Page 111 of Pulse
Still, I was glad they were getting along. I couldn’t imagine life without the Twins now.
The third thing was a lot more expected. Dad still wasn’t pleased with me, which was what had prompted me to confront him on the third day after everyone had come back from Sydney. We’d made so much progress; it seemed like twenty steps back into old times.
I knocked once on the office door and barged in.
Dad was sitting at the desk, hunched over with his head in his hand.
“Ren,” he said as he jumped at my abrupt entrance.
“Dad.” I placed my hands on my hips.
“Your mother got that look when she wanted to rip me a new one,” he said with a sigh.
“I do.”
“Out with it then.” His nonchalance started to piss me off.
“You’ve hardly spoken to me since you got back,” I huffed. “Did you do that with Mum too?”
“Shit.”
Shit, indeed.
“I’m in the Championship, Dad.” He blinked like he hadn’t believed I’d even get there in the first place and it kinda stung. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I rolled my eyes.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t mean… That’s great, Ren.”
“But?”
“It’s just not the Championship I thought you’d be winning, is all.”
I shrugged. “There are no trophies or accolades, just a big wad of cash. I told you this is what I wanted to do. After everything-”
“I know,” he interrupted. “It’s just father mode coming into full effect.”
Yet another person I was never ever going to tell about my KO, then. “Dare I ask if you want to come watch me fight?”
Dad narrowed his eyes. I took it as a no.
“Fine,” I said. “Josie knows the details if you change your mind.”
I shook out my arms and rolled my shoulders.
“Ren, wait a minute.” He stood and faced me, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“It’s okay Dad. It’s not your scene, I get it.”
“It’s not.”
“Then don’t worry about it.” I waved him off, keen to get back out into the studio to talk more with the Twins about their stint in pro as much as I needed to get back into training with Ash.
“Ren…”
“You don’t need to explain yourself Dad. I know how you feel.” I closed the office door behind me and bounded down the stairs like hell was nipping at my heels.
Dad had been extremely vocal in his displeasure about my fighting at The Underground. To expect him actually go? That was a flash in the pan idea if I ever saw one. Still, a part of me wanted him to see me in my first Championship bout considering it was his dream. It wasn’t the stock standard kind of fight, but it was where my heart lay. Bright lights and Ren Miller didn’t fit. Darkness however...
There had been so many things Dad’d missed while I was growing up. School plays, award nights, graduation… The kid inside me, the kid that had missed out on having her dad at those stupid mundane events, wanted him to come to one of the most important of her life.
Still, asking was all I could do. I couldn’t make him accept my decisions if he was against them that much. I’d still love him either way.
That’s the strange thing about growing up. Eventually you learn how to accept the things you can’t change.
As I joined the guys on the mat, I couldn’t help the disappointment that tugged at the edges of my heart.
Maybe he’d come next time.
If there was a next time.
