"Josh, everything is in the trunk", said Steven.
"Ok, Dad. I'll drop you guys off first and then drop off Nika", replied Josh.
"I hope Dad had a good tour, England is lovely. We fly to London and then take a train to Manchester and then drive out to Roseblanche, Uncle Ian's manor house in the Yorkshire Dales. He's Sir Ian Sutherland and his wife is Lady Olivia", said Nika.
"Whoa, that's amazing. Is your uncle and MBE or OBE?", he asked.
"He's a CBE", she replied.
"Wow, awesome. I got to ask your uncle if he met the queen", said Josh in awe.
Josh got in the driver's seat as Blur played over the speakers. The drive down to LA was uneventful with the only traffic being on the freeways around the city. He dropped off his parents and their bags at the house and then drove towards the hills as the Volvo was more sure-footed than his old truck. Josh parked in front of the house and got her bags out of the trunk, momentarily startled when Nika hugged him. "Uh, thanks. But you ought to hug John, he's your dad", he said.
"Dad treats me like a kid, I don't like being a kid. I'm too smart to be treated as a kid", she said.
"Okay, physically and legally you are a kid. John doesn't know much about kids and he's doing his best. So give him a chance to act like a dad", said John.
"Good afternoon, Miss Nika. Would you like some lunch?", asked Mildred as Bianca and Gabriel barely glanced her way.
"No thank you, Miss Mildred. I'm going to be in Dad's library", she replied.
Nika went upstairs to John's library and shut the door behind her. The windows bought in plenty of natural light from the sunshine and looked down over the Hollywood Hills. She got on the stepladder and scanned the shelves until she found something she liked and sat down in her purple chair to read.
Nika was engrossed in her biography of Trajan that she nearly jumped out of her seat when the phone on the desk rang. "Hey Nika, how was your trip with Josh and his parents?", asked John.
"Big Sur was pretty and we went to San Francisco too. Josh took me to a Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium", she replied.
"Awesome, sounds like you had a good time. Nika, when I get back we're going to Italy with Mom and Dad to see the Frusciante family", said John.
Nika felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. "Uh, okay", she mumbled.
"Nika, my family isn't very big or loud. It's only Nonno and Nonna, Dad is their only child. They're very old and are thrilled to have a great-granddaughter", he said.
"I'm sorry, Dad. I'll go, I do want to see Italy since Rome is there", she replied.
"My grandparents' town of Benevento has a Roman arch built by Trajan and a Roman amphitheater. Plus it's in Campania and less than an hour from Pompeii", said John.
"Ohh! That sounds amazing!", she exclaimed.
"I knew you would like that, Pompeii creeped me out when I first saw it since I felt so bad for those people. I love Rome but I love Campania more, I love going to Ischia and Capri and the coast. My grandparents have lemon trees and it's a wonderful place to relax, I like to go there when I'm tired of touring. We got a three week break before we start the autumn leg of our US tour, we finish touring in late December and in January we go to the Southern Hemisphere", said John.
"Cool, Uncle Jack goes to Australia for his book tours", said Nika.
"And Flea's family is from Australia, his family comes to the shows when we're in Melbourne. Hopefully by then you'll be settled in at school", said John.
"I'm going to get A's in everything", she vowed.
"Grades aren't everything, it's important to learn and be creative", he said.
"If I don't get grades, how will I know if I'm doing good?", she asked.
"If you understand what you're doing and enjoy it, that's great. Grades aren't everything, and I'm not going to punish you if you don't get A's in everything", said John.
"That sounds too easy", she said dubiously.
"And you should try to make friends, girls are nice until they hit puberty", he said.
"Clara is nice, but the girls in Palm Springs beat me up. I'm not making friends with stupid girls", she declared.
"Make friends with people you like. Most people don't suck", said John.
"Maybe, books are better", she said.
"Okay, give it time. Tomorrow I'll be home, and we leave for Lake Tahoe in two days and Italy next Monday", he said.
"All right, I'll see you then. Good night", she said.
The line was silent for a moment until the phone hung up. "Aren't you happy to talk with your daughter?", asked Chad.
John sighed as he replaced the retriever on the phone. "She's so stoic and nonchalant, she treats me like I'm a piece of furniture. She didn't sound thrilled to hear from me, just that we were going to Italy", he said.
"Isn't that what the book said? Autistic kids aren't very demonstrative", said Chad.
"Yeah, it's still hard to accept. How would you like it if Manon, Ava and Justin didn't feel excited to see you?", asked John.
"Devastated, since we're on tour so often. But none of them is autistic, they're normal. Your daughter is autistic, it could be a while before she's totally comfortable with you", said Chad.
"It's been a month, what do I have to do to have my daughter see me as a human being?", he muttered.
"I have no idea. I guess her mom wasn't affectionate, just treated her like a trained puppet. I guess from what you said about her Mom, you shouldn't pressure her to perform or be hard on her. It's weird she doesn't play or like kids' stuff", said Chad.
"And she likes Josh better than me, he lets her read big-ass books", said John.
"Josh is a cool kid, but maybe that's it. Maybe she actually likes reading big-ass books, some people do. Just let her read big-ass books if she wants, as long as it's not Nazi shit", said Chad.
"I don't know, I want her to have fun like a normal kid. I'm totally new to this fatherhood thing", said John ruefully.
"So I was when Manon was born, I learned. Being a dad is an ongoing process, you learn something new every day", said Chad, clapping him on the back.