Page 53 of The Other Side of Paradise (Story of Paradise #2)

Stella

I pressed up against the wall outside the room, the phone up to my ear, as Dad’s voice crackled through.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

“Dad, what the hell? You’re supposed to be on the plane.”

“It got delayed. I’m getting some coffee.”

“Jesus Christ, Dad, what’s with all the coffee on this trip? You’re going to give yourself a heart attack.”

He was quiet for a second—I heard the airport terminal busy in the background, moving past him, before he said, “Are you staying with Allison?”

“Huh? Oh, um… no.” I fidgeted with the phone, suddenly feeling small and awkward. “No, Ryan and I booked a room at the airport hotel.”

He sighed, and I heard the creak of a seat from his end. Didn’t sound like he’d even gotten coffee. I guess you could use coffee as a pretext to talk to somebody without coffee even being involved. “Are you going to be all right?”

“Yeah. We’re both adults. I at least am going to be a lot better off getting a flight back than I would be with… with… dealing with all of that.”

His voice was awkward, strained in a way that made it clear he was overthinking every word. “Are you… coming back soon, or are you spending more time there?”

“Well, I…” I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of just extending my stay.

I had a feeling Dad wouldn’t be too thrilled about me using the company card to book a hotel to avoid the family, and I had enough on my own account for a flight but not really to just hang around on the island forever.

But then… “I’m—I was planning on coming right back.

I mean, Ryan and I are going to fly together.

I just… we didn’t want to be on that flight. ”

He sighed. “Look, Stella, I owe you an apology,” he said, with a kind of exhaustion in his voice like he’d been struggling to say it.

“You… you know, you worked hard to get that internship, by your own merit. I’d always wanted you to grow up dedicated to working hard and going after what you want.

I shouldn’t have… you know, gotten in the way of that. ”

Oh, god, he sounded like he was trying not to cry. I was trying not to cry. I pushed off from the wall, not even thinking about it, just walking to the stairs and focusing on one step after the other while I spoke quietly. “I, um… thank you. I appreciate that.”

“I’ve thought a lot about what you said.

You don’t realize how much being a parent is going to humble you until your own kid puts you in your place,” he said with an awkward, wry laugh, as I got down to ground floor and stepped out through the back door into the courtyard, watching as the night deepened in a beautiful amethyst-purple sky.

I sank into one of the benches under thick palm leaves as he continued, “Truth is… well, we don’t let it show very often, but your mother and I have been in a difficult patch lately. ”

I kicked at the ground. “If you get divorced right now, I think Grandma’s head will explode.”

“We’re not getting divorced,” he said quickly. “We want to make it work. Your mother and I still care about each other, and we want to get past it.”

“That’s what this trip was, then? Mom put it together because she thought it would save the family, and then we blew it up anyway?”

“She felt like she’d been losing Ryan since she quit her job—”

“She didn’t quit her job, Dad, she changed her job. To a great new career.”

“Right. Sorry.” It clearly took everything he had not to argue back, but he kept the comments down. I guess I wanted to make it worse, because I kept going.

“Mom was losing her because she was acting like that about it. Like she wanted to force Ryan to choose between her dream job and her family.”

“You certainly do have a fiery streak. Not one to let up on a topic.”

“You… raised me to be outspoken.”

He laughed quietly. “I guess I wanted to make the vacation work,” he said.

“To help make things right between us. So I wouldn’t tolerate anybody trying to skip out on it, and I kept trying to…

to make you appreciate your mother for me.

Because I hadn’t been doing enough of it, and I wanted to make you make up for it. Which I guess wasn’t very fair.”

“Dad,” I said thickly. “I just… I just want to be my own person, you know?”

“I know. And you’ve done a bang-up job. Went and grew up in the blink of an eye.

” He was definitely crying now. I think I was, too.

I refused to pay attention to the way my face felt, like I could deny I was crying if I didn’t think about it.

“I’m… sorry. I should have done this differently.

Should have understood where you were coming from.

Should have taken Ryan’s side. You’re braver than I am. ”

“I’m just easily annoyed and I lose my temper fast.”

“Well, you’re annoyed by the right things. That’s a virtue in and of itself.” I heard him breathe out slowly, and an announcement rang out in the background.

“Dad, that’s your flight,” I said, and he sighed.

