Page 24 of After You Returned
“You’re like a dog with a bone.”
“Woof! Woof!”
She drops her chin to her chest, but not before I notice her smile.
“Fine. We had a Sunday family meal at the farmhouse yesterday, and Dad got all over my case for working at the restaurant, and now I have to find a job and move off the island.”
My heart lodges in my throat. Off the island? She’s moving? She’s abandoning me? Not if I can help it.
“Slow down. Explain yourself. Your dad got all over your case?”
She scowls. “You know what he thinks of women. They should stay in the kitchen. And get married to a farmer.”
“I thought he eased up after the Christmas before last when Scarlett nearly left Weston because she didn’t want to live on Smuggler’s Hideaway.”
Her eyes narrow on me. “How do you know what happened with Scarlett and my dad?”
I shrug. “You grew up on this island. You know how everyone loves to gossip.”
“Whatever,” she grumbles. “Dad eased up on Scarlett, but he hasn’t eased up on me. He thinks I should get married and that my therapy degree was a waste of time.”
“Your therapy degree wasn’t a waste of time. You help people to heal. It’s important.”
“That’s what I said.”
“And?”
“And then I got mad he didn’t acknowledge how important my work is and told everyone I was looking for a job off the island.”
Relief fills me. She’s not going anywhere. She spoke out in anger.
“And now I have to find a job on the mainland.”
“No, you don’t. The argument with your dad will be forgotten by the next time you see him.”
Hazel and her dad were always arguing in high school. I witnessed several of their shouting matches in the farmhouse. No matter how loud they shouted at each other, her dad never let her down. He showed up at every single one of her basketball matches. He picked her up from parties when she’d had too much moonshine to drink.
I would have loved to have him as a dad. My dad abandoned our family when I was twelve. I never felt his loss, though. Eli and Rhett stepped up. Eli worked multiple jobs to help Mom out financially while Rhett took us to school and all of our sports activities and made sure we finished our homework.
“It doesn’t matter what Dad thinks. It’s time for me to leave.”
My heart stutters in my chest. She can’t leave. I won’t let her. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why is it time for you to leave? You love this island.”
“Love it or not, I don’t have enough work for my practice. And I’m tired of working at the restaurant.”
“There are other jobs you can do on the side.”
“I don’t want to do side gigs. I want to work full-time in the career I spent six years of my life studying for. I want to help people. I don’t want to serve drinks to tourists or work at the amusement park or any of the other tourist traps.”
Shit. She’s thought this through. This isn’t a spur of the moment decision.
“You’re serious? You’d move away from Smuggler’s Hideaway?”
“I prefer not to. I’ll research if any of the towns on the Mainland within an hour’s drive have any openings first. But if not…” She trails off with a shrug.
