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And she caught on to that too. "I'm sorry you think you can be the lamest person in this entire town because my school is fifteen minutes away. You always have a reason for everything, though.
"Maybe that's why you get away with so much shit. You ruined Mom's life. You won't rest until you do the same for me."
Okay, that wasn't fair. How could I talk to this girl and make her see any reason? How did you do that with a teenager?
I opened and closed my mouth four times. "Leia, I said I'm not trying to excuse what I did."
"Sounds like that's just what you're doing, though. Maybe you can't help it. Maybe that's why you ruin everything."
"That's enough!"
I didn't realize my voice had built to a roar. Leia stopped talking, but her eyes shone with tears. I hated myself.
I hated that I kept making her cry. I loved her. I did.
But I just couldn't stop fucking up.
"Leia, I—"
She stomped her foot impatiently. "I hate you. I hate this damn place, and I hate that I was born to a tramp and a douchebag. Go to hell."
With that, she turned on her heels and ran off inside the house and straight to her room. I heard her bedroom door slam shut, loud enough to ricochet three homes down.
"That ... that's not how you handle a teenager, Reed."
This was the last and only voice I wanted to hear today. I turned around and looked into the deep forest green of her eyes, currently ablaze with indignation.
"You think you can do a better job?" I asked, my voice cold. "Have at it."
20
Juniper
Reed looked like he was a second away from exploding.
This wasn't ... I couldn't be mad at someone who had no clue what he'd done wrong. I swallowed the unforgiving words I'd been about to say.
"Okay," I spoke quickly, trying to mollify him instead. "None of this is your fault. It's just textbook. You're out of depth here.
“And Leia's taking you to town with that temper. But Reed, this is what she's supposed to be doing at this age."
"You mean it's totally normal for her to behave like a little mutant?" he barked. "I'm sorry, I can't relate to that. Where I grew up, this kind of behavior meant I'd earn a whoopin' or go without dinner."
"Thank God she's not growing up there, then," I replied immediately, stung by the harshness in his words. No teenage girl deserved more on top of the shit life kept throwing their way.
The world wasalwaysa cruel place for them.
I saw something shift in his eyes, and then his shoulders slumped. "I–I don't want to do this, Juniper. I keep thinking this is it, this is my chance to be a better parent. And then something just goes wrong, and I'm in the middle of a shitstorm and a red alert hurricane, and there's no loophole."
My heart broke for the man and the look of defeat on his face. Reed couldn't see through Leia's front.
He couldn't possibly understand that she was struggling under that tough-as-nails exterior and that his words would only sour their relationship to a point where there was nothing left to salvage.
I didn't want that for him. It was apparent he loved the kid. He just didn't know how to show it.
Not for the first time, I wondered what had happened to mess him up this hard. It could be his job and the things he'd seen on duty. But whatever it was, I couldn't stand back and watch him ruin his chance with his own daughter.
He was trying. That was more than I could say for my own dad. And he deserved a fair chance at becoming a parent.
