Read Online Determination by Angela B. Macala-Guajardo - Free Book Online Page B

grimace. It was about as comfortable as feeling like she was about to throw up. She held out her hand and Dad crossed to her without hesitation. Roxie clenched her teeth and tensed for the icy sensation, but she still flinched when his hand clasped hers and sent icy waves up her arm.
    “Sorry, Rox. And thank you.”
    “Of course.” She clenched her teeth as her brain screamed at her to get away from the iciness but she forced herself to hold still. “Don’t worry about it. It’s worth the discomfort.”
    Several agonizing seconds passed before Dad finally let go. Roxie stuck her numb hand in the warmth of her underarm and started breathing normally again.
    “You’re all grown up already,” Dad said. “I’m so sorry I missed it all. Your birth, childhood, growing up, graduating from high school. Everything.”
    “Dad, I--”
    “I wanted to be there for all of it, but I wasn’t. I’m so sorry.” He wrapped her in a hug and held her tight, the side of his head pressed against hers.
    Roxie gasped. Her father was still freezing to the touch all over and her armor didn’t offer much insulation. She forced herself to return the hug. “Dad, you don’t need to apologize.” She kept her arms around him but had to angle her hands away. He was just too cold. Her healing powers were barely keeping her teeth from chattering.
    “If I’d just driven slower, I would’ve made it. I would’ve been there for you and Dana.” His head shifted against Roxie’s ear and cheek. It felt like he was looking at the highway behind her. “I never would’ve hit that truck. Our lives would’ve turned out so differently.”
    Vehicles began passing by and through them, buffeting them with air and noises, and nothing more. Taller vehicles blotted out all light when they passed through them, startling Roxie. She turned when she heard a smash, followed by screeching tires. Her father’s Civic got t-boned again, rolled right through them and came to a rest just past them.
    Ah-yah--or whatever the other Numina’s name was--side-stepped the Civic and approached them. “Charles, you don’t have to relive this memory anymore.” His voice was heavily accented, yet soothing. “We’ve discussed it plenty and you’ve relived it more than enough.”
    Dad pulled Roxie back into a tight hug. “I know, but my daughter’s here. My own and only daughter! I was never there for her. I’ve failed her as a father!”
    “No, you didn’t,” Roxie said reflexively. Sure, he’d never been there for her, but death was a sufficient excuse. “You died. You can’t do anything once you’re dead.”
    “That’s exactly why I failed you.” Dad more pushed her aside than released her.
    She felt both relieved to be free of the icy embrace, yet hurt from the way he’d let go.
    He stared helplessly down the highway as the pile of cars vanished. Moving cars reappeared a second later, and the crash played out a third time. Dad kept his eyes on his totaled car. “If I’d just slowed down, instead of been in such a hurry to get to the hospital, none of this... I’m so sorry, Roxie. I don’t blame you if you hate me.”
    Roxie felt taken aback. Hating her parents had never crossed her mind her entire life. Grandma had made it perfectly clear that her parents had been looking so forward to Roxie’s arrival. Untimely deaths happened. It’s not like her parents had died on purpose. “Dad, I don’t hate you. I love you. You have no idea how happy I am to be able to talk to you right now.” Her comment about her happiness sounded so insincere that she felt grateful that her father wasn’t looking at her to see her grimace. She didn’t feel happy. She felt confused and blindsided. This meeting wasn’t turning out at all like she’d expected.
    She stood before her father. He looked up. She wrapped her arms around him and tried to block out the iciness of the touch. “I do love you. I have no reason to hate you.”
    Dad didn’t return the hug.