Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
I knew that. Most people couldn’t handle my mood swings, either.
I was lucky.
“The way my therapist explained it is that sometimes it comes on—and this is an educated guess on her part since there is no hard evidence of causes—is that I likely have it due to something that happened to me when I was a child. Long story short, my mother hid me from my father, and when my father found out about me, he fought for custody. My mother was a shitty person, and she left me in a car in the freezing cold for hours and hours…they think that might’ve been what caused me to have this problem. From what I understand, you didn’t do anything to your daughter, so likely she would’ve never had it, and your ex-wife wouldn’t have had to deal with it.”
Something went electric in the cab of his truck, and I looked over at him to see him frowning.
“What?”
He cleared his throat and started to speak what sounded like very carefully.
“I fucking hate that for you,” he growled. “I hate that someone would do that…but more, I hate it for your father. I hate that someone kept you from him. To think about missing any of my time with Frankie…that makes my blood boil. Hell, I had to fight to keep Frankie because my ex-wife didn’t want to even have her. If it wasn’t for her father, who refused to allow her to have the abortion unless she wanted to be disinherited, then she might have been.”
That sucked.
“Sounds like you owe your father-in-law a lot,” I admitted. “You should probably buy him a card on Father’s Day.”
He snorted. “I do. He’s a good father…makes me miss mine.”
“Your father is dead?”
He nodded. “Died in a plane crash during Desert Storm.”
I deflated on the seat next to him.
“That’s awful,” I whispered, wishing I hadn’t brought the subject up. It had to be a painful one.
Coke made an agreeing sound in the back of his throat. “Yes, it is awful. But…he died doing what he loved—protecting his boys and his country. He would’ve rather gone that way than any other.”
I could see that being true. If I had to go, I’d rather go doing something that I absolutely loved.
Though…the only thing I loved at this point that was even sort of dangerous was drawing—and it was only dangerous when I was drawing with a pencil that was sharpened on both ends.
“If you died doing what you loved, what would it be?” I questioned suddenly.
He was silent for a few long moments, and then he shrugged. “I can’t say that I have a single thing that I love doing that I’d be willing to die for. Now…if my daughter was in harm’s way? I’d march into hell doused in gasoline if it meant she’d be safe.”
Chapter 9
My biggest fear is that I’m married and my spouse says ‘let’s cut carbs from our diet’ and then we’ll have to divorce because carbs make me happy.
-Cora to Coke
Coke
Cora, despite claiming not even an hour before that she wasn’t good with people, sure knew how to talk her way into the dorm. She also knew how to sweet talk the front office when we hadn’t found Frankie in her room.
Cora explained what was going on, and in a matter of moments, she’d had a list of Frankie’s classes in her hand, and we were striding across the forecourt of the quad on the way to the building where Frankie’s math class was being held for the second hour of the day.
“Do you want to go in there and observe, or do you want me to go get her out?” Cora questioned, her hand on the handle to open the door to the math building.
I thought about that for a moment.
“It says that she’s in there for another half hour before she’s set to take a break, correct?” I asked.
Cora nodded.
“Then just check on her. I want to know that she’s actually in there. Once we know whether she is there or not, we’ll either let her stay if she’s in there or go look for her if she isn’t.”
Cora nodded once and then disappeared inside.
Around five minutes later, she reappeared, hands wrapped around herself tightly.
I frowned. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I forgot how much I hated school. She’s in there, and she’s sitting alone at the very front of the room.”
I nodded, relieved to know where she was.
I probably should’ve waited to come up here until the end of the day but, telling my rational brain that when my dad brain just plain wanted to make sure his kid was okay was impossible.
I sighed and pointed to a fountain that had a thick ledge around it to sit on. “Want to wait there?”
She nodded, and we walked in silence.
I hopped up first and then watched with amusement as she tried to hop up. Eventually she got it, but she had to scramble for purchase with her feet and wiggle to do it.