Page 7 of The Sweetest Cruelty: Hudson
My father chuckled and darted me a grin. “Sorry, I imagine I am the last person you want to talk about boys with.”
I returned it. It felt better talking about boys than it did about my mother and her relationship with my father. More normal. Like what most sixteen-year-old girls weresupposedto talk about. The death of a parent certainly wasn’t one of those things. “No, it’s fine, and there isn’t anyone in my life like that. I haven’t had time. I do have one close friend who’s a boy, but he isn’t a boyfriend.” I thought about how Cassius’s face had dropped the day I told him I was moving.
The atmosphere lifted, and our chat started to flow instead of feeling forced. “Well, if you want to invite anyone over during any of the holidays, you can. The house has a couple of guestrooms.”
A surge of excitement shot through me. “That would be great.”
After giving my knee a reassuring pat, Dad slowed the car down to twenty-five as we reached the edge of a town. Peering out of the window at the passing streets, I smiled. The neighbourhood we were travelling in now looked like a scene from Young Sheldon, an American TV show I watched. I wondered what the population of Newport was.
As we got off the main stretch and onto the smaller roads, my eyes scanned the stores we passed and the wooded slatted houses with huge porches.
After another five minutes, we pulled into a residential area. It consisted of houses and a green area, which looked like a park.
My eyes widened as my father pulled the car up a driveway, and my mouthfellopen in surprise.
“Welcome to your new home, sweetheart.”
I released that pent-up breath that was in my lungs. Unable to put off the reality that I was there at last. About to move into a new, unfamiliar house and begin a new adventure. If only I weren’t in this position due to my mum’s death, I might have been happier and looked forward to the change.
Glancing around the green, leafy area, the neighbourhood looked sweet and homely. I smiled as I spied a couple of houses with the American flag in the front garden.
I started to unclip my seat belt as my father put the car in park. I hadn’t realised how tense I’d felt until I started to climb out and stretched my legs. I had come up with a hundred scenarios of how I’d feel when I saw the place I would be living, but none had felt anything like I did at that moment. It was hard to describe. Relief?
“What do you think?” Dad said as we both left the vehicle. I glanced at the house and then back at him over the roof of the car.
It took an effort to find my voice as I was so surprised. “It looks huge,” I replied. Again, the house was made of wooden slats and was painted white and grey.
Richard raised an eyebrow, “I suppose compared to British houses it looks big, but in the scheme of things. The house is an average size. We do have a pool, though.” I could tell he was trying to win me over, and I let him. Material things could never replace what I had lost, but they could distract me from feeling shit about it.
A swimming pool? I couldn’t swim, but I loved to paddle. Maybe having a pool would encourage me to learn.
Hope snaked through me and almost made me breathless; it was an emotion I hadn’t experienced for the last few weeks.
“There’s a hot tub too, but it needs a good clean,” Dad added with a grin.
“You’re kidding?” It blew my mind to think I’d have access to a swimming pool every day, and I’d never even been in a hot tub.
My father’s expression softened as he said, “A couple of the houses along this street have pools and hot tubs,” he explained, motioning to the other properties.
The street was littered with trees and was quiet, apart from a little girl on her bike and a jogger further down the road with a dog.
“Hey, Mindy,” my father shouted to the pig-tailed biker.
“Hey, yourself, Principal Miller,” she shouted as she steered past with cherry red cheeks.
After that, I embraced that first night in my new home. I didn’t forget about what pained me; how could I? But I managed to store it at the back of my mind and channelled my energy into making my new bedroom my own. I even had my own bathroom.
The space was much bigger than my old room in England, and I had a dormer window that overlooked the side of the house. As I peered out, I could see stunning roses climbing towards me, spreading across part of the roof. I opened the window and leaned out, looking towards the rear where there was a small garden/yard and the pool Dad had mentioned. It was rectangular with plain blue tiles and no steps to pull yourself out. Around the poolside, there was patio furniture scattered, all that had seen better days, but it was more than I’d had in the UK.
I even had a double bed. Richard said his friend Martha had picked out the bedsheets, which were purple and as soft as a cloud. Lined up against the pillowswere numerous teddy bears; rabbits, unicorns, and a large plush bumble bee. The room was girly and I liked girly.
I filed the name Martha in my memory banks, wondering how good a friend she was. I knew my father lived alone or had up until I turned up, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a girlfriend. Why wouldn’t he? He was a great-looking man and, from what I knew of him over the years, kind-hearted, strong, and fun. He didn’t take any shit from anyone though; I had learned that during my more difficult years.
Dad gave me a brief tour of the house when we first came in through the door, but I was so tired I didn’t take that much notice. My room was the only one I fully explored that night, and after eating the tray of food my father had brought up, I fell asleep, fully clothed, on the bed.
It was the first time I had slept in weeks.
*****
