The Return

Chapter Thirty Six

Holly

Wednesday May 12th 2021.

She could see the back garden from the kitchen window. She insisted on doing the dishes after breakfast. Georgia was already late for her dress fitting and Holly couldn't see herself imposing the burden of the dishes on Heaven.

She didn't mind doing the dishes. In Nigeria, it was a way for kids to show their respect for their parents; helping out with simple chores. Georgia milked that in the year they spent there.

And, if she leaned forward and tilted her head, she could see beyond the deck. She could see the gazebo and how far Vaughn had come since starting it.

Wasn't that enough evidence to convince her gut that he was in this for the long run and he wouldn't make the same dumb and selfish decisions he made that drove a wedge between them?

Aside from his job as a college baseball coach, she didn't think she'd seen him commit to anything of this magnitude before.

It felt too good to be true. Like life was handing her the one thing she spent years begging for. The perfect family. The one that didn't fight and split up at the slightest sight of a bump in the road. A father that didn't cheat, a mother that didn't run, and a sister she could confide in.

Holly felt like if she were to reach out a wet soapy hand, she could just grab it—

"Hey kiddo, got a minute?"

She didn't hear him thumping down the stairs. His boots, the ones he wore for yardwork were hard to miss. That's why she didn't hear him come down, he was barefoot. 

She turned leaning against the sink and nodded. "Sure,"

He looked nervous, frantic almost. He was half-dressed in a black button-down and pressed slacks. However, the two top buttons were undone and his collar stood tall, starched. He was holding two ties in his hands. A royal blue one that Holly knew was Georgia's favorite color and a green one that matched the theme of the wedding.

"This is silly, but I have a video call with your Aunt Ruth and you know how tough she can be..." Especially since he messed up and broke Georgia's heart. "I wanted to know which tie screamed please let me remarry your sister?"

Holly bit back a giggle. His comment was mundane. So much so, that Holly couldn't help but let a smile slip through the crack. He wanted her opinion on a tie. A freaking tie.

She walked over to the kitchen table and sat. "Wanna know something?" She said instead of answering his question.  She was staring at a dent in the table. A dent she made when she was sixteen and coming to terms with her family splitting up. "I was so worried about coming back here. About seeing you again. I was so sure it was a mistake. That you would do the same thing and we would have to move again." She looked up at him. He was no longer holding up the ties with urgency.

He had a frown on his face, but he wasn't angry. If anything, he looked confused.

"Then, you made this big show of getting down on one knee and asking Heaven and I for our approval to do this and I just saw the gazebo and...now you're asking my opinion on a tie." She was rambling, her vision blurred. Was she crying?

Shit.

"I hated you. I hated my Dad," Her chest ached.

"Did you just call me Dad?" He whispered.

She looked up at him.

Really, that was what he picked up on?

She shrugged. "I guess I did."