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 Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:43 pm
It was Halloween! She was actually excited for it to be Halloween. She had a kind of amazing costume, she was going as the Lorax from…well. The Lorax movie and book. Her mom had helped her make it and she thought it was poofy and perfect and awesome.
School had finally ended and she raced home to get ready to go out Trick or Treating…but…
There was a note on the table for her mom saying that she was going to be working late…and her father wanted to see her tonight. Millie stared at the note and her mouth actually fell open some. He wanted to see her? He was coming to pick her up tonight? He…
The girl shook her head, giving a terribly long and drawn out sigh. This was…an interesting development. He was going to be here soon, or so the note said. She went to her room and got dressed, waiting on the couch, fully dressed in her costume, trying to get herself ready to see her father…wondering why he wanted to see her now after not wanting to see her for so long.
She really wasn’t even sure she wanted to see him…but there wasn’t much she could do if he was on his way.
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:55 pm
Garethon let the door close to his car, then looked over the steering wheel at the driveway. Normally, he was calm and collected but tonight.... He was afraid. Only his daughter could inspire this reaction in him.
It had been a long trip, longer then he had wanted it to be, but his company had insisted. He knew he should have called Millie but... every time he thought about doing it something got in the way. He hadn't wanted to explain why he had left, and he always thought hed be coming home soon and his return kept being delayed. Now it had been almost a year and he was finally back, but how to explain to his daughter?
He had gotten a costume but wasnt wearing it. He wanted to get a feel for how his daughter felt about him right now before he revealed his star wars themed halloween costume.
He pulled slowly into the driveway and turned off the car, sitting for a moment in darkness before making his way up to the door and knocking on it.
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:44 pm
Millie was still on the couch, kicking her feet as she waited. She wasn’t going to lie, she gave an obvious jump when there was a knock on the door. Was he really here? Did he really come to see her? She glared at the door for a long moment, before walking over to it and opening it. “Yes?”
Her voice sounded so cold and she just looked grumpily up at her dad. “Mom said you’d be coming…what is it you want?”
She had grown over the past few months, and her hair had gotten longer, she was clearly growing up, as children tended to do and she had done a lot of emotional growing over the past nine months or so. “Why were you gone so long, Dad? Did I do something wrong?”
It almost seemed like she didn’t care, her voice was almost bored and she looked away, not really wanting to keep eye contact. What if the answer was yes? What could she have done? She really just wanted to stay mad and not have to worry about changing something about herself.
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 12:27 am
"No sweetie"
He took a knee in front of her. A million lies jumped to mind, all sorts of things he could tell her to convince her he had her best interests at heart but had been incapable.
With anyone else, lying would have been easier then working through the truth. Even now, his first reflex was to lie, but he held himself back. There was only one human being in the world worth not lieing too.
"I meant to call you, but I had some phone trouble at first and then I just... I kept thinking I would be home soon and then I kept ending up... stuck there. Daddy is important to his company, and he got a huge raise from all this time he spent apart."
He hung his head.
"Im really sorry sweety."
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 9:43 pm
She crossed her arms. So he had been working this whole time? His company was more important than she was? Well…This didn’t make her feel very happy at all. Millie looked away, thinking this through for a long, long moment. “So…you didn’t talk to me, and just made me think you hated me…so you could get money?”
It made her feel…sort of terrible…but…Finally she held out a hand. “If you got such a big raise, daddy, I want some. I want…I want a lot of money. I’m not even going to forgive you if you don’t give me a lot of money…a thousand dollars. I want a thousand dollars to make up for all the time I thought you hated me.”
It was a pretty fair deal…if he liked money so much…then he had to prove he liked her too. A thousand dollars would get her a lot of stuff…a whole lot of stuff…and sometimes she just liked stuff.
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 10:38 pm
Garethon chuckled. What a good girl.
"You're a clever one"
He smiled.
"How bout this, I'll take you to the toy store and you can pick out any one toy you want and Ill get it for you. Sound like a plan?"
If he knew his girl, shed negotiate for something better and then theyd settle. Still, he was prouder of her then if shed just forgiven him. Shed taken what advantage she could of the situation and was trying to bleed him for it. It wasnt like he didnt deserve it.
"Ill even take you out for ice cream"
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 11:14 pm
Millie just stared at him, scowling. He thought a toy would make this all better? Maybe some ice cream? If she wanted ice cream, Jett would get her ice cream…her mom would get her a toy too. This…this was stupid.
“No, Dad. That’s really not going to cut it, okay? I want a thousand dollars, and if you keep up with this…this…” She thought for a moment, trying to find some sort of strong word. “This underhanded negotiation…then I’ll have to ask you to leave. I’m your only daughter…at least I hope I am. And If you really love me, you’ll want me to forgive you and love you again, right? So you’ll give me a thousand dollars. For the days and weeks and months that you’ve hurt me. I don’t want toys and I don’t want ice cream. I have friends that can get me ice cream. In fact, my friend Jett loves to get me ice cream, so yeah.”
Maybe if she made him feel worse about being gone…he’d give her the money faster. “Jett’s been here for me since you weren’t. In fact, I think I love him more than I love you, Dad. He never abandoned me…” She stared right at him. “But like I said. I just want some money. A thousand dollars is nothing to you, right? I mean. You made so much on your long trip. And couldn’t even bother to call.”
