Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
POLLY
“I’ll be the one doing the riding and putting you away wet, thank you very much.”
American Cream by Lady Jane
Narrated by Brittney Houston
“D ean Manford hasn’t heard from you.”
I paused, the Belgian waffle I’d ordered was halfway to my mouth. Nooo, I thought, d on’t ruin this waffle for me. I reluctantly put my fork down. The brunch hadn’t been going horribly. Sure, it started out with my father’s disdainful eye rake of my outfit, but as I finally decided to wear what I wanted, rather than what I was expected to wear, I’d anticipated that. I tried to pepper him with questions about his job so he couldn’t start in on me. But then the waffle came, dusted with powdered sugar, and I kind of got distracted.
“Yes. That’s because the kids won’t be going there. They’ll be attending school in Green Valley.”
I’d already set up a meeting next month with Mr. Sievers and Rose to discuss Max’s school accommodations.
Based on my thirty-eight years of experience and the way his eyes hardened, my father didn’t like that answer.
“I didn’t expect you of all people to ignore your children’s education.”
“Are you implying there is something inferior with the local school district? They’re among the top twenty school districts in the state. I should know, I work for them.”
The only sign of his alarm was the vein bulging in my father’s forehead, otherwise he looked stoically calm.
“I might as well tell you now, I accepted a position as the medical director of the Green Valley School District. They received a grant to support kids with mental health disabilities, and they need a medical director to help advocate for how they use the grant money.”
My father looked around, no doubt because my voice was slightly raised. He was worried about who might overhear.
“I can send Jeffrey the details to save him the trouble of looking into it,” I finished.
“May I remind you about the deal we had when you moved here,” he began.
“The deal was to have brunch, once per week. No, I haven’t forgotten. Nowhere in there did it say you had the right to dictate where I work, where my kids go to school, nor for that matter, did it give you any other control over my life. Now, unless you’d like to explain to your constituency here why your daughter left in the middle of brunch, let’s move on to safer topics, like the weather.”
I picked up my fork with a trembling hand and took a large bite of waffle.
It was fucking delicious.