Chapter 6 Argument

• Giving her daughter a warning look, Jamie left them alone. Hank hoped that Victoria would say something once they were alone, but she simply remained silent.
• "Say it," he requested calmly.
• "Say what? I don't want to waste my energy telling you that I can't stand her anymore. She won't leave me alone, I can't stand her anymore... that's it."
• "Victoria... What's going on?" Hank asked, concerned about the way his daughter was trying to ignore the issue to avoid a possible argument. He knew her well, and whatever she was hiding was affecting her, and he needed to know what it was.
• "That's what I would like to know, Dad... She always wants to argue with me, she won't let me do anything, she criticizes everything. Apparently, everything I do is wrong in her eyes. I can't stand her anymore," Victoria confessed, disheartened.
• "There's something, you have to tell me everything or I won't be able to do anything about it," Hank insisted, approaching the sofa where Victoria was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.
• "Dad, I don't think that's a good idea."
• "I want to know what's going on between you two. Your mother is strict, but she's furious about something in particular, and I want to know the reason from you, since you are directly involved."
• "Yes, because of my existence..." Victoria grumbled under her breath, remembering why her mom was mad at her.
• "Victoria, tell me about it," Hank insisted again, patiently but worried about the conflict between them. How long had they been like this and he hadn't noticed?
• "When you were traveling a few months ago, she..." Victoria fell silent, glancing at the stairs, making sure her mom wasn't nearby. "She met with him, with Evan. They went out to dinner and I was at the same restaurant with my friends. We were coming from a party and I... I wasn't exactly ‘sober,’ you know me. I didn't go there drunk either."
• "No need to explain, I believe you. What happened?"
• "Well, Evan saw me and wanted to say hi, but Jamie seemed disgusted to see us together..."
• "I want to hear the rest, daughter."
• "Okay... She was embarrassed and..." Victoria paused briefly, remembering the bitter moment she had with her mom. "She blames me for everything that happened... she says that because of me she can't see her son..."
• Victoria pointed to the vein on the right side of Hank's neck, a sign of his contained anger. "...You're upset, I can see it."
• "That's for me to think about. What else happened?"
• "Anyway, she hated me... She threw in my face that her duty as a mother was already done. She paid for my education. And now it was time for me to be independent and find a place to live on my own. That's all."
• "Why didn't you tell me before?" Hank said angrily.
• "Because you love her, Daddy. I don't want you to argue because of this, because of me."
• Hank took a long breath.
• "Daughter, I love you and you know you are everything to me. I don't want you to hide this kind of problem from me anymore, do you hear me?"
• Father's words encouraged Victoria, and she tried to say more.
• "I think Jamie is the one who has a problem in all of this. Because every time she meets up with Evan, she says bad things about me and then Evan always comes and asks me... I couldn't take it anymore, I could feel her contempt for me in everything she said to me. She also treats Noel and I completely differently."
• Victoria confessed anxiously, trying to keep calm, relying on her father's support.
• "I don't want you guys to fight. Just don't leave me alone with her. Or I swear I'll explode, Dad."
• Hank got up from his seat and began pacing back and forth in front of Victoria.
• "Listen to me, Victoria..." Hank took one of his daughter's hands in his. "You may be 23, but you're still in school. Your brother is almost 26 and Jimmy doesn't even mind him living with us. So there's no way you're going to be kicked out, and I'm not going to allow that to happen."
• Victoria let out a long breath.
• "What should I do?"
• "As for the rest... just do me a favor, daughter. Try to ignore her irritation... please try to relax and enjoy this limitless place. Can you just pretend to do that for me?"
• Victoria nodded, her eyes fixed on her father's chestnut eyes, whom she adored so much, and agreed to his request.
• But even so, the first week in "paradise" was still a disaster.
• Jamie blamed Victoria for the argument with Hank, even though Hank clearly told her that it wasn't a fight; he was just telling her that she needed to change her behavior toward her daughter. Jamie didn't think she had any problems at all with her attitudes toward the interaction of children with different fathers. Victoria's relationship with her mom was getting worse and worse, and Jamie couldn't even stand to hear, see, or be with her at one point.
• Luckily, the atmosphere started to ease up later on, and Victoria was able to enjoy her vacation a little bit.
• —
• After traveling all night back to reality, after those incredibly eventful vacations in the Caribbean, which despite all the initial problems, ended quite well, they stopped for some caffeine at the Starbucks cafe at the airport.
• "My daughter, can we talk for a minute?"
• Her dad asked, taking a seat next to her, while the rest helped Cami, the youngest, decide on a dessert.
• "Sure."
• Victoria nodded, taking off her headphones.
• "I know we just came back from a 9-hour flight, but in exactly an hour, you have to board again," her father informed her, smiling as he saw that little glimmer of hope appear in her dark eyes.
• Victoria asked Noel for help, and he said the festival is on its third date out of five, which means she can still make it to the last two.
• "Are you serious, Dad?"