“Going to start boarding in ten minutes. I probably should get a move on. But I wanted to say I’m… I’m proud of you. You did the right thing, on this trip.”

“Oh my god, Dad, I’m trying not to cry,” I cried, wiping my face. “I’m sorry, I might have… said too much without thinking, too.”

“You didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.” He shifted, stood up, chair creaking as I heard him moving. “Allison’s a very lovely woman. I think she’s a good pick.”

“Uh… huh?” Suddenly I was Allison, all fumbling and shy, blushing as I hunched my shoulders. “What do you… I told you I’m staying at the airport hotel.”

“You’ve been seeing her, haven’t you?”

“Oh. Um. Well.” I ducked my head, staring at the stone pavers underfoot. “I mean, not… exactly…”

He paused. “You should talk to her,” he said softly. “Not often you get a second chance in things like this. I think you’ll be happy you did.”

I cleared my throat hard. I hadn’t even thought at the beginning of the week that I was gay. Now my dad was trying to encourage me to go ask this girl on a date. What a vacation. “Thanks,” I said weakly. “I, um… thank you. I do really like her. I just don’t know…”

Another announcement rang down the phone. Dad spoke more quickly. “Making a mistake while going after what you want hurts more in the short term than making a mistake hiding from it. But it’s worth it. I need to get back to the gate, but… I love you, Stella.”

“I-I love you too. Thanks, Dad. Um… thank you.”

I think he picked up on all the things I was going to say but didn’t. I hope so, because I had no idea how to put it into words.

When he hung up, I felt untethered, drifting, floating, and at the same time, like—like I had fire in my veins, like I couldn’t help myself from wanting to move, needing to move, doing something, anything.

What if? Suddenly those were the most powerful words in the language— what if, what if I tried, what if I stayed, what if I asked Allison to… what, date me?

I wanted to try, desperately. Wanted to take the magic that had been in these last few days with her and see where it could go if we had even more time. It was just… would she still want me if it wasn’t on a time limit? If I wasn’t a safe thing that could be discarded after the fact?

God, I didn’t fucking know. But what I did know was that Ryan and Brooklyn weren’t like that, and that I’d be dealing with Ryan moping for the rest of my life if she didn’t do something about this. Have to watch her settle for some loser who would just live in Brooklyn’s shadow forever.

Dammit. I stood up, and I walked, slowly at first, and then quickly, out to the front entrance of the hotel, and using my phone to call a ride.

If Ryan wasn’t going to listen to reason, maybe someone would.

∞∞∞

Brooklyn didn’t expect me. I guess that made sense. She thought I was in the air on my way back to the mainland. I loved a surprise.

She stopped suddenly when she opened the front door to her house, blinking fast taking me in, holding a dish towel she was in the middle of drying her hands on, and she’d been about to say something but was frozen there.

Probably expecting Allison coming around to grab pizza or something.

It did smell like pizza around the house.

When she didn’t say anything, I stepped up. “Hey,” I said, and that did it—she tossed the towel onto her table, folding her arms, giving me a skeptical look.

“How are you clueless enough to miss your flight but clued-in enough to know where I live?”

I laughed. “I guess it’s a compliment that I’ve graduated to where you can be mean to me like you are to Allison.

I know where you live because I’ve stayed at Allison’s place like two feet down the road,” I said, pointing in the direction of Allison’s house, and I dropped my voice low as I went on.

“Ryan and I missed our flight on purpose. Some of our family absolutely sucks. And… things happened. So the two of us are scheduled for a flight tomorrow, instead.”

I watched the whole litany of emotions play out over the woman’s face—realizing that meant Ryan was still here, realizing that meant she had to do something about it or reckon with Ryan leaving again.

She clamped down on it, putting on a measured smile.

“And, what, you’re looking for a place to stay? ”

Ugh, she was never going to listen to reason. She was just as bad as Ryan. “I’m telling you to go talk to her,” I said, and she went to shut the door.

“It’s not a fairytale, Stella. If there’s anything I can do to help out, I’m listening, but I’m not—”

I stuck my foot in the door. “She cares about you,” I said, ignoring the exasperated look she gave me. “She cares about you a lot, you know. If this isn’t what you’re waiting for, then what are you waiting for?”

She sighed, hard, but she didn’t do a very good job of sounding aggressive—clearly just sad underneath it all. “There’s nothing to be done, ” she said. “She’s made her decision. I’m not—”