Chad, one
of the locals, handed her the phone as soon as she entered. Placing the grungy
handset that looked like it had been around for at least thirty years to her
ear, she said, “Hello?”
“Cali?
Cali, honey, is that you?”
“Yes,
Dad, it’s me. Is everything okay?” she asked, worried.
“No,
sweetheart, it’s not. I need you to come home.” Cali sat down in the beat up
wooden chair Chad had recently vacated.
“Come
home? Dad, what’s going on? What’s wrong?” She heard him sigh on the other end,
followed by a moan. “Dad?”
“I kind
of went and did something stupid.”
“What did
you do?” She felt her body tense as it did so often when getting ready to work
on an injury that they were ill equipped for. Cali didn’t like being unprepared
for anything. People died that way.
“I went
waterskiing with Henry.”
“You
what!” She yelled, almost falling off her chair.
“I know,
I know. Stupid, right? Not something a man my age should be doing. I’ve already
heard it all from Jessie.”
“What
happened? Are you alright?”
“Well…”
“Dad?”
Why was he stalling?
Another
sigh and another moan, “The doctors say I broke my hip and a couple of ribs.
They say I’m going to be out of commission for about three months.”
“Oh,
Dad,” Cali said with disapproval.
“So I
need you to come home, Cali. I need to you run the business while I’m away.
Look after things.”
“Dad…”
She hesitated, not really knowing how to respond.
“Now
listen, Cali. I know you’ve told me you don’t want to take over for me when I
retire, and although I’m not happy about that, I will respect your wishes.
However, at the moment there are some things going on, and I would feel much
better with someone I trust watching over my interests.”
“What
about Peter? I thought you trusted him. I thought you were grooming him to take
over?”
“Peter is
very good at what he does, and maybe someday I will feel confident turning the
business over to him. But he’s not family. You’re the only family I’ve got,
Cali, and I need you for this and only you.”
“I don’t
know,” she said, leaning back in the chair, still unsure.
“Please?
Your old man needs you.” Cali giggled.
“How soon
can you get here?”
“I can
get a ride into town tomorrow and catch the bus from there, but it will take me
most of the day to reach the airport so…” Cali paused to do the calculations in
her head. “I should be able to make it back by Thursday, Friday at the latest.”
“Good
girl. Call me when you have your flight information, and I’ll make sure someone
picks you up.”
“Okay,
Dad,” she answered getting up from her seat.
“Cali?”
“Yes?”
“I love
you, sweetie.”
“I love
you, too.”