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 11:36 pm
Ouch. Right for the throat, she was her fathers daughter. But she was dealing with a proffesional.
He opened his mouth for just a moment, but then didn't say anything. It was unfortunate, but for once the person he was negotiating with actually had something he cared about. A few thousand jobs or a dollars meant very little to him when he was talking about a takeover or a transfer of property, but the prospect of damaging his relationship with his daughter was terrifying. But if he gave her a thousand dollars hed never hear the end of it, from her or her mother. And he couldnt pay his daughter every time she became upset with him, even if it was his fault.
He frowned. He thought about trying to reason with her, ask what she wanted with that thousand dollars, but realized that wouldnt work. He needed to put his foot down. If he gave her money he opened the floodgates. He had to manuever out of this another way. But how?
"No, Millie, thats not how this is going to work. I cant give you a thousand dollars, your mother would never permit it. You're going to have to think of something else you want, something I can get you."
Blaming her mother was not a tactic he used often, not out of any specific reguard for her but because he risked upsetting her and, if he did, he might lose some of his visiting rights. Besides, the tactic had more potence if it was only used once every year or two, it seemed more true.
If this didnt work it would have to be a speech about how money wasnt everything, and the very notion turned his stomach. He WAS proud of her for turning this situation to her advantage, in the real world it would have served her well. Here, however, it was causing a slight snag.
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 8:13 pm
Millie looked cross still. Well…this wasn’t working out quite as planned. Maybe she would have to change tactics a little. “Since when do you care what mom says anyway? This is between you and me, but hey. I’m willing to work out a deal if that’s what you want, Dad.”
She wasn’t going to just let him out of this. She wanted that money. She could do SO much with a thousand dollars. She could…get a bank account and start saving for college! She could buy some books, and she could start saving for a car! “Dad, don’t you want me to get ahead in life? Aren’t you the one who always puts money first? Well, now I want to put the money first. If you’re too cheap to cough it up all at once. Give me five hundred now, then you can give me the other five hundred between my Birthday and Christmas. They’re close enough to one another.”
The redhead shrugged. “I guess it’s up to you dad. I want the money, there’s nothing else I want. I mean…in this world you have to start early with money, so…I want to start. But if you’re too stingy…well. Then I suppose I’ll see you later, I have to go trick or treating.”
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 11:09 pm
Garethon smiled. There we go.
"All right, then heres my proposal. Ill put 1000 dollars in bonds in a safe deposit box for you for christmas, and in five years they will be worth a great deal more then a thousand dollars and you can use them to get a head start on adulthood."
There was the corner he would get her into, the compromise he could make with her so she gets what she wants and he doesnt have to cut her a check.
"And that way we dont upset your mother either."
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:41 pm
Millie nodded slowly. “All right. I’ll take it. But I still want fifty dollars now. Just so I can have some money. You can call it a Halloween present, Dad. Mom won’t mind if you give me some money. She knows you need to bribe me. She’s had to listen to me complaining about you…you know she wanted to send me to therapy?”
The child sighed. “I just really missed you. And I was really mad that you just left me. Like I didn’t even matter…” She rubbed at her eyes, scowling as she found them quite full of tears. “I didn’t know what I did wrong, and I just…felt really bad. Mom and Jett told me it wasn’t my fault, but still…I didn’t think you would have left me if I had been good or something…”
Oh great…now he would really think she was just a baby and he would leave all over again. She was a complete mess.
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:23 am
"No no sweetheart"
He opened his arms to embrace her.
"You didnt do anything wrong. I thought about you everyday but... things just kept getting in the way. I promise I would have been here if I could, I just lost track of the time."
He DID feel guilty about what happened, and didnt really like that feeling. Hed done far worse things in his life then forget to call his daughter (much, much worse) without batting an eyelash. It was only Millie that managed to tie his stomach in knots.
"I have a $100 bill in my wallet, you can have that now and Ill still take you out for Ice cream after trick or treating. How does that sound?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:40 pm
She hesitated, then moved into his arms, hugging him tightly and nodding. Well. At least he was back. And he didn’t hate her…and he was going to stay back hopefully…maybe she shouldn’t go on staying mad at him forever. After all…bad things happened in this city…if she did stay mad at him forever…she could end up getting killed and he would forever think that she had hated her…
Finally Millie pulled away. “I guess I forgive you, Dad. Thanks. I guess I can go trick or treating with you…then get ice cream…I wouldn’t mind that. I guess…” She smiled and then glanced back into the house. “I’ll go get my bag, okay? If you have a costume…go change into it…I’ll meet you outside.”
Things were going to be better now…right? Her dad was back and she was getting a hundred dollars…that was really, really good. “Just don’t leave me again okay? I don’t think I could take it.” She swallowed, then ran off, both to call Jett and to get her bag. Maybe this Halloween would turn out even better than she had first thought.
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:18 pm
Garethon chuckled, standing and watching his daughter run into the house. He thought of the expensive darth vader costume in the back of his car and decided not to reveal it. Turns out he didnt need it this halloween anyway.
He leaned against the doorframe and pulled out his wallet, taking out the hundred dollar bill and putting his wallet away. He was looking forward spending time with his girl again.
He wasnt upset about the money it had cost him to win back her affections, he was just proud of how good of a negotiator she was.
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