"Please . . . don't cry. You had to have known I'd do this at some point."
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Parker Sims is the class clown but that doesn't mean he's easy to fool. And that's just what Nola B. is good at - fooling people. She's got the whole school believing th...
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Chapter Forty-Six:
"Welcome home," deep warm, familiar voice spoke as soon as Nola entered her house.
Glancing in the living room, Nola saw it was her father who spoke. She acknowledged his greeting with a simple "hey" as she closed the front door behind herself.
Nola hesitated to scurry off to her room because she felt as if her father wanted to say something important to her. She considered giving him time to say something, if he didn't she would make her quick exit.
Seth, Nola's father, turned down the news channel he was watching and gave his daughter a small smile. "I thought you and I could chat for a minute." When Nola made no move towards the living room area, he chooses not to comment because he was just glad she didn't run off on him. "Your mother told me that she offered for the two of you to make dinner last night and you turned her down." He was quick to follow up with what he had said, "Now, I'm not mad or upset ... I just want things between your mother and you to simmer down a bit. The tension has been high between the two of you for awhile now. I know that has to do with her absence in your life. But, Nola, you have to understand that there are things that you just don't understand - Things that explain your mother's absence and distance from you."
Nola said nothing but Seth could see the curiosity swimming in his daughter's green eyes. She wanted to know what was their excuse for being gone all the time, especially more in recent years than in her childhood. Her father's words had clearly peaked an interest inside of her to hear their explanation.
Sighing, Seth ran a hand through his thinning brown hair. He wished he could tell his daughter everything right then and there. He hated letting things linger, unanswered. "I want to tell you everything but your mother would have to be here to explain a majority of it. It's mostly her story after all." Seth paused for a moment as he sought right way to suggest an idea that was on his mind, without making Nola push him away like she did her mother the other night. "Go out to dinner with us tomorrow and we will explain everything. And, I promise if you're still angry at your mother after dinner, she and I will take the next flight out back to Peru."
Nola's eyebrows furrowed in shock, she wanted to ask her father if he was really serious - that he and her mother would pack up and leave if she was still angry with them after dinner tomorrow.
Very soon after Nola thought to question her father, she bit down her tongue to stop herself. When the pain spread over her tongue, she could hear Mitch's voice in her head telling women don't question men.
The pain dulled rather quickly and Nola began to feel frightened by what she had just done to herself.
"Are you okay, Nola?" Seth asked when his daughter remained silent for a good minute.
