The Education of Hailey Kendrick - Eileen Cook [65]
“Take care of yourself, pumpkin. You know I love you.”
“Dad, wait.” I hated these conversations on the phone.
“Sleep tight.” He clicked the phone off.
My dad hung up on me. He hung up on me. Maybe he thought because he said he loved me before he did it that it wouldn’t count, but a hang up is a hang up. I might only be seventeen, but I know a hang up when it happens.
I picked up the phone to call him back. My finger hovered over the button. What if he didn’t pick up? He would glance at the call display this time. He would know who was on the line. I chewed on my thumbnail. It would almost be worse if he did pick up and did the platitudes thing where he told me how everything was fine without actually listening to a word I said and then told me to call someone else.
I bet he was on the phone talking to Linda already, telling her how hard it was for him to deal with a difficult teenage daughter. Maybe London Linda was offering to come over and rub all that tension out of his back. She’d giggle and tell him how she was a real handful when she was my age. He’d pull her into his lap and say she was still a handful.
Gag.
I paced back and forth in my room. I’d taken psychology class. I knew that my dad had a hard time dealing with me because I reminded him of my mom. Heck, what was it Drew had said? We all had our issues. He was still my dad. Just because it was hard didn’t give him an excuse to bail out. My mom had died, but my dad was just as absent from my life. I might as well have been an orphan.
I couldn’t believe he had chosen going to London with his new girlfriend over spending the summer with me. After he’d promised! Of course, for all I knew, Linda wasn’t a new girlfriend. He could have been dating her since I started at Evesham. I couldn’t decide what was worse, that he had a girlfriend he’d kept secret for years or that he was chucking our plans over someone he’d met only a few months ago. I pictured him and Linda walking through the London streets. Maybe she liked antiques like my mom.
My vision narrowed to a small dot. He didn’t want to hear what I had to say, but if I was in his face, he wouldn’t be able to hang up. He’d have to listen to me then. It might not change what was going to happen. Most likely he’d still go to London, and if I was honest, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to spend the summer with him anymore. What I did know for sure is that I wasn’t going to sit back and wait for the chance to tell him how I felt.
I flipped open my laptop.
I was going to Chicago.
27
I was awake before my alarm even went off at five forty-five. I’d stayed up late last night getting everything together, but I was still humming with adrenaline, so I didn’t even feel tired. I wanted to be ready to go as soon as the clock rolled over to six. My credit card had just enough left on the limit to cover the ticket and cab fair to my dad’s place. I’d packed a small duffel bag to take with me. I wouldn’t need much. I wasn’t planning to stay for long.
I’d struggled with what to do about everyone at school. When I didn’t show up in class, someone would come looking for me. I didn’t want them to think I’d gone missing and there was some mystery to be solved. There was nothing that CNN and the tabloids loved more than a missing white girl. I’d have Nancy Grace all over my butt before the day was out. I needed to leave a note so people would know I was okay, but not give them any information so they could find me. It took me a while to come up with the perfect wording. The note was pinned to my bed so it would be found when they came to look for me.
Once I was over the fence, I’d call Drew and see if he would pick me up and drive me to the airport. There was the chance he wouldn’t talk to me after what had happened, but I was counting on him sticking with playing it cool. If he wouldn’t come, I’d have to walk. I didn’t want to do that, but I would if I had to. There was only one hitch in the plan. I needed my passport.
Airline security required photo identification. I’d searched everywhere