Chapter 3 #2
“Honey, it’s the middle of the night in Dubai.
Can you send her a message?” That Lindsay was likely not to respond to for days, if not weeks.
Dan never ceased to be amazed at how comprehensively his ex-wife had turned her back not just on him, which he supposed was understandable and even expected after a divorce, but on their daughter.
Like Sophie was an accessory she no longer needed.
Although, when cornered, she certainly put on a good show.
It seemed to fool Sophie at any rate, but it made his heart ache.
Sophie’s lower lip jutted out. “I did.”
There was a wobbling note of vulnerability in her voice that made Dan long to take her into his arms, but he knew Sophie wouldn’t let him hug her. Ever since Lindsay had left, he’d become the bad guy, simply because it was hard to hate someone who wasn’t there.
“Okay, well, she’ll probably respond in the morning, when she wakes up,” he told her, although he suspected they both knew that wasn’t true.
Since moving halfway around the world, Lindsay had become even more focused on her own life and career…
and not her daughter. He glanced at the chicken frying in the pan and then impulsively turned off the burner.
“How about we go out to The Starr Light for dinner?” he suggested. “Burgers and milkshakes?”
Sophie cocked her head, clearly considering the idea. Dan knew she was tempted to refuse anything he suggested simply on principle, but he also thought his daughter wanted a burger. “Okay,” she finally said, like a concession, and he decided to take it as a win.
“Great, I’ll just put this in the fridge.
” He packed up the makings of a stir fry in Tupperware before grabbing his wallet and keys while Sophie waited by the door, still looking both huffy and woebegone.
Dan hoped a burger and milkshake might go some way to cheering her up, for his sake as well as hers.
Enduring a whole meal of sulky silence was, he’d learned from experience, pretty hard work.
Outside, the summer’s afternoon was sinking into a sultry evening, with streaks of violet and orange blazing across the sky above Starr’s Fall.
They were renting a little Cape at the bottom of town, down a dirt road and a little isolated from the rest of the town, even though Main Street, with its mix of shops and houses as well as a fair few empty storefronts, was still walkable.
So far, they hadn’t met many neighbors, and half the houses Dan thought looked like vacant summer rentals or maybe just abandoned, but he hoped they’d be able to get a sense of community here sooner rather than later, because otherwise it looked to be a long, lonely summer.
As they approached The Starr Light Diner, he saw the place was pretty full, and he wondered if they might meet some of their neighbors, or at least some fellow townspeople.
As he stepped inside, holding the door open for Sophie, he felt the customers’ curious gazes on them as newcomers like a palpable thing, and he could tell Sophie felt it too, because his daughter ducked her head, her hands disappearing into the sleeves of her hoodie.
“Hey there.” A waitress with a thin ponytail of peroxide-blonde and a canny expression gave him an assessing look along with a smile. “How can I help you?”
“A table for two, please.”
“You two visiting?” she asked as she snatched two laminated menus from a holder.
“No, we’ve moved here, actually,” Dan replied. “Just last week.”
“Oh.” The woman imbued the single syllable with a wealth of understanding. “Well, welcome to Starr’s Fall.” She gave Sophie a narrowed, inquisitive glance. “You going to Torrington High in the fall, honey?”
Sophie shrunk into herself, looking as trapped as a rabbit in headlights, and Dan was compelled to answer for her.
“No, she’s actually going to Hollinghurst, near Litchfield. But Torrington High looks like a very good school.”
“Hollinghurst,” the woman repeated with a sniff, and Dan felt like they already had a black mark against them.
Hollinghurst was the local, and he suspected fairly snooty, private school, but it also had amazing provision for students with special needs, not that he was about to explain that to their waitress.
With another sniff, she led them to a deep vinyl booth in the back of the restaurant, its sides high enough to hide them from other customers, which was both a good and bad thing, Dan supposed.
They weren’t going to be able to meet anyone when they were so hidden from everyone else, but considering the mood Sophie was in, maybe a little privacy was for the best.
“So, what are you feeling like?” Dan asked as he flipped open the menu and scanned the many entries. “Burger, cheesesteak, club sandwich?”
“I don’t know.” Sophie reached for her menu with a bored air while Dan determinedly kept his tone upbeat.
“I’m feeling like a burger,” he stated firmly. “Double cheese and bacon. What do you say?”
Sophie grimaced, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder. “That’s, like, a heart attack waiting to happen.”
“Well, once in a while can’t do too much harm,” he replied lightly. He didn’t think his daughter was genuinely concerned about his health, but lately it had become her default to negate or criticize every single thing he said. “So what about you?” he asked.
Sophie shrugged, glancing down again at the menu, when voices from the booth behind them carried on the silence like they were on loudspeaker.
“So Zoe had to deal with a shoplifter today while I was there,” a male voice remarked. Dan was pretty sure it was the guy who had been with Zoe back at the ice cream parlor. “Teenaged girl, major attitude.”
Sophie glanced up from her menu, a flush rising to her cheeks, her gaze both transfixed and horrified as they both took in his words.
“What did Zoe do?” The woman’s voice was light and musical, with a hint of maternal concern.
“She was asking for the magnet back—I mean, why steal a magnet? And the girl refused, said she was going to call her dad, all that. And then she threw it at Zoe.”
The woman sighed. “Oh, dear.”
“Anyway.” The man let out a disgruntled huff. “I went all tough guy—”
“You, tough guy?” The woman’s voice now held a trace of loving laughter. “I’d have liked to see that.”
“All right, all right,” the man said good-naturedly. “But I did, and was demanding her to give it back, and then Zoe backed off completely.”
“Why?”
“Ben and Bella and some of their crowd came in. Zoe thought it would be too hard on the kid, since she’s new to town, to make a scene in front of potential future friends.”
“That was thoughtful of Zoe,” the woman said quietly.
“I guess, but this kid seems like she’s going to have a hard time anyway.”
“We all have a hard time in one way or another, Zach,” the woman said.
“Can I take your order?”
Both Dan and Sophie jumped at the sound of the waitress’s voice. Sophie’s flush had faded, and now she looked deathly pale. It was not at all comfortable, Dan suspected, to hear herself being talked about like that, with an uncomfortable mixture of pity and scorn.
“Umm…” He gazed blindly down at the menu. “I’ll have a burger, please, with cheese and bacon… Sophie?” He glanced up, hoping Sophie would recover and rally, but if anything she looked even more distraught.
“I’m not hungry,” she whispered, and then she threw the menu down on the table and bolted out of the diner.
Dan leaned back in the booth with an audible groan. The waitress watched her go, her lips pursed, before she turned back to him.
“Do you want fries with that?” she asked.