Page 6 of A Year of Recipes


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“Murph, you would have lit the store on fire, and with two kids in the house, I wouldn’t have been able to afford your bail.” If he had laid eyes on some of the options for dresses they had, I had no doubt he would have atleast committed a misdemeanor, if not a full-fledged felony. I was on whatever team kept my husband out of jail.

“You aren’t giving me much reassurance here, Odette.” He continued to pace.

“Could you just trust me, please?” I begged him.

It had takenhoursfor us to find the perfect dress—one that would showcase that she wasn’t a kid anymore but was still respectful and wouldn’t send her father into an early grave...or her date.

It was a perfect powder blue with a sweetheart neckline; it sat high enough to hide anything that could be considered risqué. It fell to the floor in silk that hugged her body but was blurredby the layer of sparkly tulle. You would think it would make it look tacky; however, it fell just perfectly so she looked like she was glowing. It really was theperfectdress, and we had spent entirely too much money on it.

“It’s the perfect dress for her, and youwilllove it. Do you understand me?”

His distressed eyes met mine and softened for a fraction of a second before I saw him shake his head and the stress crept back in. “I just can’t believe she’s growing up. And she’s been dating that punk for over a year. Do you know what kids are doing at fifteen, Odette?”

“Murph, it’s just puppy love, you know that.”

“I’m sure that’s what people used to say about us.”

I sighed at my husband. “I’m sure they did, but she cares more about her dress than who her date is. Believe me, Murph, he isn’t her forever.”

That seemed to make him relax a bit more than anything else I’ve said. “I can’t help it.”

“She’ll always be your little girl, even if she puts on a fancy dress.” I squeezed his hand as I headed to our bedroom to turn in for the night.

“Always,” he agreed with me as he laid down next to me.

Chapter 9

September 2028

Odette

I stood looking out at gardens through the sliding glass door, and despite the wind and rain, I caught my reflection. I couldn’t hide the devastation I saw on my face that matched the one we saw in our daughter’s earlier this evening.

“Did she say when she would be home?” Murphy’s trembling voice called out to me from the living room, and I realized I was holding the cup of coffee I was supposed to bring to him. I directed my attention from my reflection and made my way to him.

I shook my head and handed him the cup of coffee I thought I just made, but the cold cup hinted that I’d been lost in my memories for longer than I thought. “Wynn said she would keep Lennon for the night. He and Benji were apparently putting together some sort of Lego race car track.”

For once, Murphy didn’t grimace at the sound of Benji’s name, and I knew the conversation—or should I say, confrontation—between Murphy and Lux this afternoon after school was tearing him apart. We had always known the day would come; we just didn’t expect it to be on some random rainy September afternoon.

“And Lux?” He choked out her name.

“She made it just fine; she asked Wynn if she could spend the night. Benji is on Lennon duty, and Wynn is on Lux duty.”

I sat down next to Murphy and placed my hand over his. His glazed-over eyes held such sadness that I couldn’t help but want to shield him from our daughter’s impending wrath. We took pride in the fact that we raised an extremely independent daughter, a daughter who was never scared to speak her mind or stick up for what she wanted. She was a perfect mix of Murphy, me, and of course, Wynn. In fact, she took after Wynn so much, it was uncanny. Her impossibly smart mouth got her into trouble more often than not, and I knew this wasn’t something she was just going to let go. She was a daddy’s girl through and through, and this changedeverythingfor her.

“Murph…” I whispered as I tugged him into my body. I could feel his body start to shake, knowing all I could do was hold him through his emotions.

“She hates me—” His voice was broken beyond belief as I felt the anguish in his words wash over me.

“She could never. She could never hate you, Murph. Shelovesyou, and that’s what makes this so hard.”

“Did you see her face?” he whispered. I let myself remember what just happened a few hours ago, even though it felt like days since we’d been sitting here.

“Mom? Dad? Are you home?” Lux’s panicked voice carried from the entryway to the kitchen, where I was sitting reading some new medical journal and Murphy was sorting through emails from new potential clients.

“In the kitchen,” I hollered back while shooting Murphy a “what gives?” look, only to have him shrug at me in response. Luxcame barreling into the kitchen at high speed, and I noticed the tears in her eyes. I immediately went into Momma Bear mode and stalked toward her. Unfortunately, I totally missed the way she glared at her dad before meeting me halfway and throwing herself into my arms.

“What happened, my love?” I whispered into her hair. Once I said those words, I had a sobbing teenager in my arms, who was struggling to breathe through her tears. Murphy got up from his seat and started to pull both of us into him.