1 full year had passed since I last saw my dad. Actually 1 full year had passed since I last talked to my dad. All this time he never even called to check on me to how I was, to explain what he did and why he did it. I had heard it from my mom but I had to hear it from him. I needed to hear his side of this whole big and confusing story. Because in the end of the day I was the victim in the middle of all this. I was the one who got hurt the most and I was the one who got to be the most strong. But I wasn’t mad at him. My conversation with my mom was still on my head after all this time. “He loves you more than anything in the world. You’re his little girl, his pride. You’re the reason of his big and beautiful smile. Never ever doubt that. Never let yourself think otherwise.” I remember her saying. I never forgot these words. Every time I had the slightest doubt I remembered this and everything got better. Nowadays it was what gave me strength to keep strong and to keep believing that one day he would come back. For me at least, I hoped. My mom was actually doing much better. She was starting to act more like herself and looking like herself. All those years she had gained when my dad left, they seemed to have gone away. My mom was back and I could go back to being a normal kid again. We had moved to another apartment, a smaller apartment. The other we lived in just seemed too big for the 2 of us and had too many memories that kept us from moving on. I really think that was the moment when everything got better. I actually think she started dating again but we never really talked about it. I guess I was just too young.
One they I had a surprise. The phone rang and a guy talked.
“Hello? Who is this?” I asked.
“This is John Aniston. May I talk with Nancy Dow?”
“Dad? Daddy is that you?” I was excited and emotional at the same time. I hadn’t talked to him in so long. I had so much to tell him but all I wanted was to hear his voice. Gosh I missed that beautiful deep voice.
“OMG Jennifer, Jen!!! OMG how are you? It’s dad!!!!” we talked for about one hour until he made me a proposal. “Honey, I’m coming to New York next Saturday. Let’s go see The Fantasticks.”
I screamed in excitement. Of course I wanted to hang out with my dad, I missed him so damn much! My mom heard the screaming and came to see what was happening. I had to give her the phone and let her talk to my dad to arrange everything. She obviously let me go with him, after all that happened she just couldn’t forgive me of seeing my father.
That week didn’t go by fast enough. I was excited the whole week. Nothing could put me down, no matter how hard someone tried it just wasn’t possible. I was the happiest person alive on the planet and I was just loving it. My mom seemed to be happy for me too or for seeing my dad, I don’t know. Or at least my excitement seemed to have contaged her, she spent all days smiling from ear to ear, which made me even happier. No matter what, all I wanted was to make and see my mom happy.
Finally the day came. My dad came to pick me up from my home, greeted mom and we went to dinner to a nice restaurant, something that I hadn’t done since he left. We talked a lot about everything, but mostly about me. I guess it would be still weird to talk about his new woman since he still hadn’t told me the reason of why he left. I didn’t mind though, I was just so happy to have my dad back, to be there with him, I didn’t care about anything else at all. We also talked about my brother. He called from times to times, and he was doing just fine, according to my dad. We ate a great stake and then for desert we ate a chocolate mousse. After dinner we went to see The Fantasticks. It was a wonderful show and we had so much fun. I’ve always loved musicals and I was so glad he still hadn’t forgotten that.
After the show my dad took me home but I guess I fell asleep in the car because I remember waking up already in my bed. I was devastated when I realized where I was. It had happened once again. My dad had left without saying goodbye. However, when I woke up my mom had a surprise for me: my dad would start coming every weekend to New York just to be with me!!
