Page 51 of Semi Sweet
She looked alarmed. “You can’t go alone! What if Evan is out there looking for you? I don’t want you to be in the next true crime special I watch.”
“I’ll make sure she gets to her friend’s house. I’ve got to open tomorrow,” Sean said, coming up to stand beside me.
Drunk Beth was a bit more punchy towards her boss than the sober version was. She raised her eyebrows before she began to chant “Get it, Sean. Get it, Sean.” She did a dance as if she was championing for him.
“Alright,” he said with a red face, guiding me towards the exit. “I will see you at your next shift. Happy birthday.” We could hear Beth’s mantra until we were outside with the door shut behind us. “She’s...one of a kind.”
“I had fun,” I replied. “I needed that.”
Sean nodded. “I did, too. It was the most social thing I’ve done since I moved here.” I was prepared to ask him more about that, but Sean must have been perceptive about me attempting to shift focus again. “It’s time to tell me about your dad….”
“Damn it,” I cursed. “You’re persistent.”
“I thought that was obvious.”
I exhaled with a huff before I searched for the words. I had just enough alcohol in my system to feel brave. Brave was less than I’d consumed the night of the disco party. “It’s a shame, really, that I didn’t meet you first.”
Sean nodded. “I think about that often myself.”
I didn’t want that admission to throw me off, so I kept talking. “My father likes people who have plans. He likes them even more when they have practical backup plans to support those big plans.”
Sean looked impressed. “I take it riding the coattails of a family business didn’t impress him.”
“That would be correct,” I replied. “I’m not sure what he’d think now. He might think the corporate upgrade is a suitable backup plan.”
“I think if he knew what you’ve been through, he’d get in line to kick Evan’s ass,” Sean contested. “After me, of course.”
I wanted to believe that, but so much time had passed. I had no idea what he’d think of my living situation now or why I waited as long as I had to escape. It didn’t matter. Just thinking about it was wasting time and energy.
“I was stupid.” I despaired.
“How so?”
“I was stubborn.” I attempted to explain. “We’re a bit similar that way. I wanted to be an adult when I wasn’t ready. He told me not to come back. I just wanted to prove him wrong and neither of us were ready to back down. That’s how I ended up in this pathetic situation.”
“Sounds like a huge misunderstanding,” Sean said.
I could see his apartment building in the distance, a concrete fortress reaching for the dark heavens.
“Maybe at the time.” I bit my lip. “I’m not sure what you would call it now.”
“I can’t make you do anything, but what’s the worst that could happen if you were to stop by? Or even call?”
“We’ve been over this, Sean,” I despaired. “I'll be rejected, cussed out. I’ll tear that wound open.”
“Does speculating help? Wouldn’t talking to him clear the air once and for all?”
I grumbled nonsense at him. “Why do you have to be so wise all the time?”
He shrugged as we cut across the lot for the apartment complex. “More life experience?”
“You’re twenty-seven, not eighty-seven.”
Sean scowled at me. “You don’t want me to go there, do you?”
We were at the lobby door now. I waited for him to let me in as I snapped, “What are you talking about?”
Sean opened the hallway door. He looked like he was going to regret what he was about to say. “Just because you haven’t lived at home since you were nineteen doesn’t necessarily mean you have all the answers.”
