Page 67 of Faking the Face Off

“Did I say it was on a computer?”

He looks at me, confused. “Unless it’s Anna’s Moving Castle, I don’t know how you’re going to show me your apartment.”

“Dad!” I tug on his hand again. “Follow me.”

We walk to the front door, outside, and down the sidewalk. As we stand on the street, I tie my robe a little tighter around my waist and adjust the mop on my head. Could my hair usea brush? Yep, but I’m all in right now with this “I’m finding myself” thing. It pairs well with unwashed Anna.

“Okay, stand here.” I pull him in front of me on the sidewalk and aim his focus down the street. Standing on my tiptoes, I point over his shoulder. “You see that old Victorian building at the end of the street?”

He points, too. “Way down there, about three blocks?”

“Yep.” I twirl around him and land in front of him, grinning. “I’m going to go see a one-bedroom for rent there later today. I can move in on the first of next month if I like it.”

“Thank goodness,” he says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders as we trudge back inside together. “All of this inner retrospection had me worried you’d leave the state.”

I shake my head and look at him with faux disappointment as we head back inside. “Why is it that men think the worst? Just because I say I need time to myself does not mean I’m going to chop off my hair and color it pink or move to another state…”

“Anna, I’m your father. You can’t pull one over on me, not when I remember the times someone broke your heart and you did go chop your hair off.” He pauses to consider that time of our lives. “Come to think of it, you colored your hair pink too, didn’t you?”

“I did.” I giggle as he holds the front door open. “But that’s my point. I’m moving there so I can get space for me. That’s all. Why don’t you come with me when I go? My appointment is in two hours.”

Right then, a cell phone begins ringing. Since it’s not the sound of a chainsaw, I know it’s mine. I grab it from my purse in the hallway and glance at the screen.

“It’s Sutton.” I wave the phone in the air. “I need to take this since we’ve played phone tag the last few days. But two hours, yeah?”

“I’d love to.” He kisses my head before he walks away.

I’m still thinking about how lucky I am to have the dad I do when I press the phone to my ear.

“Sutton?”

“I’m so glad we finally connected!” she cries out. “I’ve missed seeing you around this week. Are you doing okay?”

“I’m getting better.” Which is true. Time gives you perspective, and that’s what I wanted. What I needed. “I wanted to say thank you again for everything.”

“To me? Girl, I didn’t think you’d be thanking me; I thought when you disappeared this week you were gone.”

“Why is everyone thinking that?” I fight back an incredulous laugh. “You helped me kick-start getting my dad out of his financial trouble. Everything happens for a reason, and we got it over the line. The end.”

“The end?” Her voice is hushed. “What about Ollie?”

What about Ollie? “I’m still figuring that one out, but that’s not why I called.”

“I figured,” she says with a chuckle. “It’s about the offer, right?”

“It is.” I fix my posture so I’m standing up straight and holding my chin high. I’ve been practicing for this. “Thank you, Sutton, for the offer. Honestly, the fact you saw something in me means the world.”

“I’ve known you a long time, and I not only see something in you, but I can see it bursting to come out,” she corrects me. “It’s potential, Anna, and you have tons.”

“Potential,” I repeat. “While I like that you think this, I also know deep inside that if I accept the offer you’ve given me, I’d be trying to make myself fit like a square peg in a round hole.”

“I thought you liked the idea?” Sutton sounds surprised, and I don’t blame her.

“I do. I did. But, it’s not me.” There, I said it. “I have to decline, Sutton.”

The phone goes silent in my ear. Sutton is quiet long enough that I start worrying she’s taken a vow of silence and won’t speak to me ever again.

“Wow, Anna,” she says finally. “You know what?”

---