Page 115 of Ripped & Shipped
“She’s got an image she portrays. And believe me, I thought that was all she had to offer for years. Though, I always suspected there was more beneath the surface. It seemed a waste for her to live in this shell of an image when there was so much more to who she could be.
“But through the strangest of circumstances, we started hanging out, and then we became friends, and now, as you have heard, I’m dating her.”
“Chris, are you sure?”
That’s all he says.
“Sure of what?”
“That this is the direction you want to go. Our families have been at odds since high school.”
“That’s on you, Dad. Not me. And it’s for sure not on Ella Mae. I think if you gave her a chance, you’d get to know her like I have, and you’d sing a different tune.”
Dad looks baffled.
I know it’s hard to change a life-long assumption about someone. It’s hard to drop your weapons and enter a truce and a ceasefire.
“Right now, if I’m being honest with you, I’m offended on her behalf. She’s done nothing to you. Nothing. And you’ve condemned her unfairly. And if you did have a hunch that I was dating her when you got here, the way you spoke about her was offensive to me. Don’t you think I have a head on my shoulders? Aren’t I capable of judging someone’s character? Would I be so blinded by a woman that I couldn’t see who she is beneath the beauty?”
Dad sits back. His eyes roam the pictures on my walls. Then his gaze meets mine again.
“It’s hard for me to see what you see,” he admits.
“I understand that.”
“So, you really like her?”
I pause. Then I look directly at my dad.
“I think I love her.”
Dad’s eyes go wide. I’m sure, being the accountant he is, he’s doing some sort of analysis right now. And that includes factoring in the long-term impact of me loving Ella Mae. It would mean our two families would be bound in a way no one could fathom.
I couldn’t care less. They need to handle that crap and get over it—or not. Ella Mae and I aren’t responsible for their mess, and if I have anything to say about it, we’ll find a way to be together despite the unspoken and spoken taboos surrounding us.
Even though my dad stays another twenty minutes, nothing is resolved. He leaves me with a mild apology for offending me. He doesn’t even apologize for what he said about Ella Mae.
He just says, “I’m sorry, Chris. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
He’s not ready to move forward. On one hand, I understand him being confused and stuck in his ways. Beliefs are ruts. They can guide us along a path, or they can keep us woefully entrenched, heading the wrong direction.
My dad is a kind man with a good heart. Maybe in time he’ll come around. But that’s not my circus, and these people are not my monkeys. Whether he comes around or not, I’m pursuing something deeper and long-term with Ella Mae.
CHAPTER39
Ella Mae
“You go ahead without me,”I shout down the stairs to Meg. “Chris is coming to pick me up in an hour. We’ll meet you and Joe there.”
Meg appears in my bedroom doorway.
“I thought you were downstairs,” I tell her.
“I was. I came up here to grab my lipstick. I left it on the bathroom counter.”
She crosses her arms across her chest and sizes me up. I’m in my underwear with clothes spread across my bed in three configurations of red, white, and blue outfits.
“What? I’m getting dressed. I just need to decide on the best outfit.”
