"Nothing will happen. Tessa's parents are really responsible. They'll take care of us. We'll stay with them the whole time. It'll be such a good experience. Tessa's dad says he thinks kids who don't leave the country at least once a year for their childhood end up stunted culturally. Tessa goes three or four times a year. We've only left one time, and a tourist-filled port in Cozumel doesn’t even really count!"
"Sweetheart, I'm not trying to hurt you or upset you, or…stunt you culturally. I just want what's best for you."
She slammed her fist down on the countertop. "Italy is what's best for me."
"We knew when we moved here that there would be kids who could afford to do more than we can. We talked about that. We don't have the money most of the families around here have. You know that. But your mom and I do all we can for you."
"But not this? Why? Why won’t you let me go? It won't cost you anything. Tessa's parents already said they'd pay for everything. You just have to say yes."
"It's not about the money, Rory. It's about your safety, and sending you to a country we don't know a lot about with people we don't really know doesn’t feel safe to me."
"Is it my fault you don’t know a lot about Italy? Or that you don't know Tessa's parents? I know them.” She slapped her hand on her chest. “Don't you trust me to know I'll be safe?"
"You're just a kid, Rory. You can't possibly understand what I'm—"
"Fine," she cut me off, tears swimming in her eyes. "I don't know why you even brought me here to this stupid place. To this stupid house with these stupid people. You took me away from my friends, away from my team, and now you and mom are splitting up and you won't let me do anything I want to do! It's so unfair!” she screamed.
"Hang on, now," I said, trying to calm her sobbing. I stood up and walked toward her, but she pushed off the chair and stepped backward. "Look, sweetheart, I just—"
"Don't. I don't want to talk anymore, Dad. I'm done talking. Just forget it. Forget everything." With that, she picked up her phone and stormed past me, leaving me with her mostly untouched dinner, unadulterated guilt, and the sounds of her sobbing and moaning from behind her bedroom door.
When Addy arrived home a few hours later, I was still in the kitchen. The dishwasher had been emptied and reloaded, and I'd washed and folded two loads of laundry for her. I was cleaning the stove when she walked in, dark spots across her teal shirt from the incoming rain she'd been caught in.
She took in the sight of me cleaning and smiled. "Wow. The house looks great.”
“Well, I had a lot of time on my hands.”
She raised a brow, slipping off her jacket. “You did?”
“Rory has decided I’m the worst parent in the universe, and she never wants to talk to me again.” I tried to say it with the humor it deserved, but I couldn’t deny the way it stung to recall her screaming it through her bedroom door when I’d tried to talk to her.
“Oh, that’s you today, huh? I guess I got demoted.” She shook her head. “What happened?”
I scratched my head. “Italy happened.”
She rolled her head back, letting out a groan that looked identical to the one Rory had released just hours before. “I told her I was going to talk to you about it. She wasn’t supposed to do this tonight. I’m sorry.”
“She completely blindsided me. I didn’t know what to say.”
“What did you say?”
“I mumbled something about not wanting her to get hurt, and…honestly, the rest is a blur.”
She chuckled, folding her jacket over her arm. “She’ll be fine. I’ll talk to her.”
"You are saying no, though, right? I mean, it's ridiculous. She can't just…go to Italy. How long is she even wanting to stay there?”
"The entire summer," Addy said. "Doug and Caity have a villa in Venice with a full-time staff. Apparently Doug is good friends with a soccer coach for their women's league. He's already promised Rory an introduction."
"An introduct— She's fourteen years old!" I exploded.
"Hey, I’m on your side of this, remember? I told her I thought she was too young, but I wanted to talk to you before we made a decision.”
“But the decision is still no, whether we talk or not, right? You can’t honestly be considering letting her traipse around the world like she’s nineteen and taking a year abroad.”
“Well, she wouldn’t exactly be traipsing the world, Wes. She’d be with her best friend and her best friend’s parents. I like Doug and Caity. Tessa has been a good friend to Rory.”
“So what are you saying? You actually want her to go?”
"I don't know, Wes." She reached up, placing her jacket on the coat rack that hung from the wall and setting her purse on the sofa table in the hall before walking past me into the kitchen and filling the coffee pot with water. Coffee was her go-to whenever she was stressed. There were many years during the beginning of our relationship when coffee was one of the only things we could afford. We'd practically been living on it for quite a while. I couldn't smell it now without thinking of her. She scooped the coffee into the filter before saying anything else. "I agree with you. It's too much, but we can't hold her back from everything. We knew what we were signing up for when we moved here. We knew what we'd be getting into. These are her friends, and she doesn't want to be the only one not getting to do all of the stuff they all get to do."
"You’re saying you think she should go?" I asked again, because she really hadn’t given me an answer.
"I'm saying I want her to get to
