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‘Nice’ may be a bit overkill for a place with sticky floors and smells like decades of sealed-in fried food, but it’s not like he’d ever step foot in a place like the Badger’s Den so a little embellishment won’t hurt.

“Shel, I’ve tried to be understanding about your need for reflection. You’re not the first young person who felt the pressures of adulthood too soon. The need to take a journey, spread your wings, and consider your future is ingrained and there are many passages in the bible to support that. I have prayed for your mother to have patience, and I have prayed that you would see reason.”

“Daddy–”

“I need you to listen and not speak.” His tone is sharp. Stern. I’ve rarely been on the other side of it, but I’ve heard him speak this way to my brother more times than I can count. “I can appreciate that this moved faster than you were ready, but as your father, it is my role to protect you and make sure that you are positioned for a good life. That doesn’t just include theman you bind yourself to for eternity, but it includes the smaller things. Where you live. How you live–”

“Are you going to pick out the wallpaper the way you picked out my ring?” I can’t take it anymore. “I’ve given you everything since I was a child, Daddy, but not everything–every decision–belongs to you.”

He sighs. “The home was a gift. A surprise. I’m sorry you can’t see that. The ring? I thought you would like it. David is a good man, but admittedly, not the most creative. He comes from a good family, will be a responsible, safe, respectable, god-fearing husband to you and a worthy addition to Kingdom. Rejecting him is like rejecting me.”

His words cut. Years of belief and loyalty war against the new found freedom of the past few weeks. “Is that how you really see it?”

“Of course.” His tone softens. “And it’s how I raised you to see it too. I’m not trying to control you, Shelby. I’m trying to protect and guide you, like I always have. Your mother? She just wants to make all of this as special as she can. It’s important to her. Come home and work things out with both her and David. He loves you and has been patient, but a man can only take so much defiance.”

His tone may be soft but his words land hard, like a punch. Tears build in my eyes and I brush them back, hating that it’s so easy to get this reaction out of me. Why do I care what he and my mother and David think about me? Why is the temptation to go back to the familiar so strong?

“We’ll see you this weekend,” he says, then ends the call.

As uneasy as I feel from the call, one thing is certain. That wasn’t a request. It was an order.

It’sa long shift after the phone call with my dad, but at least the bar is busy. Wittmore isn’t playing but they are showing another game, and that brings in the locals wanting a place to hang out and watch. The constant stream of orders, delivering food and drinks, and the sound of the game give me plenty of time to consider all the things my father said.

And just how pissed it makes me.

“Two bottles of Honey Dew,” I tell Mike as I pass the bar, and then to the kitchen I toss out, “and a basket of cheesy fries. Extra cheese.”

“You’re a ray of sunshine tonight,” Mike says, filling up one glass and then the other.

“I haven’t seen a piece of the sun in two weeks,” I reply, leaning against the counter. I’ve grown to love Wittmore, but this weather sucks.

“She’s just sad that she’s leaving us in a few days.” Josie swoops around the bar, tossing empty bottles into the recycling. “No wait. That’s me.”

I give my friend a sad smile. That’s how I feel about everything. Sad and a little angry.

Leaving Texas was big. Refusing to come home when my mother told me to, was bigger. But speaking to my father and defying him directly? That’s huge.

And it doesn’t sit right with me.

None of this does.

“I’m going to miss you, girl,” she says, wrapping her arms around me. “And if you ever want to come back, just tell me, and I’ll make Mike give you a job.”

Mike rolls his eyes at Josie’s confidence but he doesn’t disagree. He just pushes the beer toward me and I carry them out to the customers.

When the game is over, Mike cuts me loose, and I grab my stuff from the back. Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I call out, “Night everyone,” and head to the door where I’m surprised to see Axel waiting.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, taking him in.

“Why do you think something’s wrong?”

“Because your jaw is so tight that there’s a big knot at the back and that tells me you’re freaking out but trying to stay calm,” I push past him, out into the cold night. So. Freaking. Cold. “So what is it?”

“Can’t a guy come walk his sister home from work?”

“Yes, but I know that’s not why you’re here.” After the call with my Dad, I’m expecting the worst. “Spill.”

“I heard something today.”