Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“It was like losing him all over again when you said that. To say I’m a disappointment to him. To disparage my entire lifestyle. To slut shame me. To—”
Gideon sat up straighter. “Wait, what?”
“Trust me, I was there. I remember all your accusations quite well.”
He looked honestly puzzled. “I never slut shamed you. I wouldn’t do that.”
His face had never looked more punchable. “I heard you. You said my father would be disappointed by everything I do. Sure, most dads probably wouldn’t be really happy to have their daughters review sex toys online, but it’s my life. I chose it, and I’m not ashamed of it.”
Gideon’s forehead was full of creases as he stared at me. “I didn’t say that or mean it. I wasn’t think of the sex toys you review at all. As far as I’m concerned, that’s no one’s business but your own.”
I stared at him, trying to decide if I believed him. “Then what did you mean?”
He still looked so astonished that it took him a moment to answer. “I meant all the technology. How you’re always trying to discard the old in favor of the new. How you don’t actually live your life, you just record it for others.”
I stared at him in disbelief for a long moment. I didn’t even realize the wine bottle was starting to slip until I felt a few drops on my thigh. “You think he would’ve disapproved of my love of tech?”
“He was a simple man. He had simple needs. He didn’t constantly yearn for something newer and fancier the way you do.”
Gideon’s assessment of my dad almost made me laugh in spite of myself. “No he wasn’t. He wasn’t like that at all.”
It was obvious Gideon didn’t believe me. “Lila, I spent years helping him with that car. He liked engines. Listening to the Beatles on the radio. He was a simple guy with simple tastes.”
Maybe it was the wine, but I couldn’t help snorting. “When I was eight or nine, a family with kids around my age moved in across the street. The Thompsons. Mr. Thompson got along well with my dad, and they invited our whole family over for barbecue every couple of weeks. And do you know where my dad was while Mr. Thompson was grilling hotdogs and hamburgers?”
Gideon frowned. “Talking to him?”
“No, he was down in the basement with me and their two kids. And you want to know why?”
He nodded in spite of himself.
“Because they had a newfangled video game system called a Nintendo Wii. I loved playing games on it nearly as much as my dad did. He thought it was so damn clever how you could wave the remote around to play tennis. Or bowling. Or to drive a racecar. He thought it was the most amazing thing ever.”
Gideon’s jaw had dropped.
“You only saw one side of him, but I knew about his hopes and dreams,” I continued. “He wanted to travel everywhere he could. He was interested in everything. He wanted to know how things worked. Sometimes over dinner at night, he’d speculate about where things were headed. What needed to be invented. What he’d invent if he could. And let me tell you something.” I scooted closer to Gideon to make sure he heard me. “If my dad knew that I’d invented a career for myself that I loved and that I made a living from that career instead of being locked into a dead-end factory job as he was, he’d be thrilled.”
Gideon looked almost comically shocked by my speech. Finally, he nodded faintly. “I guess he would’ve.” He stared past me, as nothing in particular. “Maybe I didn’t know him as well as I thought.”
“You knew a part of him. I knew a different part.”
Gideon was as pale as a ghost. “I thought that your whole lifestyle was an affront to him. A rejection of his values.” His mouth drew to a close. Just when I thought he wasn’t going to say anything else, he looked directly at me. “I’m sorry. I was wrong about you.”
Tears pricked at my lower lashes as I nodded. “And I was wrong about you.”
He patted the seat next to him, and almost against my will, I slid over. His arm went around my shoulders.
For a long time, neither of us said anything.
Then at last, he huffed out a breath. “You know who was right, though?”
“Hmm?”
“Thing One and Thing Two.” He jerked his head in the direction of the ceiling. “They went through a hell of a lot of effort to get us locked in here, but… they were right to do it.”
“I guess so.”
I didn’t have much else to say. The hurt was too raw. Maybe Gideon’s was, too. But I stayed where I was, nestled against his side as I sipped my wine. And he kept his arm around me as he sipped his.