Page 10 of Tickled Pink

“The sheets are clean,” she argues. “And I’m pretty! See? So pretty.”

“You’ll still be pretty when I’m done with you.”

She jokes and plants her palms against my chest. “Thad...”

I laugh, easing up. “Okay, okay. My hands are officially to myself… until the next minute I get you alone.”

Her phone vibrates against the bed again. She reaches for it and puts on a happy face as she reads the screen. “It’s my dad,” she says.

I push off the bed. “Get off my daughter. Message received, Mr. Pink.”

Phoebe laughs as she stands up, quickly composing herself before answering and tapping speakerphone. “Hey, Dad,” she says.

“Hey, Phoebe,” a now-familiar male voice answers.

“Hi, Mr. Pink!” I say.

“That’s Thad,” Phoebe says with a chuckle. “Are you calling from the air? We’re just about to head to the airport—”

“Actually, Phoebe, we...” He hesitates for a moment. “We’re not coming, honey.”

I pause as Phoebe’s smile tilts down.

“You’re not?” she asks. “Is everything okay? Did something happen to Mom?”

“No, your mom’s fine. We’re both fine. We just... We can’t make it this year, that’s all.”

I take a step closer as more confusion fills her face.

“But... you said you were coming.”

“I know we did, honey, but something has come up.”

“Like what?”

Finally, he sighs, and his voice hardens. “Phoebe, we can’t support this.”

She blinks twice. “Support... what?”

My chest clenches. I’ve been the receiving end of this disappointed parent tone plenty of times before. “Pheebs,” I whisper, “hang up.”

She ignores me. “I’ve been in New York a year,” she says. “Why didn’t you say something before?”

“It’s not where you’re living, honey,” he says. “It’s how. This lifestyle you’ve chosen is…”

Her face falls even more. “Lifestyle?”

“Phoebe, how can you expect us to come visit you while you’re living with those men?”

“Pheebs,” I say again.

She turns away from me. “Those men are my boyfriends, Dad.”

“It’s not normal, honey.”

“They love me. And I love them. What’s more normal than that?”

“We’re sorry,” he says again, though I really doubt it. “We’ll talk again after New Year’s.”

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