Invisible String

Chapter 3: Chances

But she was the one laying the table with the plates when whe front door opened once more, and she heard Pat Halstead complaining about the mess in his living room. Elizabeth immediately tensed up, every nerve in her body telling her to get out of there.

"Ah, I see you kids are already here." he said, dropping his coat on the floor.

"Hey Pop." Will greeted, looking for forks in a drawer.

"Dad." Both casually had greeted their father, but she just stood there in silence. It suddenly felt like all words got trapped in her throat.

"Kiddos." Pat went directly to the fridge and got a bottle of beer, without acknowledging Elizabeth's presence. She heard Will sighing.

"Hey, dad." she finally spoke up.

It took a minute for him to look away from the fridge and to look at her. When he finally did, she expected to see something, anything. Elizabeth would be lying if she said she didn't imagine this moment a hundred times, over and over again. Would he be happy to see her? Disappointed? Mad? 

It was not like Pat was a bad father, or that he didn't love them. She believed that he loved his children, but he was a complicated man, and so, his relationships were complicated too.

"So, you're really back."

"I am, yeah." Lizzie stated. "Here to stay."

He stared at her for a whole minute in silence, and Lizzie could feel the tension in both her brothers behind her, waiting. But Pat just pulled up a chair so he could sit at the table and asked what they would have for dinner.

She blinked a few times, surprised. Where were the mean comments? The reminders of how much of a disappointment she was?

"Oh, I...I made lasagna. There's also garlic bread and cucumber salad." She paused. "I used mom's recipes for the lasagna and the garlic spread."

"Nice." Was all he said, reaching out for the tray of lasagna to serve it for himself.

The three of them looked at each other, unsure. Lizzie was so tired and so tense, that she just shrugged and pulled up a chair for herself. Will and Jay followed, with Will taking the garlic bread and passing it to Jay; silently, they started their meal together.

"Liz, this is amazing." Will finally broke the silence, complimenting after the first few bites into his food.

"Right? I missed homemade food so much." agreed Jay. Lizzie knew he was a terrible cook, and if she had to guess, she'd say it wasn't much of Erin's scene either; and together with their crazy schedules, it would just be easier to eat takeout.

"It tastes exactly like Mom used to make, right Pop?" Will poked their dad in the arm.

"Eh, it's alright." Pat shrugged. Then, he turned to Elizabeth. "What have you been up to, kid? I thought you would finally bring that boyfriend of yours."

"Uh, no. Actually, we broke up." She looked down to her plate to avoid the inquisitive stares, because Lizzie knew she had failed to tell anyone about that, just like she was failing to tell now how the break up happened not even two weeks ago.

"You're still with that nonsense of studying? Maybe that's why." There it was.

"Dad." warned Will.

"It's fine." She tried to reassure them. "I graduated last year, dad. I'm a dentist now." she poked the food with her fork, not really feeling like eating.

"What a waste of time. If my teeth hurt, I can just pull it out myself. And that's not even a woman's job."

One of the main reasons having Pat Halstead as a parent was so complicated was because their father was someone very stuck in his ways. He always made sure to tell Will and Jay how real men go straight to work, instead of going to college or enlisting in the army like they did. He also had a specific view of what real women should do, and that didn't include leaving to pursue her own degree, her own job and her own life. Maybe working part time as a teacher, or a nurse, or whatever he thought was an appropriate job for a woman, eventually settling down to take care of her family after getting married and having children.