Paternal and Proud [LAMS Short Story]

IV - Solitary and Stubborn

The car ride home was tense.

"Fran, it's okay. I'm not upset that you punched him, that part was an accident. But I do think--"

"Dad, I don't want to talk about it." Frances looked straight ahead definitively. Her arms were crossed over her chest. Her tears were long gone, and she glared into the horizon as they drove home.

John bit his lip, turning the corner into their driveway. "France, you can tell me anything, okay? Even if it doesn't make sense to you or if you know it won't make sense to me. You can tell me whatever you need to. And if you need me to tell you something, I'll tell you anything too. We're a team, remember?"

"Da-ad..." Frances sighed.

John parked, holding out his fist for Frances. She turned to him, knowing deep inside that what he said was all out of love for her. As their custom, she knocked the bottom of her fist to the top of his, while asking, "Do you promise?"

He repeated the gesture to her hand, smiling. "Of course, honey, I'd never lie to you. I promise."

--

Over the next couple of days, Frances just felt worse about herself. About her feelings, her friends, her family... (and a couple of other things that didn't start with 'f')

Her life in general had begun to hurt. She dreaded going to school. Seeing Theodosia in the hallways just got more and more painful. She seemed as happy as always, surrounded by friends and getting closer than ever with Philip, whom Frances hadn't spoken to since she punched.

She did, however, catch him glancing her way on multiple occasions. He would give her a reassuring, inviting smile.

She never smiled back.

--

Not only was her social life falling apart, but her father was not always home when she came home. He would run errands around once a week, and usually on Wednesdays, but only for groceries. Frances began to notice that he came home late more than once a week, and most of those days he wasn't carrying bags of produce. So where was he going?

It only tore Frances' heart more, knowing that he was going out somewhere and deliberately not telling her. Slowly, everyone in her life was leaving her.