Page 138 of Wrench
¡°Samantha,¡± he said with urgency and concern. ¡°Are you okay? Where have you been?
I¡¯ve been so worried about you!¡±
¡°Yeah,¡± I said with my face turned to him. ¡°Just had dinner with the girls.¡±
¡°You were held at gunpoint, Samantha!¡± he said, and my heart sunk as I whipped to
him, not hiding my tear-stained face.
¡°H-how¡¯d you know?¡±
¡°It¡¯s all over the news!¡± he said, looking genuinely angry and my jaw dropped. I rushed
past him into the kitchen to check the T.V. The late-night news program was showing
highlights, and to my horror, the outside of my clinic shined on the screen. As I relived
that day¡¯s nightmare, my dad ranted.
¡°I¡¯m sitting here, eating my dinner, wondering why my daughter¡¯s working so late,
typical day. Then I turn on the six o¡¯clock news, and what do I find out? That your clinic
has been robbed!¡±
I lowered my head, wincing as I imagined my dad pacing around the house, mustache
twitching at full speed.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you call me? Why didn¡¯t you tell me? Samantha, you¡¯re an adult, I¡¯m not
going to put a lock on your door, but¡¡± He lowered his voice and swallowed. ¡°You¡¯re
scaring me, Sammy. One day you¡¯re depressed over Travis, the next day Travis shows up,
but you send him off? You¡¯re giving me whiplash!¡±
¡°I know, Da¡ª¡±
¡°Then you keep leaving in the middle of the night¡¡± he kept going. ¡°I don¡¯t know if
you¡¯re on drugs, or¡ª¡±
¡°Dad, are you kidding me? Do you know who you¡¯re talking to?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± A pleading look grew in his eyes, then finally, he finished with, ¡°Please.
Talk to me. Tell me what¡¯s going on.¡±
Guilt filled me as I realized how selfish I had been, not even considering how my
behavior might be impacting him. Causing him stress was the last thing I wanted to do,
and here I was, running around at night with a biker whose rival gang pressed a gun to my
head. There was no way I could tell him that, he¡¯d have a heart attack! Isaac promised
he¡¯d fix everything and we¡¯d be able to be a normal couple¡ but would normalcy ever
