The Hidden - Jessica Verday [58]
He said good-bye, and I hung up the phone, feeling angry and frustrated. All my feelings of happiness were completely gone. Settling myself in next to Caspian, I propped my chin in my hand, wondering how long it would take for him to wake up this time.
I had a hard time sleeping that night, feeling like Caspian was so far away from me, and I kept waking up. Around two a.m., I decided to grab something from the fridge. A snack might keep me distracted, at least for a little while.
A light was still on in the living room when I passed by, and I peeked in. The TV was turned down low, an old Western movie playing, and Dad was snoring away in the recliner. I shook my head and crept back out to the kitchen.
I found a turkey and cheese hoagie in the fridge and pulled it out, checking the expiration date. It was still fresh. I cut it in half and then wrapped up the remainder to put back. After stacking a couple of pickles onto the plate next to it, I carried my prize into the living room.
I found the remote by Dad’s hand and flipped though the channels, pausing every now and then to take a bite of my sandwich. Halloween III was on, so I left it and settled in. Dad’s snoring grew louder and louder, until finally I reached over and shook him.
“Dad. Dad, wake up.”
He rolled over. “I’m awake.” And then he sat up. “I’m awake. What time is it?”
“Almost two thirty.”
“What are you still doing up?”
“Couldn’t sleep. Got a snack.” I held up the plate.
He glanced over. “Is that a pickle?”
I held one out to him, and he took it. We both sat there for a couple of minutes, crunching loudly on the cold vegetables. When I was done, I placed my plate on the coffee table and stretched out on the couch. The room was bathed in the blue glow of the flickering television screen.
“I heard that you and Mom went downtown,” Dad said. “To see the shop?”
I hit the remote and turned down the volume a bit more. “Yeah, she took me right after school. It was great.”
“So, what do you think about it?” he asked.
“What do I think? I love it. The chance to have my own shop? It’s my dream.”
Dad looked pleased. “I knew you’d like it.”
“Are you still planning to help me out with the business plan?” I cast him a sideways glance. I’d taken much longer than intended to actually finish the damn thing.
“Are you done with the first draft yet?”
“Yup.”
“Show it to me, then, and I’ll take a look at it. We can probably work something out.”
I grinned at him. “Talk about a great graduation gift.”
He reached over and put a hand on my arm. “Your mother and I are very proud of you, Abbey. It takes a lot of effort to have your future mapped out at such a young age, and we want to do everything we can to support that. We believe in you, and we know you’ll do great things.”
His words hit something inside of me that triggered a bittersweet ache. I wanted them to be proud of me. “I can’t promise that everything will work out,” I said. “But I can promise that I’ll do my best. And I’ll work my hardest. It means a lot to me that you guys are so supportive of this. Especially since I know you wanted me to do something different.”
Now Dad looked a little teary. “I can’t tell you the thoughts that ran through my mind when we found out that someone had broken into the house and …” He trailed off and cleared his throat gruffly. “Well, I just never want to see that again. It really brought home a lot of things and made me start thinking about the future. Your future.”
Now his words triggered something different inside of me. Regret.
All this talk of the future and the excitement of seeing the shop today as such a real, tangible thing had made me totally forget about my actual future.
The one I didn’t have.
Chapter Fifteen
MORE THAN FEAR
The common people regarded it with a mixture of respect and superstition …
—“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
Caspian still hadn’t woken up by the time I had to go to school the next morning, and I hated leaving him behind. I made a quick call to Sophie, and she assured me that she’d stop over to chat with Mom and keep an eye