Chapter 79
“Iwas starting to think we weren’t going to see you while you were in town,” Dad says, looking up from the living room couch. I walk in, smiling politely as I drop my bag by the doorway.
“Is that our long-lost daughter?” Mom’s voice comes from behind as she joins us from the basement stairs.
“The one and only.” I hug her and then go over to my dad on the couch and hug him. They are just as surprised as I am about this sudden act of affection. We’re not a hugging type family.
“I’m heading back to the city tomorrow after the funeral,” I say, standing in the living room while Mom sits beside my dad on the couch.
“I still don’t understand why you came into town for this,” Mom says. “But it’s a good excuse to see you.”
“Where’s Adam?” Dad asks.
I rub my hand over my face. Fuck.
“You two broke up?” Mom asks, noticing my hesitation and stress.
“Yeah.”
Dad nods, feigning surprise. “How did you get here from the city?”
“A friend.”
“When did you and Adam break up?” Mom asks.
Based on how they’re talking about him, there’s no way Aunt Lisa told them she sold the lake house to him.
I take a seat on the side couch. “We broke up in November.” I pause, thinking about how my natural instinct is to lie. “But in March, it was over.” That’s only a baby lie. I’ve picked Gideon. Now it’s over.
There is a little awkward silence before Dad says, “I’m happy you’re not with him.”
“Oh?” I ask with a little edge.
“Guys like him. They think they own the world.”
So I’m learning. “Isn’t it nice not having me as your stay-at-home daughter?” I ask, not wanting to talk about Adam any further.
“We miss you. But it’s good to see you’re doing good.”
I smile. This past week has been a lot, but I am good. While work is in a rough patch for me, it’s so much better than it was last summer. “I’m doing an interesting project right now for a company called Cryptoball,” I share.
“Seriously?” Dad squints his brows.
“What?” I ask, not getting his tone.
“You’re working with the Kruk family.” Dad shakes his head.
“I’m working with Declan?—”
“You’re working with the Crows.”
“The Crows barely exist anymore. They made a lot of money with Bitcoin.”
“I never thought you would be the publicist for the Mafia.”
“It’s not like that. Cryptoball is a real company with hundreds of employees and a hundred million customers,” I explain, and then feel compelled to explain further. “They are called a unicorn in the tech space because the platform has a billion-dollar valuation.”
“Where did the initial money come from?” he tests.
“Well, yeah. I know that, but?—”
“How did you even get connected with Declan?”
Too long of a story, Dad. Too long. “Last summer, I did a project for Cryptoball and Harris Ventures, and now I’m working with the company again.”
“Adam is in bed with those people.” He scoffs. “After everything that happened, how can you take money from them?”
“Tell me why I wouldn’t accept a thousand dollars an hour to do a project.”
“It’s blood money.”
“All money is fucking blood money. No one wants to do any of this shit, but we all have to work.”
I decide to be honest with them. To share something I’ve never told them.
“After I left Sorin, Declan gave me some money. I’d felt guilty about it then, but now I understand how just that little bit of extra money allowed me to think past a month-to-month basis. It changed my life.”
“The Kruks own you.” Dad scoffs.
“It’s not like that! I don’t have to do anything for them, and the only person I talk to from that family is Declan.”
“You make your life so much more complicated than it needs to be,” Mom says.
“At least I’ve done something with my fucking life. It’s better to fail than not try.”
“Fuck us for being poor?” Dad asks, his tone escalating.
The silence that follows is heavy, and I decide that if we’re going to have this conversation, it’s time to address the deeper issues head-on.
“Did you ever think about how much your choices affected me?” The words come out before I can second-guess myself.
“I don’t mean to bring up the past to hurt you, but it feels like you’re always judging me without realizing that I’m still dealing with the fallout from everything. ”
“Oh, here we go, we’re the worst parents,” Mom says. “This is getting old, Dani.”
“Why are you defending him? Why are you with him?” I yell. “What the fuck has he ever done for you?”
She’s silent now. Not surprising.
“You guys wonder why I’m never around. It’s this right here. You are so fucking judgmental yet when the attention is on you—you don’t want to be real with me.”
“There’s nothing I can say that will fix anything,” Dad says.
“So saying nothing is better than saying something?”
“I know what I did to our family. I carry that with me every single day.” He pauses, wiping a tear from his face. “I’m sorry. I haven’t said it enough.”
My mom leans into him, and I see the love they share. She starts crying, and I fucking start crying again.
“Can you just be proud of me?” I ask, wiping my tears. “That’s all I want.”
“We are proud of you!” Mom says.
“You don’t think we’re proud of you?” Dad asks.
“No.”
“Dani … We’re so proud of you. You graduated from college. You live in the city. You’re making your way in life,” Dad says.
“Can you just acknowledge that I’ve had to overcome a lot of shit in my life? More than any of my friends. More than most fucking people?”
“We are proud of you for that too,” Mom says.
“You didn’t deserve what happened to you,” Dad says. “I just worry. You are so much like me, which I know you disagree with, but you are. I don’t want you to get yourself in a position where you can’t recover from the fall.”
Everyone thinks I’m destined to be an addict. Got it.
“Tell us what you’re excited about in your life,” Mom says.
“Something you can be proud of,” I start. “I have my own apartment now. It’s all mine—in Wicker Park.”
“When did you move?” Mom asks.
“When Adam and I broke up. I couldn’t be in that place any longer.”
“Could you please keep us more in the loop?”
“I will. I will be better at that. I was dating this guy, Gideon. We’re on a break right now, but I really like him.”
“So soon after Adam?” Dad asks.
“We are being proud parents right now.” Mom nudges him. “So, Gideon … What’s he like?”
“He’s the CEO of this real estate investment company that allows people to own small percentages of huge properties.”
“How old is he?” Dad asks, and my mom pokes him.
“It’s okay. He’s thirty-seven—so young, I know,” I joke. “He’s so full of life and loves creating unique experiences. He’s caring, considerate …”
“You love him.” Mom smiles.
“I do.”
“Well, if you guys end up getting back together, we’d love to meet him.”
I nod. “I’ll never be with a guy like Sorin ever again. You don’t have to worry about that,” I say, feeling compelled. “But Declan Kruk is my friend, and you’re going to have to live with that.”
“That family?—”
“He isn’t part of that family. He left. He has his own life,” I add. “He’s also recovering, and I respect how seriously he takes it. He’s a good influence on me.”
My mom gives me a little look. Yeah, Declan would be a great boyfriend in another life, but not this one.
“I’ve cried way too much today. I’m going to bed now.” They stand, and I hug them.
Once inside, I sit on the edge of my bed, feeling both exhausted and strangely relieved. I open my phone, my fingers hovering over Gideon’s name.
Dani Sommer
Wanted to let you know I’m in Wisconsin. The funeral is tomorrow. I miss you.