Waiting hast to be the worst torture ever.
Five hours.
Five hours of waiting. It's excruciating, really.
"Lesley." My mom shakes my arm gently. "I think your dads done."
Finally.
I lift my head from my hand and stand from the chair.
"Let's go." I tell my mom. I begin to walk towards the hallway, but my mother stays seated.
"You go on. I'll be there in a bit." She smiles.
I nod and turn to Chester before telling him I'll be back. It's probably a good thing I get time to talk to my dad, I need to thank him. This really means more to me than he knows. He saved my best friend... That's a lot.
After being told the room number, I head down the hall. He's been awake for about a hour, but the nurse told us it'd be better to wait a little before we see him, seeing as he might still be a little groggy. I thought seeing him all confused after anesthesia would be quite funny, but my mom thought differently.
When I arrive at the door, I knock quietly before entering the room. My dad is laying still on the hospital bed, and his face brightens when he sees me.
"Lesley." He greets.
"Hi." I wave, awkwardly standing in the middle of the room.
"You can sit down." He gestures to the chair beside the hospital bed.
I nod and move to the chair. I came in hear confident in what I would say but now, I have no clue how to start.
"Um... Are you in any pain at all?" I ask dumbly.
"Oh no." He assures, ruffling his blonde hair. "No pain at all."
"Good...."
He nods and I continue to stare at my hands. Why is this so awkward?
"Listen dad, I really want to thank you for doing this. It means a lot."
"Don't worry about it Les, you're my daughter, and I love you very much. I would do anything for you, I would." He assures me.
I can tell he's just as uncomfortable as I am, but I can also tell he wants to make sure I know this, no matter how awkward it is to have these serious conversations. I take a deep breath and put all the effort I can into remembering that I need to forgive him.
"I love you too, dad." I finally respond.
His face lifts and a bright smile smears across his face. He immediately pulls me into a tight hug. I'm of course hesitant, but I eventually rap my arms around his shoulders and hug him back.
"Thank you so much, Lesley." He says once I pull away from his embrace, his eyes glossy with relived tears.
"Let's just start over, yeah?" I chuckle. "Forget the past few years and start over."
"You don't know how much I would love that." He smiles.
I smile too. I'm so ready to be happy again. To let this grudge against my father go and live right again. I've wasted so much time being angry at my dad, and it feels almost liberating to finally let go. He's a different person than he was three years ago, I know that now.
