Madly

Chapter Nine

ONE WEEK LATER

Her last phone call to her father had ended abruptly and Rowyn was worried she’d given him another excuse to loathe her. Wes had been an incredible diversion but anytime she was alone, there was an empty hollow inside.

Wes’s party was that night and she couldn’t see herself having a good time without clearing things up with her dad, so she found herself sitting perched in front of the computer screen, coffee in hand, frustration growing by the minute. The service was terrible and the call wouldn’t connect no matter what she tried to do.

She set her coffee cup on the desk and slammed the laptop shut bitterly, when she heard his voice from behind.

“Geez Snoopy, what did that laptop ever do to you?”

Her body did a one hundred eighty degree turn in less than a second. “Dad!” She blinked, wanting to make sure it was true.

He stood at the front door in blue jeans and a leather jacket. He had a shaggy haircut, a guitar case and a smile that could reach the moon. She flew forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. He was a tall man so when he hugged her back, he lifted her clear off of the ground.

“Dad!” she said again. “I can’t believe you’re here.” She felt a knot lodge in her throat and her eyes welled with tears. “What are you doing here?”

He deposited her on her feet and kissed her on the forehead. “You really worried me after our last call. I needed to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m good now. I’m so glad you’re here.”

He stood there for a minute, immobilized before stepping into the apartment, removing his coat and draping it over the back of a chair.  

“You look more and more like your mother everyday, God rest her soul. You alright? You’re giving your old man some grey hairs with how strange you were acting.”

Wow. If she’d known all she had to do was act strangely to get her father to come home, she would have done it a long time ago. “I’m okay.” She smiled and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around her father’s waist. “I missed you. A lot.”

He rubbed her back. “Well good news is you won’t have to miss me for a while.”

“How long are you here for?”

“A couple of months. I’m starting to feel like touring is for young people. We’ll see how it goes but I’m beginning to think more and more that retirement might be in my near future.”

“What? Are you serious?”

He nodded. Even so, she didn’t want to get her hopes up. “Can you actually do that? I mean just stop touring and retire.”

He shrugged. “I can do whatever I want. Tom wasn’t exactly thrilled but he understands. He has a family too, Rowyn. I saw you and it felt like the last time we spoke you were my little girl and I blinked and now here you are, a beautiful young woman. I’ve missed out on a lot,” he said. “If I leave, I’ll blink and you’ll be off getting married and starting your life and I’ll be standing back here wondering what the hell happened.”

“So you’re not leaving right away?”

“Not at all,” he said. “I’m here, if you’ll have me.”

She couldn’t figure out if she wanted to scream, cry, smile, or all of the above.

“Can we go for lobster?”

“We can do whatever you want.”

“Can you give me like five minutes? I need to tell Wes.”