Chapter 6
When we got home, Dad didn’t unlock the car right away.
Instead, he spoke again. “Did you even listen to what I said?”
“You and Layla both have senior year coming up. Focus on your studies.”
“Don’t come back here and turn the house upside down.”
That’s when I realized.
He hadn’t sent Mom and Layla ahead on the train because he felt sorry for me.
It wasn’t because he understood my attachment to those old things, or respected my decision.
He just wanted a chance to lecture me.
He was scared I’d disrupt their family peace.
Scared I’d hurt his precious little daughter.
So he had to set me straight before we got home.
And I’d actually thought he might want to apologize for making me deaf ten years ago.
I thought he just couldn’t lose face in front of his wife and daughter, so he wanted to talk to me alone.
Turns out, he just didn’t want them to see how he really acted around me.
He carefully maintained his image as a good husband and father in front of his wife and younger daughter.
But he assumed the worst about me, lecturing me for crimes I hadn’t even committed.
He wasn’t afraid of hurting me.
He wasn’t afraid I’d pull away from him–because he’d never wanted to be close to me anyway.
What a joke of a father–daughter relationship between us.
One cold as ice, the other pathetically delusional.
22:25
