Page 54 of Worth the Wait

“Thanks,” she said before tossing them in her mouth and finishing off the whole glass.

I reached for it and refilled it once more.

“You need anything, Dad?” I asked, and he gave me a nod.

“There’s beer in the fridge. I’ll take one.” He smiled, and Sarina whooped.

“Yes! Get on my level!” she shouted, and Dad laughed.

“That would take a lot more than beer, I’m afraid,” he said before repeating our words back to us once more. “So, your mother”—he paused—“she’s mean and bossy?”

“Well, I don’t think she’s mean,” Sarina piped up before adding, “But Addi does.”

I sat down at the table and rolled my eyes. “She is kind of mean.” I started to backtrack before realizing that I didn’t want to sugarcoat her personality. “Or maybe she’s just not very motherly,” I offered with a shrug, like I even had anyone to compare it to other than the things I’d seen on TV and in movies.

Sarina threw a hand up. “That’s actually a very good analogy.”

It wasn’t an analogy at all, but I just grinned instead of correcting her.

“She is not motherly. She’s all business, all the time.”

Dad did not look pleased, hearing this. I reached out for his forearm and gave it a squeeze.

“Does that upset you? Was she always like that?”

He shook his head. “I’m only upset if it hurts you girls. And, no, she used to be fun and lighthearted. But she changed pretty quick after having you.”

“How so?” Sarina asked at the same time I said, “I can’t imagine her ever being fun.”

Dad gave us both a half-hearted shrug. “It was a long time ago. I don’t know your mother anymore, and I’d hate to speak for her. But after having you both, she got real bored, real fast. The life that I thought we both wanted wasn’t enough for her. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was like her entire personality shifted. The woman you both describe definitely isn’t the girl I once knew.”

“She’s been like this forever,” Sarina said. “I think I’m used to her quirks and her attitude, but Addi definitely was not.”

“I mean, come on!” I shouted. “Compared to this guy”—I thumbed toward our dad—“it’s not like she’s a walk in the park, all sweet and understanding.”

“She is definitely not that. Her expectations are high. Her expectations for her daughters are higher. And, man, does she ever hate this place.” Sarina blew out a breath like those last words hadn’t been a slap on my and my dad’s faces.

“Enough about her.” Dad pretended like he was unaffected, but his mouth always did this little twitch thing when he was trying to play it cool. “Pizza?”

“Yes, please,” I said before hopping out of the chair so fast that it scraped against the floor.

Running toward the landline phone on the wall, I pulled it off the receiver and dialed up our favorite pizza place in Sugar Mountain. The magnet was still stuck on the fridge, the phone number displayed, but fading, like it had been for years.

“You’ll eat a slice, won’t you? Or do you want me to order you a salad?” I pinned Sarina with a look that told her to please eat actual food for once. I couldn’t bear trying to explain to our dad that she seemed to exist on liquids alone when we were in Manhattan.

“I’m honestly starving,” she said. “But still get me a salad,” she added with a pleading look.

Once everyone was taken care of and the food was ordered, I sat back down at the table, and the three of us stared at each other.

“The pizza won’t be like what you’re used to in New York,” my dad suddenly said.

“He’s right. It’s not the same at all,” I agreed.

“It’s fine. The only pizza that’s better than New York is in Rome anyway,” she said, like everyone could relate to that statement.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Dad said as he took a swig of his beer. “So, Addison”—he focused on me—“how are things for you in the big city?”

I shrugged. If he had called me while I was there and asked me that question, I would have lied and said that things were fine, that I was happy…enough. But now that I was back in Sugar Mountain, the answer felt forced. I’d had some pretty big wins in Manhattan, but as I sat in my childhood home, they didn’t feel so much like wins in the grand scheme of things. They felt like a cage, keeping me trapped in a place I didn’t truly want to be in.

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