Coming Home(99)

“Why do you say that?”

He shrugged. “You’ve been different.”

“Different how?”

He placed his beer back on the table. “It’s subtle. But lately, when you smile, it reaches your eyes again. I haven’t seen that in a long time.”

She looked away from him, trying to swallow the lump in her throat brought on by his words.

“You’ve been guarded for a long time now, so if someone finally got through to you, he must be pretty special.”

She nodded, still looking down. “He is.”

When her father didn’t respond, she glanced up at him. He was watching her intently as he said, “So what’s the problem?”

“It’s just…it’s not gonna be easy,” she said, taking a small bite of her chicken and chewing slowly.

Her dad chuckled. “Anyone who says a relationship should be easy has never been in one.” The corner of Leah’s mouth lifted as he added, “So what makes you think this one will be so hard?”

Leah twisted the fork between her fingers. “He’s probably going to be leaving soon.”

“For good?”

“No, not for good. But for a while probably.”

“Ah,” her father said, taking another sip of beer. “And you’re worried about having a long-distance relationship?”

She smiled softly. “Something like that.”

“People do it all the time, Leah.”

“I know people do it. I just don’t know if I can do it. You know that I’ve had a really hard time opening up since Scott.” Her father scowled at the mention of his name as Leah said, “And when I think about allowing myself to get attached to this guy, and then having him leave…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough for that. It’ll be too hard.”

He didn’t respond, and for the next few minutes, they ate in silence. Leah kept stealing quick glances at her father, but his expression was even as he continued eating.

“Your mother had a terrible pregnancy with Christopher,” he said suddenly, and Leah pulled her brow together as she looked up at him.

“I mean really awful,” he said. “For the first five months, she was sick all day. And I mean all day. I thought it was called morning sickness because it happened in the morning. What the hell did I know,” he added with a chuckle. “I made the mistake of mentioning that to her one time. I never said it again.”

Leah smiled, and he said, “About halfway through the pregnancy, she started keeping food down, but that’s when the heartburn started. Everything she ate would give her heartburn. A glass of water would cause the woman to belch fire.”

Leah laughed, picking at the label on her beer.

“And then about six weeks before Chris was due, she started having contractions, so her doctor put her on bed rest. She was only allowed to be on her feet for ten minutes a day. I brought her every magazine, every book, every movie I could think of to try and keep her occupied, but the poor thing was just crawling out of her skin.” He smiled softly and looked down. “And then came the labor. Thirty-seven hours. And these were the days before they were so ready to stick that thing in your back. That…that…epicenter.”

“Epidural,” Leah corrected with a laugh.

He waved his hand in the air. “Whatever that thing is called. They weren’t so willing to give those things out. So your mom did it natural.” He shook his head. “Thirty-seven hours. I’ll never forget it. To this day I don’t know how she did it.”