Today was the day her father was coming to visit. In the midst of all the chaos surrounding her over the past several weeks, she hoped this would smooth things over. Maybe he would start focusing on her instead of her mother. She missed him a little too. Yes, he had done some awful things; but he was the only father she had.
It started off kind of rocky, as he paced back and forth on the sidewalk in front of her house, talking on his cell phone. She was anxious, and this was not helping a bit. Finally, he rang the doorbell and her Aunt cautiously opened the door. He hugged her for an extended time, as he looked over the security alarm box.
He wandered out to the kitchen, helping himself to a cup of coffee and two packs of cigarettes, while he surveyed the window alarms in each room. Then, he summoned his daughter to sit upon his lap and tell him all about the past month. Whenever he asked questions about her mom, her aunt quickly responded with vague answers. They played video games for about 5 minutes in a fruitless attempt to change the subject. Tension was building as the purpose of the visit was forgotten by him. He began drilling her Aunt on legal questions and requested that she collect some legal paperwork for him.
When it was finally time for him to go, he announced that he wanted to see her newly decorated bedroom upstairs. Knowing her mom was up there, her aunt stepped in front of him and said no. He quickly figured out why and started speaking loud enough for her to hear. After a couple minutes of touting his "lessons learned" during the separation, he walked out the door. His daughter watched as he slowly disappeared from the sidewalk. Her relief was visible, as was her confusion over the entire ordeal.
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