bent and kissed Amyâs forehead.
âCome on, Jess,â Dad said. âLetâs leave these two alone. Iâll buy you some breakfast.â
In the coffee shop I ordered a cinnamon bun and hot chocolate with whipped cream. The hot chocolate went down so good that I asked for another one.
Dad didnât say a word; he just sipped his coffee and stared at his hands. Finally he said, âJess, Iâm really proud of you.â
âAnyone would have done the same thing,â I told him, embarrassed.
He looked at me then. âI donât just mean last night,â he said, âI mean all the time. Iâm proud that you are my daughter.â He studied his hands again. âI guess I donât show it very well these days.â
I stared into my hot chocolate. âSo? Whatâs to be proud of? I donât get good grades like Amy. Iâm not pretty like Amy. And, you may have noticed, Iâm not the neatest person in the world.â
He laughed and rolled his eyes. Then he turned serious. âI didnât get good grades either,â he admitted. âBut youâre a good person, Jess, you care about people. And I bet you know more about the outdoors than anyone else your age.â
He put his hand over mine. âAs for being pretty like Amy, why should you look like her? You look like your motherâso much that sometimes it hurts when I look at you.â
I gulped some hot chocolate. It burned in my throat. âIâm sorry,â I gasped.
âNo, Jess. Donât be sorry. Be proud. Your mother was a wonderful beautiful woman and we will always miss her.â He sipped his coffee and put the mug down. âYou know, Jess, she loved you very much.â
He paused then, as if he wanted to say something else but didnât know how. âAnd I do too,â he added quietly.
âIn that case,â I said, before he got too mushy, âwhen are we going hiking?â
âSoon,â he said. Then he smiled. âWhile Amy is in casts would be a good time.â
I laughed. âRight on.â
I thought about Amy. And I thought about her father. She had missed out on a lot. âBut maybe one day, Dad, you could take her on a hiking trip. You know, just a father and daughter sort of thing?â
He looked surprised. âYou wouldnât mind?â
âNo,â I told him. âNot anymore.â
Dayle Campbell Gaetz is the author of many books for children including
Mystery from History, Barkerville Gold
,
No Problem
and her latest mystery,
Alberta Alibi
. Dayle loves boating and over the years has owned a tiny inflatable raft, a canoe, four sailboats, eleven powerboats and a thirty-two-foot cabin cruiser. Dayle lives in Campbell River, British Columbia.
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