Page 41 of Unworthy
“No big deal,” she said softly, her eyes holding mine as she moved forward and reached out to squeeze my hand.
Chapter 19
They were thin, love
Yaz
No big deal, myarse. I could feel the pain radiating from Heath, could see the wariness in his expression. I didn’t know what the twins were hiding about theirparents,but theirs was not a normal reaction to learning your father had passed away. Something was very wrong. When I thought back onit,I realised it was odd that Heath and Veritynevermentioned their parents. They always changed the subject whenever home or anything about their childhood came up. And despite having used their family’s’ many properties over the years, neither Max nor I had ever encountered any of their family members. Heath and Verity had spent countless holidays and Sunday lunches with our family – wasn’t it odd that none of us had ever met their parents? And why, after the twins had spent so much time with my family, didn’t their parents offer to have Max over to stay? Curiosity won over my desire to avoid my mother, and I found myself at my parents’ house the next morning.
“Hey, Mum.”
To my shock, Mum’s eyes filled with tears, and she grabbed me in a tight hug – an uncharacteristicallytouchy-feely manoeuvre for her.
Before I could even return thehug,she’d pulled back and framed my face with both her hands.
“I’m sorry,” she said, a tear spilling over onto her cheek.
“Mum, I–”
“Weareproud of you, love,” I heard Dad’s voice say and looked over my mum’s shoulder to see he’d come up behind her. Mum released my face, and I was pulled into a tight hug with my dad. Whenhe pulledback,I could see that his eyes were a little bright as well. Mum shuffled us all inside and Dad tucked me into his side with his arm around my shoulder as he led me through to the kitchen. It was like he was worried I would turn tail and make a run for it at any moment. That level of insecurity from them made me feel bad for ignoring them for the last few weeks and for hauling them over the coals at Max’s house. I hated to see my folks upset – if this is what an overdose of honesty gotme,I wished I’d continued withhalf-truths.
Dad went on. “We didn’t realise how serious you were about all this well-being and water sports stuff.”
“Aubrey!” Mum cut in sharply and Dad held up his hand to her.
“I know, I know. I don’t mean to sound dismissive. We always thought that it was just you mucking around with some essential oils, a few crystals, and on the water. We didn’t know how important it was to you and we certainly didn’t realise how much effort you’d put into building your business up.”
“Dad, it’s fine. I–”
“We’re ashamed that we’ve never visited your studio,” Mum said. “It took Heath pointing out the disparity in how we treat you and Max to make us see how wrong we’ve been.”
“We watched you teaching the kids on the water last week, love,” Dad put in. “You were amazing out there.”
“And we’ve seen those videos you’ve done for sponsorship,” said Mum. “Heath shared them with us. You’re really talented.”
My mouth fell open in shock. “You watched me on the water?”
“Why didn’t you ever show us yourself, love?” Mum asked. Her voice was soft, but there was accusation and hurt in her tone.
“Or tell us how the business was going,” Dad put in. “How did you even start it up with no funds? You’ve employees and everything. It’s extraordinary.”
I took a deep breath in and let it out through my nose. My dad put the kettle on – his solution to any type of emotional conversation.
“Honestly, I really didn’t think you would be interested.”
“How can you say that?” Dad put in, crossing his arms over his chest. “Of course we’re interested in what you do. If we’d have known that–”
“I’m sorry, Dad, but it wouldn’t have made any difference. To you guys, yoga, alternative therapies and windsurfing were all just examples of me mucking about to avoid real life. You would never have considered them to be a career – you think all that stuff just holds me back.” I shrugged. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean it to sound like I’m accusing you. I’m only stating the facts. Any time I bring up anything to do with the water or well-being, you shut me down. I learned not to talk aboutityears ago.”
“Oh sweetheart.” Dadlooked like my words had caused him physical pain and I felt guilty all over again.
“It’s fine,” I said, reaching over the kitchen table and laying my hand over his. “I get it,okay?You guys want the best for me. In your mind, that means higher education and a profession.”
“All we ever really wanted was for you to be happy,” Mum said, looking just as miserable as Dad.
“I know that as well. And I know that you both felt the only way to achieve that was for me to have job security. But that way, it just… it just isn’t right for me.I love what I do, and I need the sea. It’s like my oxygen.”
“I can see that now,” my dad said softly, shifting his hand so that he could squeeze my fingers.
