like I’m five years old. “I’m proud of you, kid. Doing this on your own.”

I toss an elbow into his side at the nickname. “Can we grab lunch? I’m starving.”

It was well past noon, but we’d been busy driving all over looking at apartments this morning.

When I got back from tour a little over a month ago, I obviously didn’t have a place to live anymore since Daniel and I broke up. When I showed up to pack my things, I was met with changed locks and a text with an address to a storage unit where he had taken all of my things.

I spent that first night in a hotel before grabbing a few items from storage the next day and then driving to Sacramento to stay with my dad for a little bit while I got a plan together.

This was the first time I’d ever been on my own, and I didn’t want to jump into a lease for a place just because I was desperate to get out of a hotel.

And of course my dad welcomed me home with open arms. He’s my best friend, and living with him the last month has been great. I was tempted to stay, falling back into a sense of safety in that home that I didn’t realize I had lacked so much while Daniel and I lived together.

My dad even offered me a job in his construction company, doing admin work and taking photos of completed projects. He didn’t really need help with any of that, already having people on staff to take care of those things. And I think deep down, he knew I would never accept it, but it still meant a lot to me that he was willing to find something for me to help get me back on my feet.

But I missed LA. I had moved there for a reason, and it wasn’t just for Daniel. My career needs me to be in the thick of things, making connections and shooting as much as I can. So I gave myself a month to get my shit together, and now here I am, with keys in hand to my very first apartment that is just my own.

We walk down the street and find a small cafe that has a few open tables.

My dad goes to the counter and orders for us both while I grab us a spot at a table in the corner by a window, closing my eyes for a moment and letting the sun heat my skin. I’ve lived in California my entire life, so I’m used to beautiful weather. But after touring in some colder states earlier this year, I learned not to take the sunshine for granted.

“They’ll call us up when it’s ready,” my dad says as he tosses his phone and keys on the table and plops down in the chair across from me with a sigh.

“Thanks for coming and helping me with this. I know it’s not easy for you to take a whole weekend away from work.”

There are definitely perks to being your own boss and owning your own business, but feeling like you can never fully step away has weighed on him over the years. But despite that, my dad has still always shown up every single time I’ve needed him.

He never missed a single volleyball game, choir concert, or parent-teacher conference. And as I grew up, I learned to never take that for granted when I looked around at other kids and saw empty bleacher seats where they expected their parents to be sitting.

“You don’t ever have to thank me for helping you. That’s what I’m supposed to do.”

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