7 Lessons in 7 (Glorious) Days

Lesson #2: Don't tell your parents everything if you want to keep moping.

Two hours into the flight. I've spent at least half of it staring listlessly out the window, listening to a bunch of sappy songs that reminded me of Carter. I had told myself that I didn't care if he wanted to date other people. But the truth was, I did.

An elbow nudged me out of my reverie.

I pulled the headphones out of my ears and looked at my dad.

"Lisa, I've been talking to you. Why are you moping?" He peered at me over his reading glasses.

"I'm not moping."

He fixed me with a pointed look and glanced out the window. "You've been staring at cloud cover for the last forty-five minutes. It's not that interesting, even to a meteorologist."

I sighed and leaned my head against the window.

"You know you can tell me anything, Pumpkin."

I didn't know how wise it was to tell my father about boy troubles.

A moment later I stole a glance at him. He was watching me with those earnest grey eyes, waiting for me to open up.

"Geez, Dad, twist my arm why don't you?"

He raised his bushy eyebrows.

"Fine. Fine. I got dumped."

His eyebrows dropped into a frown. "Who dumped you?"

"This guy I've been seeing."

"You've been seeing someone? What guy?" Dad's raised voice caused Mom to stir in her sleep. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "What guy?"

"He's this hunky football player that all the girls swoon over. And he asked me out of all people. We've been dating for a few weeks. Well, we were. Now we're not."

"A few weeks?" He glanced at Mom and lowered his voice again. "And I'm just now hearing about it?"

I looked away and shrugged. "I didn't want to jinx it by talking about it. Plus... I know how you get."

"What do you mean? I'm allowed to protect my little girl."

"Like that. You get like that."

He pressed his lips together and was silent for a moment. "Okay." He inhaled a slow breath and removed his glasses. "I'm just listening now. So, you were dating this high school stud, and now you're not."

"Right."

"And now he doesn't want to see you anymore?" He sounded incredulous.

"I don't know. He didn't say that."

"What did he say?"

"He wanted to go out with Tiffany." My jaw clenched just thinking about it.

"And who's Tiffany?" He had a look of concentration like he was assembling a model airplane.

"Who cares?"

"Right. Okay. Some skank then."

I snorted with laughter despite my mood. Hearing my dad say skank was unexpected. I wondered where he picked it up from. "Right."

He smiled a little, then it disappeared. "So he wants to date both you and her?"

I lifted a shoulder. "I guess."

"What, are you not good enough for him? He has no idea how lucky—"

"Dad..."

He closed his mouth and took a deep breath. "Well, this is spring break. We are going to enjoy our vacation, and you are not going to think about—what's this boy's name?"

"Carter."

"You are not going to think about Carter. Or this Tiffany person either."

"Thanks, Dad." I smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'm going to take a nap now."

He went back to reading, and I leaned against the window and closed my eyes.

But I did not sleep. I only pretended to nap so we would stop talking about this. I missed Carter. I missed his easy smile and willingness to laugh at my jokes. I missed his handsome, tanned face—and yes—I missed the envious looks we got when we hung out together. I was somebody interesting when I was with him. Special. Because he picked me.

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