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Damn.
“Listen, Dad, I’m sorry to cut this short but I’m running late and I need to get to the hotel.”
“You need better time management,” he scolded.
I closed my eyes and settled in for his reprimand.
“Less coffee, more water. A good alkaline water, not public water. We’ve discussed the chemicals in city water. And since you don’t eat a proper diet, vitamins are essential. You need to find a good B12 and D. It’s bad enough you live in a disease-infested city with all the pollution but you don’t sleep enough. Your lifestyle is the perfect breeding ground for illness. I really wish you’d take your health seriously and find a career that wasn’t going to kill you.”
Right.
Because being a doctor around nothing but sick people all day was perfectly safe.
“I like my job, Dad,” I snapped, losing patience. “And I do get plenty of sleep.”
I didn’t bother commenting on the coffee remark because me giving up coffee would be akin to cutting off a limb. And I wasn’t paying six dollars for a bottle of any kind of water, I didn’t care what it claimed to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere down the line he read a research article that said bathing in alkaline water would add years to your life and he’d start pushing that on me.
“Sometimes in life it’s not about doing what you like, it’s about doing what’s smart.”
Jeez. Condescending much?
“You like what you do. Actually, you love it more than anything.”
I didn’t bother hiding my disdain.
He either missed it or ignored it.
“I’m a doctor, Atlee Marie. It’s my life’s calling. I heal the sick.”
But he never bothered to heal my sickness. He allowed me to drown in the sorrow of losing my mother. He’d rather fulfill his ‘life’s calling’ than be a father.
“Good to know.”
“I sense sarcasm in your tone. I’ll assume that’s from a late night gallivanting around the city being nothing more than a glorified gofer running yourself ragged for no reason.”
Ouch.
It was useless arguing with Dr. Levine. Once he had something in his mind, there was no reasoning with him.
Which was why I gave in.
I always gave in and gave up when it came to my father.
“You’re right, Dad. I had a late night and an early morning and now I’m behind schedule so I must go now so I can check in with the hotel and start my gofer duties. I hope you have a wonderful day.”
“You, too. Until next time.”
Until next time.
If I never heard those three words again it would be too soon. But I’d hear them again in seven days and they’d piss me off just like always.
I shoved my phone in my pocket but kept my gaze riveted on the Bellagio pond.
Wilson appeared next to me with a glorious offering. I didn’t bother looking to make sure it had enough creamer in it before I took a fortifying sip. Wilson wouldn’t get something as simple as coffee wrong. Now my father, he didn’t know a damn thing about me. Not my favorite color, not my pain, not my dreams, not who broke my heart in ninth grade, not what foods I liked or disliked, not even how I took my coffee.
“That sounded…” Wilson trailed off and cleared his throat. “Unpleasant.”
“My weekly call with my father.”
