"Daddy!" I shriek when he opens the door. He chuckles as I wrap my arms around his neck.
It's finally our weekend. That's the one thing that has kept me alive since Darwin's party. I regret the party but I'm too proud to admit to myself or anyone else. I'm left suffering under the weight of the memories I've been keeping at bay for ten years.
"Happy to see you too, baby girl." He closes the door shut behind us.
"So," I clasp my hand together, bubbling with excitement, "What are we doing this weekend?"
His presence pacify all my demons. He's the one part of my life not tainted by them and I intend to keep it that way.
"Well, Jenny and I..." he starts. My smile falls.
"What?" I drop my duffel bag on the floor. "I thought it was going to be just us."
Dad shifts awkwardly. "Well, it'd be kind of rude to not include her since she's living here, now. It's only for a little while."
I cross my arms over my chest. If this chick is thinking about getting between my father and I, she has another thought coming. "What's wrong with her place?"
"It's been invaded by aliens who wants to slice me open and study me," replies someone behind me.
I turn around, fumes practically floating out of my pores. Who the hell does she think she is? This is supposed to be my alone time with MY dad, not a get together with some woman who can't hold her tongue in her mouth.
She doesn't even have the dignity to respect me in my father's house. It's ten in the morning but she's still in her pajamas, her short pixie black hair and bright brown eyes giving life to Beyoncé's anthem. She woke up like this - flawlessly beautiful. That's it, she has to go.
"Rachel, why don't you say hi to Jenny?" Dad drags me in front of her expectantly.
She stands up straight, looking down at me with a raised eyebrow. "Good morning, Lenny."
"It's Jenny."
"Do I look like I care?"
"Rachel!" My dad reprimands.
"I mean it's nice to see you again, Jenny." I smile at her showing all of my teeth.
She hugs me, I tense. What the hell is she doing?
"We're going to have such a wonderful weekend together."
I highly doubt that.
"Great, you guys are happy with each other now. I'm sorry but I have to run." He grabs his coat and heads out the door.
I follow him, "Where are you going?"
"To the office. I have to finish up something. I promise you won't even notice that I'm gone."
"You can't leave me here with a stranger," I whine.
"Jenny is not a stranger." He opens the door and kiss my forehead. "Be nice." Then, he's gone, leaving me alone with that... ughh. I'm so frustrated right now I could break a wall with my tight fist.
"What do you want to do first?" Jenny comes out of the kitchen with some appropriate clothes on.
Without answering, I stomp to my dad's bedroom and lock the door behind me. I plug my headphones on and fall asleep in a matter of seconds.
My eyes flutter open upon hearing my dad's deep baritone voice singing in my ears. He sounds worse than a cat being run over by a bulldozer. I've always enjoy sleeping to his singing, though. It used to help me sleep. He had me convinced that his terrible singing could keep the monsters away.
It only worked for the imaginary ones. The real ones have already devoured me until I'm just a broken meat suit then spat me out. Even after that, there's always one of them venturing around me every single day of my life.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You never know, dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away."
A small smile plays on my lip. The song is so off key that it no longer sounds like the lullaby mothers' use to put their kids to sleep.
"Dad, I'm awake. Please stop singing."
He laughs, "What's wrong baby girl? You love my singing."
"No, I never did." I lift my upper body off of the bed, my elbows supporting my weight. "I just tolerate it because if you're singing, it means you're not leaving me."
He winces. I shouldn't have said that especially since I know he has not stop feeling guilty for leaving the house.
He gently tap the tip of my nose, "Yes, you do. Stop denying it." He walks toward the door. "Dinner's ready. Let's go."
I run my hands through my hair. It's all over the place now. "Why are we eating dinner so early?"
"I wouldn't consider seven in the afternoon early."
"Wait!" I jump out of bed, "I slept all day?"
"Pretty much. I tried to wake you but you looked so peacefully asleep." His voice drops low, "As if you hadn't had a good night sleep in weeks."
I strengthen my posture, his cop intuition never misses out on anything. I pull on the sleeves of my shirt, making shirt everything is well hidden. Wishing I could be anywhere right now, I glance out of the window. Anywhere but under my dad's attentive gaze. I stand immobile as he approaches me. He stops in front of me in T-shirt and jeans.
"You have been sleeping, right?" His worried eyes search mine. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"
"Yes, I'm fine. It's just nightmares."
"Are you sure? You haven't been to the emergency room again, have you?"
"No dad, I haven't."
My dad suspects something is off ever since my first trip to the emergency room especially when they became more frequent over the following years. I have convinced all of them, they were all accident. Nobody has yet to put two and two together. Steven doesn't give a damn. My mom is too preoccupied with Steven. This leaves only my dad but he's not allowed around much to figure it out as he would like. Nevertheless, he keeps quiet, gathering enough information to speculate what's happening to me.
I hope he never finds it out.
"You did come here a few days ago looking like hell."
"I'm fine. Don't worry about it. I can take care of myself." I hold his eyes trying to convince him that I'm fine.
When he inches closer to hug me, I know he's not. He knows something is up but how can I tell him about one thing without telling him about everything else?
"Just because you can doesn't mean you should. I'm your father and I'm supposed to take care of you. Stop putting the entire world on your shoulders. You're too young for that." He leans back, "Let's go eat." I smile at him and grab my phone before following him.
I sit in one of the chair around the small table in the kitchen. Jenny turns away from the stove with a pan of fried chicken. Saliva is already dripping from my mouth before she even sets it one the table. I dig in as soon as she sets it on the table.
My teeth sink in the juicy meat. Oh Lord, this is delicious. It's been so long since I've had some fried chicken, it's been a real long time since I've had some decent food. Mom only cook food Steven likes and everything Steven likes is downright outrageous.
"Slow down, baby girl." Dad laughs as I dig in the pan for another one. "You can't tell me your mother doesn't feed you."
"She does but it always tastes like dirt." I watch Jenny smile at me.
I should probably not have degraded my mom in front of her. By the way she's looking at me, she no doubt thinks she got me on her side now.
Girl, it will take more than fried chicken to make me like you.
I wipe my hands on a napkin, "So, Jenny what seriously happened to your place?"
"Rachel, we don't ask questions like that."
"No, it's fine." She touches his arm, "Every teenager is curious."
"Quench my curiosity, then. Why are you here?"
"I'm dating your father so I spend some days here so we could spend more times together." She smiles sweetly at him.
My stomach lurches, about to be emptied of my entire dinner.
"Don't look so shock. You know grown-ups date too, right?"
The side of my mouth turns into an angry scowl. I hate this woman. What can my dad possibly see in her? Yeah, she's pretty but even I can see she's a total bitch. She's not good enough for him. No woman is except mom...when she's not being Steven's little puppet.
"I know he dates but I thought he would at least find someone who doesn't dress like a hobo."
"Rachel!" My dad rises out of his seat faster than I thought possible. "We're done here. Why don't we do something else?"
"Why? I'm not done eating and besides Jenny and I are getting to know each other."
"You're just a little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Jenny laughs wholeheartedly with her chin resting on her palms.
"I'm just keeping it real, honey."
"I should have waited before introducing you two." My dad sits back down and starts to eat without acknowledging our little staring contest. "This is going to be a long weekend." He said as he chews on a chicken leg.
A long weekend indeed.