Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 96512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“Did he send you his flight details yet?” Riley asks.
“Not yet, sweet girl. But he will.”
“I just don’t know if he’s going to be here in the morning, or will I have to wait until the afternoon?”
Last time Riley’s dad visited, I picked him up from the airport. It was Riley’s idea. She wanted to meet him with a banner. I agreed her father coming into town should be an exciting event. I hoped that it would help mitigate the fact that his visits are so infrequent.
My phone buzzes and my stomach turns inside out. For a split second, I think it might be Fisher. But of course it won’t be. We agreed that when he left Star Falls, we’d have a clean break. There was no way of continuing our relationship, and I didn’t want to have false hope or be disappointed when he said he was coming to town and then didn’t, or said he’d call and then got caught up with his life back in New York. A clean break is better. For both of us. It won’t be Fisher that’s texting me, even though a part of me wants to hear from him.
It will be lunchtime in New York City soon. I wonder if he eats lunch in his office. Or maybe he eats out a lot? Maybe even every day. I think that’s common in New York. Or maybe he prefers to have lunch at his desk. Or with his team? I have so many unanswered questions. Things I’ll never know now.
“Mom,” Riley yells, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry, what did you say?”
“I said do you think we’ll have to memorize spelling during the vacation? Because if we do, I don’t think I should take them to Dad’s. I don’t think we’ll have time to do them.”
“Right,” I say. “We can just do them when you come back.”
“We’ll have plenty of time. I’ll be able to spend the entire rest of the summer with you.”
“I know, sweet girl. I want you to have fun with your dad.” I turn into the school grounds and find my normal parking space.
Riley spots the message on my phone. “Mom, Dad sent you a message. Please can I see it?” she asks. “I bet it’s the time of his flight.”
“It probably is,” I say, opening the text as Riley looks over my shoulder.
But it’s not the time he’s going to land tomorrow.
I scan the text, taking in snippets.
I’m not going to make it.
Fiona’s sick.
Tell Riley I’ll make it up to her.
I press the side button on my phone to make the screen go blank, but I’m pretty sure I’m too late.
I turn, and the expression on her face crumbles my broken heart into pieces.
“Mom?” she says. “Dad’s not coming?” Her tone is hopeless and dripping with disappointment.
I clamber out of the car and slide into the back seat next to Riley. I undo her seat belt and pull her onto my lap. “I don’t know. Let me read it properly.”
With Riley sitting on my lap, I open the phone and read the text in full. She’s seen the worst of it. There’s no point hiding it now.
It’s even worse than I first thought. He’s not coming, and he’s not going to be able to reschedule because of prior commitments. Wasn’t Riley his ultimate prior commitment? Everything else in his life seems to come before her since he moved to Florida.
“Mom, that means I won’t see him all summer. I’ll be nine before I see him again!”
I pull her against me, trying to provide a little comfort. There’s nothing I can say that’s going to make this better. Nothing I can do. Her father doesn’t put her first. I have no idea what that must feel like, what that must do to her brain. To her heart. But it breaks mine.
“I’m so sorry, sweet girl.” I press a kiss to the top of her head and I don’t let go, even though it means we’re both going to be late to class. It’s on days like this that I wish I had a different job. One where I wasn’t in the same school as Riley. I could take the day off and keep Riley home with me. I’m inches away from getting back in the driver’s seat, driving us both home and putting on a movie.
This isn’t fair to her.
Life isn’t fair.
“Mommy, I don’t want to go to school. And I don’t want to see Daddy ever again! You can’t make me.”
I close my eyes. I wish I could take away the pain she feels. If she hadn’t seen the text, maybe I could have called him and given him hell. Told him he needed to step it up or he’d lose his daughter’s love and respect. He’s going to get that call from me anyway. But it won’t take away the disappointment Riley feels now. That’s what I want to do. Scoop up her pain and bury it deep in the mountainside, where it will never surface again. Riley deserves better.