Page 64 of A Little Kissing Between Friends

“Did you try?”

Scoffing, I gave him a crazy look. “Of course I did! Nothing has worked!” Frustrated, I threw my hands up in the air.

His brows rose again, this time in response to my elevated tone.

“How about you start from the beginning for me, Star Shine? Help me understand what happened, because I’m in the dark here.”

“Juc—” I paused and shook my head. There was no way I could start from the true beginning. I’d always been able to tell my daddy everything, but I wasn’t so sure I was ready to admit out loud that this all happened because Jucee overheard me say something hurtful about her. I didn’t want to color my family’s impression of her, and I was certain that’s exactly what would happen if they knew the whole story.

“I said something ignorant and offensive. My words hurt Jucee and she stopped talking to me.”

“Ah.” Daddy nodded as if everything made sense. “Did you apologize?”

“I did! It was really heartfelt and everything but she didn’t respond.”

A slight frown came across his face. “She didn’t respond?”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“What did she do? Just...walk away after you finished speaking?”

My lips parted but I froze in place.

Oh.

Shit.

I suddenly felt as if I was watching myself walk headfirst into a wall with no way to stop myself. It was like an out-of-body experience. I knew what was coming and yet I couldn’t prevent the crash from happening.

Groaning, I ran a hand down my face. “We weren’t face-to-face, Daddy. I sent her a text message.”

My daddy straightened, sitting up in his seat and facing me with his undivided attention.

“Did you offend her through text message, as well?”

The head-on collision was happening and all I could do was scream at myself to go the other direction. Closing my eyes, I dropped my head back against my chair.

“No. It was in person.”

“Let me make sure I understand you correctly. You insulted Juleesa in person—”

“I didn’t insult her—”

“—but instead of apologizing in person, you did it through the phone. And not even on a call, but via text message, the most impersonal form of communication known to man.”

“I think ‘most impersonal’ is stretching things a bit.”

“What else have you done to fix this?”

Scratching below my ear, I lifted my gaze to the ceiling. There was a paper-thin line of incredulity that hovered just beneath his neutral tone. It was slight, and if I didn’t know his voice as well as I did, I might’ve missed it. “I texted her twice.”

I waited for a response from him, but none came. Peeling my eyes open, I glanced his way, startled to find his piercing brown gaze.

“Hmm.”

I squinted at him. “What was that about?”

“What?”