The Ocean Between Us

Chapter 16

Joanna

A phone call is here! A phone call is here!

"Ugh... who's calling me so early?" Joanna grumbled as she rolled over and grabbed her phone off her end table.

Her eyes widened. Dad? Why the heck is he calling me? And so early too. She answered the phone. "Hi Dad."

"Hi Joanna, how are you?"

"I'm doing alright. This is a surprise, I don't usually hear from you. How are you and mom? And Thomas?"

"They're doing just fine. Tom says hi, and is constantly asking me when you're coming back home." Brian Valentino scoffed. "I tried telling him to just be patient, but he won't listen. You know how he is."

Joanna smiled. "Yeah, he's very impatient."

Awkward silence.

"Listen Jojo, the reason I'm calling is because of what Tom said to me about you coming back. We all miss you a lot, and we want you to come home."

Joanna's eyes began to water slightly. "I miss you too, but I still have another year of school so.. We kind of just have to wait and see."

"Wait and see what? Do you have some kind of plan?" Brian asked.

"Well..." Joanna paused. I don't think I do. "Maybe."

She heard her dad sigh on the other end of the line. "Look, isn't there some way you can just come back here and finish your courses online or something? The family needs you here."

"Dad, that's not how it works-"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can do that," Brian cut her off. "I contacted your school and asked about it-"

Joanna rubbed her eyes and sighed, barely listening to her father droning on about what he thought was right for her yet again.

"Joey are you still there?"

"Yeah Dad I'm here. Listen, it's not that I don't want to come home, I do! I just.. have other things going on here and I'm not ready to come back yet."

"Things like what? Don't tell me you have a live-in boyfriend or something." Brian's voice became very serious. "You know how I feel about you living alone with some guy. I certainly don't want you prioritizing some man over-"

"Dad, stop." Joanna had enough. She took a deep breath and then steadily continued. "Every single time we talk on the phone this happens. You start by acting like you care about what I need and then it ends in you pushing your old fashioned views onto me. I can't stand it anymore."

"Young lady, do not talk down to me like that." Brian said sternly. "I DO know what's best for you, because I raised you."

"Dad, you're trying to uproot me from my life just because you want me to stay home with mom. That's not what's best for me!" Joanna claimed exasperatedly. "I want to have a life, to find love, to make friends! I can't do that while you have me trapped under your foot."

"That's not necessarily true Joanna. I want you to be happy, but we miss you and want you to be near us. I still don't understand why you had to go to pathetic Canada in order to get what you wanted."

Joanna stared at her phone in disbelief. "Dad if any country is pathetic, it's America. And you know it. I'm not coming back home. I can't even talk to you without arguing, so I'm just gonna go. Have a good day, Dad." Joanna didn't wait for a response as she hung up the phone. She slammed it onto her table and turned over in her bed, covering herself up right to her chin.