Page 51 of Being Julia

“Hello, beautiful,” he answered.

“Hey, babe. Listen, I need to cancel our plans for today. My dad asked me to spend the day with him, and I couldn’t tell him no.”

“That’s okay. You go and be with your dad. I know he misses you. He referred to it the other night. I have some work I can catch up on, and then I’ll hang with the guys for a while. I’ll see you tonight.”

“I love you, Jake.”

“I love you more, Julia. See you later, babe. Have a good day with your dad,” he said as he hung up.

After I showered and dressed, I walked downstairs and saw my mom in the kitchen.

“Hi, sweetheart. Thank you for spending the day with your dad. He’s so happy.” She smiled.

“No need to thank me, Mom. I want to spend the day with him.”

“Are you ready, princess?” my dad asked as he walked into the kitchen.

“I sure am.” I smiled as I looped my arm around his, and we left the penthouse.

Our first stop was at the Central Park Zoo. My mom and dad used to take Collin and me there every year since we were little kids. We walked around, looking at the animalsand exhibits. Our favorite had always been the penguins, and we would stand there for what seemed like forever, staring at them. After spending some time at the zoo, we headed to The Museum of Modern Art. It had always been my and my mom’s favorite place to go. My dad turned to me as we walked around and looked at the various sculptures and designs.

“I know we’ve talked about this before, but I want you to know that I’ve created a division at Black Enterprises for architecture, and I want you to head it up. I couldn’t think of a better time than now to branch out and expand.”

“Are you serious, Dad?”

“Yes, princess. I’m very serious. You will graduate in a couple of months, and your spot will be waiting for you. As soon as Collin graduates from college, the two of you will be working together and getting to know the ropes of the company so I can hand it over to the two of you when I retire.”

“I don’t think you’ll ever retire, Dad. You love that company way too much.”

He laughed and put his arm around me. “You’re probably right, but I will be gone a lot. Your mom wants to travel the world.”

“I don’t think there’s anywhere in the world that she hasn’t seen yet.”

“There are a couple of places.” He smiled.

When we were finished at the art museum, we walked down the streets of New York and stopped at Pizzapopolous for some pizza. When we sat down and opened our menus, my dad started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“I’ll never forget the first time I stood outside and stared at your mom through the window. I sent Denny to her workto pick her up to have dinner with me, and she told him no, and that if I wanted to have dinner with her, then I should’ve called her and asked her. Denny followed her here and then came to the restaurant where I was waiting for her and told me where she was. So, I came here, and she was sitting at a table all by herself. She looked so beautiful.”

“What did you do? Did you join her?”

“Yes. I walked in and sat down next to her. Needless to say, she wasn’t too happy about it. That was the day that she made me eat pizza with my hands. Your mom made me do a lot of things I would never have done.”

“You two are crazy.” I smiled.

“Crazy in love,” he replied. “When we get home, there’s something I want to show you and Jake. Can you tell him to meet us outside the building in a couple of hours?”

“Sure, Dad,” I said as I looked at him strangely.

He took my hand and looked at me with a smile. “I’m really happy for you, Julia. You couldn’t be marrying a better man. It’s going to be hard, letting my little girl go, but I know I can’t hold onto you forever.”

“Aw, Dad. Just because I’m getting married doesn’t mean you have to let me go. I don’t want you to let me go. You’re my dad and I love you. You’ll always be with me no matter where I am or where I go.”

We finished up our pizza and met Jake outside the apartment building. I thought we were going up to the penthouse, but we stopped one floor below. As the elevator doors opened, we followed my dad out.

“Why are we on this floor?” I asked.

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