The Boss' Daughter

Chapter 12

"So how'd it go?" I jumped. Mr. Adams was sitting in the living room.

"If you must know, we won't be going out again."

"So it didn't go well?"

"I didn't say that." Mr. Adams just looked at me. "We just don't have much in common so it was hard to find things to talk about." Mr. Adams nodded his head as if he understood.

"I guess you're going home then. Be here  in the morning at the same time." He stood up and walked to the doorway. I followed.

"I'll be here." I turned to the door, then turned back. "Mr. Adams, are we going to talk about earlier?"

"What's there to talk about?"

"Well..."

"Well, what? You didn't give me a verbal answer, but you went on that date anyway. I guess I did get my answer."

"Ryan deserved for me to follow through. He was already here.  I wasn't going to change my mind like that. That would have made me look like a terrible person." Mr. Adams started walking off and it only made me angrier. It was late and I didn't feel like getting into it with my boss. "I'll be here in the morning at the same time." Mr. Adams didn't reply. I grabbed my clothes from earlier and went out to my car and left.

The next morning, I didn't know what to expect. I was afraid Mr. Adams would be upset with me. When I got there, though, he actually spoke to me.

"The swim instructor won't be here anymore."

"Okay." I completely understood why. I waited to see if he'd say anything else, but no luck. "Mr. Adams?"

"Yes, Ms. Burke?"

"I'm sorry about last night. If I had known before he had asked me to go to dinner that you were going to ask me to go on a date, I never would have said yes to him. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Ms. Burke."

"I was just really surprised when you asked me." I paused. "I was afraid that when Molly found out she would be upset, too, and I didn't want to do any damage to your relationship with your daughter." He scratched his head.

"Noone has ever mentioned Molly before like that." He grabbed his briefcase and opened the front door. "You care about her, don't you?"

"I do." I saw a slight smile come on his face and I smiled back at him. I still didn't know about the date he had asked me to go on, but for now I was going to leave it alone.

"Ms. Burke, how did the date go?"

"It went well, but we decided not to do it again."

"What? Why?"

"We just don't have much in common. It was hard to find things to talk about. We both agreed."

"Well, at least there's no hard feelings between you two." I nodded. "What about my father?" I walked to the fridge to start cooking breakfast. "Ms. Burke? Did my father say anything else to you? Did you tell him you'd go out with him?"

"I tried to speak to him last night when I got back, but he was upset so I left."

"Didn't you two talk this morning?"

"We did. I apologized for last night."

"What did my father have to say?"

"He really didn't say much."

"So you aren't going out with him?"

"He didn't ask me again, so I guess not."

"That's too bad. You have today and then only two more days here. It would be nice having you around longer." We smiled at each other.

"I would like that, too. Come here and I'll show you how to make some breakfast." Molly walked over to the oven. "Get a pan from under the counter. I got the hashbrowns and sausage links out for you."

"Now what do I do first?"

"Add a little oil to the pan." I told her when to stop adding the oil. "That's enough. Now, turn the eye of the stove on." I pointed to it, unsure if Molly even knew what I was talking about. "Take the hashbrowns and place them in the pan gently." I finished giving her instructions on how to finish cooking the hasbrowns and sausage links. When Molly was finished, she poured us each a glass of milk. She made our plates and we sat together at the counter.

"How does it look?"

"It looks great, Molly. You did a good job. I told you it wouldn't be hard."

"It really wasn't." We started eating. "Thank you for teaching me how to make breakfast this morning, Ms. Burke. Noone had ever taken the time to show me how to do anything. I really appreciate it." We finished eating, then went out on the porch to sit in the swing. Molly kept looking around and I could tell something wasn't right.

"Is everything okay, Molly?"

"Do you think I'm missing out on stuff?"

"What do you mean?" I had an idea but didn't want to assume.

"Do you think I'm missing out on normal teenager stuff? I mean, I don't have any friends...I guess you're really my only friend. With my father, I have to act all grown up, especially when I go with him to business dinners or when I have to go to his office or when he occasionally has someone over. I was just talking to you about going out with my father...typical teenagers don't do that."

"I see where you're coming from. I guess between your father and how he treats you, you are missing out on some typical teenage girl things. However, you have a good life and your father loves you."

"He sure has a way of showing it." Molly rolled her eyes.

"He does. He cares a lot about you. Your his daughter...his only child."

"I wish he had someone, though. Sometimes...I think that if he had someone who really cares about him and isn't concerned with how much money he has that he would be home more and spend less time working. That's all he does. He's never home. He never asks me to do anything with him, just the two of us. The only time I'm invited to go anywhere with him is when it's work related. Sometimes I just want to spend time with him."

"Have you told him this?" She shook her head.

"I could, but he wouldn't listen. That's just how he is."

"I'm sorry, Molly. You don't deserve this." Molly leaned her head over on my shoulder.