Never feel alone

Chapter 33

Callie

I checked my phone again. Our father was now twenty-five minutes late.

"He could've gotten stuck in traffic," Lena said calmly, glancing over at me. "I'm sure he'll be here any minute."

The phone rang. "I'll get it," Stef said, hurrying into the kitchen.

Lena pushed a plate of homemade cookies toward Sophia. "Have a snack, honey. Just in case we have to wait a little longer."

Sophia shook her head. "No thanks. I'm not hungry." She turned to me. "Does my hair still look good?"

"Yeah," I nodded, managing a smile, even though my doubts about my father's visit were growing. "It looks great, Soph."

I hear Stef hang up the phone, and she came back into the living room. Her face was drawn, and she didn't even have to speak for me to know that something was wrong. She cleared her throat, then came over to us. "Callie, Sophia," she said, hesitantly. "That was Bill on the phone."

He's not coming, is he?" Sophia asked. Her voice was squeaky, the way it always was when she was going to cry.

Stef sighed deeply, and I could see the pain in her eyes as she struggled to face my little sister, her daughter. "I'm so sorry, lovey," she said. "I don't know what to tell you. He can't make it today."

A lump rose in my throat. I forced myself to swallow, and reached for Sophia's hand, but she pulled it away. "You don't have to say 'I told you so,'" she said. Her face crumpled, and she burst into tears. She hopped up and raced toward the stairs.

"Sophia!" I called after her. "Wait!" I started to stand up, but Stef sat down beside me and put her arm around my shoulder.

"Let her go, honey," she she said softly. "She's hurting righting now."

"I wasn't going to say 'I told you so,'" I said. "I would never say that to her."

"I know, baby," Stef said, soothingly. "I know. And I think Sophia knows that too. Sometimes, when you're angry, you take it out on the people you love most." She pulled me close to her chest and kissed the side of my head. "And how are you, love? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said. "I don't care if I ever see him again. I'm just worried about Sophia." I slipped out from Stef's arm. "I have to go talk to her." Before my moms could protest, I hurried to our room.

"Soph?" I said, opening the door. "It's me, baby."

Sophia was sitting by the window, crying. She'd taken her cute french braids down, and her hair hung in tangled strings, stiff from the hair gel. My heart hurt as I quietly went to sit down beside her; seeing her cry always made me want to cry. "Soph?"

"Go away," she said. "I don't want to talk to you!"

Hey," I said softly. "Don't be like that." I place my hand on her back, and she pulled away again. Tear stung my eyes. "Sophia, why are you mad at me?"

She sniffled, still refusing to look at me. "Because you were right, okay!"

I leaned down and rested my cheek against her shoulder. "I didn't want to be right," I whispered. "I wanted this day for you, Sophie Bug. I really did."

"Then why did you keep telling me not to get my hopes up?" she asked. Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.

"I was just trying to protect you," I told her. "He let me down a lot when I was little. I was afraid he'd hurt you." I sighed, listening to her breath." "And, maybe, I didn't want myself to get hurt either."

Finally, after a long pause, she turned to glance at me. "Really?"

Nodding, I picked up a discarded hair tie and pulled her matted hair into a messy ponytail, so it would be out of her face.