Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
Kelsey shook her head hard. “No, he won’t. He doesn’t listen, Rowan. He just cares about work, and now he may get this big promotion and he’ll be gone even more. I hate my life back home! I didn’t realize how much I hated the city until I came here.”
Rowan couldn’t stop herself. She reached out and hugged Kelsey, with Bagel tucked in the middle.
They stood that way for a while as the girl cried and Bagel moaned softly in shared misery.
Finally, Kelsey lifted her head and sniffed.
“I know what Dad will say. He’ll tell me we’re on vacation and it’s not real life.
He’ll say I’ll settle in and it’s nerves but I’m brave and can do hard things.
But it’s not about running away, Rowan! The minute I saw Brie surfing, I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
I’m not saying professional or anything, but this place makes me feel good again.
I love the ocean and the people and how everyone talks to me without being fake—I can finally breathe.
I love you! I love when Dad is around you and it’s the three of us because I’ve never seen him like that.
” Her voice broke. “I can’t leave, Rowan. Please.”
And then there were more tears and Rowan held her. Then she grabbed a few tissues, tipped the girl’s chin up, and blotted her face. Her heart exploded as she looked at this young girl she’d fallen for as hard as her father. But she couldn’t fix Kelsey’s problems. She could only try to help.
“I hear everything you’re saying. You have a right to be heard, Kels. But you need to talk to your dad tonight. You need to tell him the truth and figure out what to do together. Okay? Promise me.”
Kelsey hesitated. Then jerked her head. “Okay. I promise.”
She let out a breath. “Good. Now, that was a lot of emotion and we need some downtime. Come with me. But we can’t bring Bagel.”
Kelsey put him down after pressing a kiss to his furry head. His ears twitched in relief that the dramatic moment had ended. Rowan grabbed her hand.
“Where are we going?” she asked curiously.
“To Tino’s workshop. We’re going to sand boards. It’s how I get back into my body and calm my mind. We both need it today.”
Kelsey didn’t protest. They headed toward the back, where the steady sounds of board shaping filled the air. Tino took one long look at them both, standing in the doorway with tearstained faces. Then he pointed to the right wall. “Those two. Slow, even strokes, girl. Rowan will show you.”
They got to work and sanded in comfortable silence.
Everett walked into the house while he spoke into his earbuds. “No, we’ve only got a week before this opening and good isn’t acceptable. Perfect is.”
Kelsey came out from the sliding doors. Her hair was wet and she was still in her bathing suit. Good, she’d been out surfing, which meant maybe she felt better today. The shit show yesterday would hopefully be put in the rearview mirror. He lifted his hand in greeting and pointed to the phone.
She scowled.
Shit.
He gave the directives, then clicked off. “Sorry, Kels, things are heating up. But I’m home for dinner—wanna eat at the tiki bar? I may need to rush back to the hotel for another hour but then Rowan will be over and we can all watch the sunset and pig out on dessert. How does that sound?”
His mind was already skidding into closing mode. All the pieces were finally coming together, and he was confident this opening would prove he’d earned that promotion.
“Dad, I have to talk to you.”
“Absolutely. Let me shower and change and we’ll talk at dinner when—”
“No!” Fury rattled her voice and he stared at his daughter in shock.
“Do you even know what people say about me online?” Her words tumbled out, fast and messy.
“You don’t, because you don’t look. Because you’re too busy fixing your stupid hotel or saving your stupid clients, and I’m just .
. . this . . . thing you move from one place to another like it doesn’t matter. ”
Everett blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“School,” she said, as if it were poison.
“That stupid prep school you keep bragging about. Everyone there hates me. They hate how I talk, how I dress, the stuff I like. They post about me, Dad. They tag me on socials and call me Waikiki Barbie and say my mom didn’t want me.
They say I’m fake. That I only got in because you paid for it.
You never even asked if I was okay going there! ”
He froze, stunned by the speed of her words, the violence of them. What was she talking about? She loved her friends, didn’t she? “Wait. I thought you wanted to go there? I had no idea you were having problems with these girls or that you weren’t happy.”
