Love Will Keep Us - Book 5

I Don't Miss Her

"Man, this smells good, kid! And dessert too!" Mike says as he had just gotten home to find his daughter cooking and baking a dessert. 

Since she had moved in almost three weeks ago she had really made it a nice home for them despite the fact that she was barely sixteen. Callie cooked often, baked, cleaned and still was able to do her school work. Mike never told her to do any of this, but it was almost like she couldn't help it or sit still as she was so used to a busy household by now.

"Thanks, Dad. Figured you would be tired so I just threw this together." Callie says as Mike grabs a beer from the fridge and heads over to see what the girl is cooking.

"Yeah? You threw it together? I don't know, Cal, you're a master in the kitchen. Awesome cook and baker. I don't miss those TV dinners, that's all I gotta say." He laughs as he sips his beer and leans against the counter.

"Dad, those are super bad for you and loaded with salt. This is chicken cacciatore, and I can assure you that I didn't add but a bit of salt but lots of flavor!" Callie smiles as she looks at her father.

"Ahh yeah, I know. But I'm telling you, you keep cooking like this and baking, I'll be in trouble. And how do you know how to cook chicken catch-a-what?" He laughs as he now chugs his beer, and Callie chops more garlic.

"Chicken cacciatore!" She giggles. "Mocha taught me. We like cooking together sometimes..." she trails off as Mike sighs and sets down his empty bottle.

"Your Mom said hi." 

Callie can only roll her eyes as she stirs the garlic in the skillet on the stove as the sauce begins to bubble. "Yeah, I doubt she said hi."

"She did. She asks about you everyday, Cal." Mike folds his arms across his chest as he watches his daughter taste the sauce then look right at him.

"Do you want garlic bread, Dad?" The girl asks as Mike unfolds his arms and shoves his hands in his pocket.

"Cals, I know the last few times you and your mom met it didn't go over too well."

"Is that what she told you?" Callie laughs awkwardly as she pulls a loaf of Italian bread from the bread drawer.

"No. I just know how you are, and I know how she is. You both are very much alike, believe it or not," Mike laughs as he pulls out a chair and sits hoping to get through to his little girl. He hated seeing them at odds like this as something like this has never happened before now. It's almost as if it's the universe's way of setting things straight seeing as most teen girls usually butt heads with their moms at one time or another.

"Yeah, no. Definitely not. I actually listen, something Mom is NOT good at. Period." Throwing the pasta in the boiling water, she stirs it feeling rather annoyed.

"Cals, I know you don't want to hear this. But you and your Mom are going to fix this. Two stubborn bulls."

"I'm not like her, Dad. That's insulting!" Callie looks at the man, anger written all over her face. "I'm nothing like her, and I don't want to be! I want to listen to my kids! I want them to feel heard!"

"Come, sit. Now. Come, we need to talk." He says as the girl lets out a heavy sigh and the two sit at the same decorated kitchen table. "Callie, that's not insulting. I met your mom when she was sixteen when she barely said two words to me because she was so shy and unsure of herself. You know why she was unsure of herself?"

"No." The girl whispers but is rather curious.

"Because, she was told who she was, wasn't right. So she had no voice and couldn't be who she was. I don't talk about the issues your mom and I had, Cals. I don't. But I'll tell you one thing.  Your Mom left me so she could be who she is. And that was not easy at all because she knew how hard it was going to be when she came out. I wasn't nice to her at all. I was pretty awful to her for years. I laughed at her when she became a cop. Told her she was too weak to last, and you know what? She's a better and tougher cop then I am."

"Why did you say those things to her, Dad?" Callie asks rather confused as Mike grabs her hand.

"I was an ass, Cal, and she deserved better than me. Even if times were different then, I didn't always treat her right. I should have seen it, but I wasn't looking. Look, I know you're pissed at her, but the things you did aren't excusable at all, and I agree with her one hundred percent. You don't go and get drunk, you don't sneak around with a boy we've never met, and you don't talk back to the adults in your life. You don't live here with me to just escape her because let me tell you, Cal, she's a good mom and works hard for you and those kids." 

"Dad she's impossible, you don't get it! It seems like you used to, but she's gotten worse since we moved here! I...we can't breathe in that house! And...and she makes it hard to be human and make mistakes! You'd think if she felt like you say she did, that she'd ease up on me or something! Like, I... just don't get it!" Callie shakes her head as angry tears roll down her face, and Mike sighs again.

"Look, Cal. You're a teenager, okay? I get that, and you're not always going to agree with you mom or your dad. Hell, I know right now I'm making you angry, but you can't hide here forever. That woman loves you, and believe it or not, she is constantly hard on herself too. It's just not you, kids."

"She's hard on herself? How?" Callie jumps up to lower the temperature on the boiling water before returning to her seat as Mike's face softens.

"When that fire happened at the bakery? She blamed herself."

"But she...she wasn't there, Dad. C'mon!" Callie laughs as she looks into his eyes and taking a seat back at the table. "You can't tell me she possibly could have thought it was HER fault."

"Not like you're thinking, Cal. She blamed herself that she wasn't there to help save it and save you, kids, from being hurt. She was so hard on herself. Anytime something happens, she immediately questions whether or not she's a good enough mother. I'm telling you this so you can see her side of it. You're old enough to understand that, Callie," Mike leans forward as the teen digs in even deeper, not wanting to admit to the man that what he was saying was really getting to her. Big time.

"Okay." Callie leans forward and kisses her father's cheek before standing to finish the dinner, but she digs in even more as she whispers to herself through her tears, "But I don't miss her..."