Untouchable

Chapter 13: Curveball

Chapter Thirteen: Curveball 

“Happy Birthday!” Dad crowed as he pushed my door open with his shoulder.  His arms were busy holding a box with a big blue bow on it.

I pushed myself up in my bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Glancing at my clock, I noticed it was nine o’clock, and yes, indeed it was by birthday.  Yay. 

“Happy Birthday, Catey!  The big one-eight.  You are officially an adult now. Makes me feel ancient.”  I laughed as he set the box down on my legs, and stood back with a smug grin on his face.

“Come on, Dad.  You’re not that old.” I smiled up at him. “You know you didn’t have to get me anything.  Living here is enough of a present.”

He blushed and shrugged. “Don’t you want to see what it is?”

I grabbed the box, and lightly shook it.  Squinting my eyes, I looked up at him. “Is it a pony?!?”

Laughing, I opened the lid of the brown box.  Inside was a silver laptop computer.  “Oh my gosh, Dad! This is awesome!” I lifted the computer out of the box. “You shouldn’t have! This must have cost a fortune!”

“Naw.  I got it used, and had a buddy clean it up for me and made it run fast.  It should work a lot better than your old one.” He bashfully pulled off his ball cap, and rubbed his head, before putting it back on.

I beamed up at him.  “Thanks, Dad. It’s really great.”

“Oh, wait one more thing.”

“Dad.”

“It’s not from me.  Your mother sent something in the mail.”

I watched as he hurried out of the room. He quickly reentered with another brown box, much smaller this time, with FedEx stickers all over it.  My mom went over board a bit.

I tore off the tape, and opened to find a digital camera with a note.

Caterina, 

I’m sorry I’m not with you today on your birthday.  I’m trying to understand why you left, even if I don’t agree with your choices. You are always welcome back home.  Here is a little something to help catalog the months.  I wish you were older, but I know you’ll wish you had taken pictures later on.  I love you.  Happy Birthday.

Your Mother

We agreed to disagree. 

My dad sat down in my desk chair. “So what’d you get Catey?”

I showed him the digital camera.

“That’s great honey.  What’d your mom say?”

“You know, happy birthday.  She misses me.  The usual.”

He looked a little lost in thought for a moment, staring at his hands, before settling his eyes on me.  “So, what’s the plan for today? Party? Cake? Ali and crowd?”

I shook my head. “Nope, just me and you. Is that okay?”

He smiled—beamed.  “Of course that is okay. What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.  You decide. You know the area better than me.”

Giving Dad the control was a good idea.  We had a great day.  He roped me into playing putt-putt with him, and he didn’t even let me win.  We drove around town, as he regaled me with stories about the area.  If he wasn’t a cop, I was pretty sure that he’d sign up to be a tour guide.  He went past all the huge houses telling me who lived there, how much it was worth, and what kind of domestic disputes had been called in.