The Summer that Changed Everything (Complete)

Chapter 11 - Dad's House

The next couple days they spent at their Dad's house. They went over there every other weekend and his house was about 30 minutes away from their Mom's. After her parent's had gotten divorced her Mom kept the house since she had primary custody of the kids and their Dad bought a log cabin outside of town in the woods close to the mountains and right next to a lake. There were no neighbors as far as you could see and it was a really beautiful, peaceful place.

Her Dad's name was Conner and he was tall and muscular with brown hair and green eyes. He was a good looking guy naturally but he didn't care about his appearance that much. He let his beard grow out until it was a little scruffy and sometimes his t-shirt and jeans would have a stain on it. 

His cabin was nice with comfortable furniture and the best TV and surround sound you could find, but it wasn't spotless like their Mom's house was. He had a few dishes in the sink and he hadn't dusted in a long time. He didn't care that much about that kind of stuff. 

"So how's your summer been so far?" their Dad asked as he opened the door to the cabin, carrying in the large pizza and breadsticks he picked up for dinner. 

"Well ...... it's been really good actually," she said. "Mom decided we were going to have a technology free summer so she took away our phones, laptops, wifi, xbox, cancelled netflix .......everything. I thought it was going to be really boring but we got some new neighbors across the street and we've been hanging out with them a lot."   

"Wow! No technology at all for the summer. I bet she's not following that rule herself is she?" he asked with a smirk. 

"No. She has to have her cell phone for work so she can't." 

"That figures," he grumbled. "She always was addicted to her job and that damn phone." 

She changed the subject really quick. He was right that she worked too much and was addicted to her phone but she didn't want to agree with him. She hated when her parents bashed each other to them. It was so annoying. She wished they could just get along for the sake of their kids but instead they hated each other and weren't afraid to hide it. 

"Hey Dad? Ummm. We were talking to our new neighbor friends about doing some stuff together this summer. We were wanting to go camping and fishing and hiking in the mountains. Could we maybe bring them here to the cabin with us for a couple days sometime?" 

"Yeah. I don't see why not. As long as you guys don't trash the place. You can use my fishing and camping equipment as long as you take good care of it and bring it back the way you found it. I got a new pontoon boat for the lake too." 

"Dad?" 

"Yeah pumpkin?" he said, grabbing a beer out of the fridge and plopping down on the couch. 

"Why didn't you and Mom work out?"

He laughed and took another sip of his beer. 

"What? You know I'm old enough to have a serious conversation with now, right? I I wanna know."

"Ugh ...... fine," he grumbled. "There wasn't some big event that happened. There wasn't any cheating or affairs or any of that. We started dating way back in high school when we were so young. As we grew up we just grew apart and one day we realized we were two very different people and it wasn't working out anymore. She's very serious and organized and everything's clean and planned out. You know that's not me. I'm relaxed and take life as it comes. I enjoy not knowing what's gonna happen every single day and feeling comfortable and relaxed in my own home. I don't have to worry about anyone nagging me about a wet towel on the floor or a cup left on the counter."