“Because you don’t want to listen. You don’t even want to ask! I tried to give you what you want—this perfect image so you can tell all your friends and pretend I’m happy—but I can’t do it anymore.”
The words slammed him like a sucker punch. His skin chilled. “Kelsey, slow down—”
“No!” she shouted. “You don’t get to tell me to slow down!
You don’t even see me!” She clenched her fists by her side and trembled.
“Rowan says I should tell you how I feel instead of pretending I’m fine all the time, so here it is.
I hate New York. I hate that school. I hate that you don’t listen unless you need to fix something.
I hate that you’re always on your phone. ”
He took a few steps forward, careful and clumsy all at once. “You told Rowan about all this?”
“She actually listens,” Kelsey cut in. “She wants to know. You don’t even notice.”
His first instinct was defense. “That’s not fair.
I tried to get you to talk to me last night!
I love you, Kels. I know it’s been hard, but this job is temporary and things will settle.
I had no idea you were getting bullied. I swear, I’ll take care of it.
I’ll call the school or the parents and get this settled. ”
She shook her head in pure mockery. “Do you hear what you’re saying, Dad?
Oh my God, you still don’t get it. Things will get worse when we’re home.
They were never my friends; they’ve been torturing me for the past year, but I didn’t want to tell you.
I’m afraid to tell you anything because you just care about that stupid promotion and now you got it and I’ll be trapped and even more—”
Her voice broke. His heart broke. “More what?”
“Lonely.” The word spit out. Her skin flushed as if embarrassed she had to admit it.
His head spun. “I’m sorry I didn’t see what was going on. I work so you can have choices. Opportunities. I want to give you the world and a home I never had, but you’re wrong. You’re the most important thing in my life and always will be.”
“I don’t want your opportunities!” she cried.
“I just want you. Not the one who answers emails while I’m talking.
The one who goes surfing with me and Rowan and stays for dinner and laughs at jokes because he’s not on the phone.
You’ve been different here, but it’s getting bad again, and if we go home, it’ll be even worse. I want what we have here with Rowan.”
The air whooshed out of his lungs. For a long second, the only sound was the ocean outside and Kelsey’s pain.
He’d spent years learning to manage boardrooms, disasters, grown men with million-dollar egos—but nothing had prepared him for his daughter, thirteen years old and standing barefoot in his mistakes. He wanted to reach for her, but she looked at him from behind a wall.
“I didn’t know,” he said quietly.
Her chin trembled. “You didn’t want to.”
That one landed exactly where she meant it to. He could feel the blood pounding behind his eyes, the old instinct to order the chaos, to argue, to win. But this wasn’t something he could fix with a simple phone call. He couldn’t throw money at the problem or work more hours for a solution.
He sat down hard, elbows on his knees, head in his hands. “You’re right,” he said. “I didn’t. Because if I looked too closely, I’d see how bad I am at this. But I can’t pretend anymore and you can’t keep being this unhappy.”
Kelsey scrubbed her face with her sleeve. “I don’t want to go back there. To that school. Please don’t make me.”
He lifted his head and studied her. The sunburned nose and scattering of freckles.
The big blue eyes still wary and hurt. The crooked ponytail.
The body he’d known from birth, growing inch by inch until she barricaded behind closed doors and stopped holding his hand.
A wave of love rushed through him and almost brought him to his knees.
“I’m sorry, Kels. I’ll figure it out.” For once, he didn’t mean a plan or a meeting. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”
She didn’t rush into his arms—just nodded once, a cautious truce. But her shoulders eased, and she finally sat down beside him. They let the quiet fill the space for a while, both of them deep in thought.
Everett reminded himself that he was the adult. It wasn’t her responsibility to come to him. He needed to be the driver in the relationship, and he’d forgotten while he chased greatness and perfection.
“Will you tell me more about what’s been happening? I promise I’ll listen.”
Slowly, Kels nodded. And she began to talk.