Page 56 of Love In Translation

All good and well, but she should’ve switched her mic off and kept her mouth shut. If not for Nicole, she might’ve lost her job over the incident, as she told her parents.

“If you lose your job, something else will come along,” Ed told her.

“I haven’t lost my job,” Rheo said, trying to hold on to her patience. “I’ve just been on a six-month sabbatical.”

They both looked disappointed. “Ah,pity,” her mom murmured.

Rheo straightened, all-too-familiar irritation shooting through her. “Adults need jobs, you know,” she said. “I have to pay for my apartment and my food, build my savings. Help you guys out of a jam occasionally.” Okay, the last jab was unnecessary, but their easy acceptance of her misfortune shocked her.

“We’d just prefer you to have more balance in your life,” her dad said, his voice calm. “You don’t seem to have much fun, darling.”

Shehadfun. Shedid. She just couldn’t think of an example right now.

Knowing she was on shaky ground, she changed the subject. “Anyway, I’m staying at the Pink House, but Paddy doesn’t know.”

Her dad rubbed his hands together, his eyes dancing with glee. “Excellent. Your news will take the heat off me.”

Rheo rolled her eyes at her father. “Thanks for the support, Dad.”

“Doesn’t the Pink House have a tenant?” her mom asked.

“Mmm-hmm. We’re sharing the place.” Her parents didn’t need to know she and Fletch were also sharing a bed. “Fletch is an old friend of Carrie’s.”

Her mom nodded. “She’s spoken of him before.”

Naturally. Fletch was an impressive guy. “So, have you enjoyed your time away from the city, Rheo?” her dad asked, draping a hand around her mom’s shoulder.

She started to say no, then hesitated. She was enjoying herself lately. Fletch’s arrival made her world lighter and brighter. Apart from having a stunning sex life, they walked every day, and she’d come to enjoy being outside for a little while, sucking in the fresh air and the views, feeling her muscles stretching. They’d attended a few trivia and live music nights at Diego’s bar, often ate at Abi’s diner, and they’d spent many days on the lake, with her lying in the sun and paddling while Fletch SUP-ed or kayaked.

“It’s been fine,” she admitted. “Nice, actually.”

“We’re glad,” her mom replied, and Rheo saw love in her eyes.

They might not be alike or understand each other, but she wasloved. It wasn’t their fault, nor was it hers, that they were so different.

“We would do anything for you, Rheo,” her dad murmured. “If we could, we would.”

She wished she’d had that reassurance when she was a child. Back then, she was always trying to catch up, running behind them while they strode on ahead, free and fearless.

She’d been the wrong child for them, they’d been the wrong parents for her...but it was okay. Maybe it was time to accept her childhood was over, time she moved on.

Rheo heard Fletch’s Land Rover pull into its space next to the house. “Um...so, about Paddy. Please don’t tell her I’m staying here?”

“I’m not talking to my mother, Rheo. Her choice, not mine,” Ed said, his tone cold.

Rheo put her chin in her hand and looked at her dad. In his eyes, the same color as hers, she saw misery, defiance, and a lot of determination. Deciding to ask him the question she’d constantly avoided for the past year, she took a deep breath. “Dad, did you ask to see her will? Did you ask what you’d inherit?”

He didn’t drop his eyes, nor did his eyes slide to the right or left. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you are worried about what you are going to do and where you are going to live when you get old? Because you wonder how you are going manage when you have to stop traveling because you are too old or sick?”

“No, I didn’t ask to see her will. A friend of ours passed without one and it was a nightmare for his relatives, so I only asked if she had one.”

Rheo believed him. He’d messed up a thousand times before in a thousand different ways, but this time, he spoke the truth.

He lifted his chin, obviously waiting for her criticism. He was expecting her to take a couple of potshots. What did it say about her that her father was expecting a lecture? Nothing good.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t ask for your side of the story, Dad. That was wrong of me.” She knew what he needed from her, so she gave him the only thing she could. “I believe you, Dad.”

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