Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
“A girl?”
“A girl I liked. A lot. I’d had a crush on her since freshman year.”
The audience sends up more whoops, and if Niomi’s cheeks weren’t that rich shade of brown, I’d bet my next book advance we’d see her blushing.
“Why did you . . .well, you had three years. Why didn’t you ever tell this girl how you felt?”
“I thought there would be time. At a party celebrating the end of finals right before we went home for the summer, I kissed her.”
Her chest rises with a sharply-indrawn breath and every trace of a smile disappears. Her eyes are alert and wide and locked on mine.
“You-you did?”
“Yeah, but it couldn’t go anywhere. She was dating someone else. We were both a little drunk,” I aim my words at the crowd and chuckle. “But I remember every moment. It was perfect.”
“It was,” she agrees softly. Her startled eyes ping from my face to the crowd. “I mean . . . it was? Was it?”
“I don’t kiss and tell, but—”
“And yet here you are telling.”
“Just the best parts.” The look I level on her blocks out the crowd so she has no doubt this is about her, about us, not about this interview or our spectators. “I told myself senior year if she was free, I would ask her out and let her know how I felt. I even had a grand gesture planned.”
I give the crowd a wry look. “And I ain’t the grand gesture kind of dude.”
I check Celine’s expression to make sure this isn’t awkward for her. She’s always known there wasn’t some great love match between her mom and me. We’ve never been a couple. We’ve always been her parents who, though we didn’t love each other, loved her very much. All Celine’s life Annette and I have dated other people. Not that I had much time to date much. Fortunately, Celine’s beaming, seemingly as eager for the next details of the story as the students around her.
“So about this grand gesture,” Niomi says, her mouth curling at the corners with a soft smile. “What was it?”
“I’m not telling.”
The crowd raises a chorus of cheers and boos and whoops and hollering, but I shake my head, laughing and adamant.
“That’s all you’re getting,” I tell them, shifting my gaze back to tangle with Niomi’s. “For now.”
I’m signing copies of my book, paraphernalia, sweatshirts—whatever students thrust at me to sign. Niomi has her own line of people wanting pics and autographs. Celine stands a few feet apart, looking over her shoulder every few minutes like she’s about to make her escape. After a few seconds, she does, heading across the yard and toward the parking lot.
“Celine!” I shout, scribbling my name on one last book and spreading an apologetic smile around. “I need to go.”
“Will you be here all weekend?” one student asks.
“I will. Catch me if you see me,” I say over my shoulder as I jog after my daughter.
“Celine, wait.” I catch up with her and take her elbow gently, turning her to face me. “You’re not leaving are you? I was hoping we could have dinner.”
She gestures toward a float on the other side of the parking lot. “We’re finalizing stuff for the parade tomorrow morning.”
“Maybe after that?”
“After that I have to hit a few parties. You do remember what homecoming’s like, right? The homecoming queen has to make the rounds the night before.”
“And I guess tomorrow is really hectic, huh?”
“Yeah, it is.” She releases an exasperated sigh. “I know what you’re trying to do, Dad.”
“And what’s that?”
“Make up for lost time, but this weekend isn’t for you. It’s for me, and I don’t want to make it about easing your guilt for not being around.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
She angles a wry look up at me.
“Okay, maybe that’s a little bit of what I’m doing. I am sorry I was gone so much.”
“It’s fine. I mean, it’s actually not cool. You missed a lot, but I knew you were doing important things.”
I lift her chin, making sure she looks at me when I say what I need to get out. “Nothing is more important than you, Celine. It may not have felt that way sometimes, but I mean that.”
“I guess next thing you’ll say is you did it all for me,” she laughs with a trace of bitterness and not a speck of humor.
“No. Well, yes, especially in the beginning, I took any assignment I could get because I had a kid to support. So, yeah, in that way, a lot of it was with providing for you in mind. But, no. I have the career I wanted. I sacrificed a lot to find and tell stories I thought were important. I’m just sorry if our relationship suffered.” I cup her face and smile ruefully. “I turned around and it feels like you went from a little girl to this beautiful young woman overnight. I want to know you now, Celine.”