I stepped out of the busy airport terminal and looked around at the people standing their waiting for one of their loved-ones to emerge. Among those people was my dad. “Great.” He spotted me and waved to me with a smile on his face. I mean I’d be happy to see him too if he evenattemptedto stay in touch with me over the course of thirteen years.

 

“Hey kiddo,” He greeted as I walked over to him.

 

“Hi,” I had nothing more to say to him.

 

“It’s been a while.” He said as we began walking to the baggage claim. “You’ve grown up into a beautiful woman.” I rolled my eyes.

 

“Thanks.” I was hoping he would just quit trying to start a conversation with me. I still don’t have anything to say to him, I gave up after months of waiting for him to comeback. Only that day never came.

 

We finally made our way to the baggage claim where I grabbed my whopping one bag of clothes. I set the suitcase down on the ground and began to walk away. “Wait,” My dad said grabbing my tiny forearm in his calloused hand. “That’s all your clothes?” I looked down at the suitcase then back up at him.

 

“Pretty much.” I said as he dropped my arm. He dropped the topic and followed me as we walked side my side out of the airport.

 

“We’re parked over here.” He pointed somewhere over on the left side of the parking lot. I followed him as he led me over to a big truck. “Let me grab your bags and you can hop on in.” I gladly obliged and left my suitcase there for him to take. I walked over to the passenger side and climbed into the seat.

 

“God, I hate being short.” I grumbled under my breath as I plopped down in the tan leather seat. I sat there for literally a second before the driver’s side door opened and my dad climbed in.

 

“Ready to go?” No.

 

“Sure.” I said lethargically as he started the truck. I let out a breath and rested my elbow on the arm rest. I haven’t even seen the place and I’m already dreading it. I mean, I’ve never been to Pennsylvania before, but I googled pictures and I knew that this place wasn’t going to be my cup of tea, or in my case, my type of latte.

 

I managed to fall asleep during some point in the two hour car ride and I must say aside from the slight jostling from turning, and changes in road level, it was ten times better than sleeping on that plane. There were, I don’t know, maybe three little kids. One sat behind me incessantly kicking the back of my seat. The others sat somewhere in the back and they would constantly bicker and cry and whine and let me tell you. It was not pleasant. At least now there was nothing but the hum of the engine to keep me relaxed.

 

I just started to fully fall asleep when there was a big bump causing me to jolt forward. “What the heck?” I rubbed the back of my head and looked over at my dad who was grinning like mad.

 

“We’re home.” I looked forward through the windshield and for the first time I was speechless. The farm lay on lush emerald-green grass. There were horses galloping around in their paddocks and they had numerous training areas. “Gorgeous, isn’t it?”

 

“Yea.” I responded even though I was completely taken back by how much land they owned. I mean I know farms are big and stuff, but this farm was enormous.

 

“There she is.” I heard a female voice say. I turned around and was immediately embraced in a tight hug. I was slightly taken back by the sudden gesture but I managed to pat her back awkwardly a few times before she released me from her hug of death. “I’m Tanya, you must be Camille. The pictures your father showed me surely do not do you justice. You’re gorgeous.” She gushed pulling me in for another hug.

 

“Uhhh…thank you.” I said trying to smile, but I was in a state of culture shock and the smell coming from the barns was certainly not helping.

 

“Why don’t we get you settled and then we can eat because I can only imagine how great the airline food was.” I managed to smile, well somewhat, and I followed her into the house as my dad followed behind us with my suitcase. I followed Tanya through the front door of the mansion-like house and up the stairs. “This is your room. I hope you like the decorating. I only had two days to get this room ready for you.” She smiled showing off her dazzling white teeth.

 

I walked into the room and looked around at it almost shocked at how nice it was. The floor was kept hard wood just like every other room in the house. The walls were a bright purple. Purple was my favorite color. The bed was black just like the rest of the furniture in the room. I turned back to look at my dad and Tanya. “I love it.” I forced another smile and dropped my suitcase on the bed.

 

“Brian, you only brought up one of her suitcases?” Tanya questioned.

 

“No, this is the only one I brought.” I interjected before my dad could answer. “My mom took me shopping a lot, but my clothes always seem to be swallowed up by her closet.”

 

“She buys you clothes and then takes them for herself?”

 

“Pretty much.” I answered nonchalantly unzipping the suitcase as I began to unpack.

 

Tanya and my dad were whispering about something at the door before Tanya said, “I’ll leave you to your privacy. When you’re done you can come down for dinner.” I nodded.

 

“Thank you.” I said just before the door closed.

 

I sighed as I dumped my clothes out of the suitcase and began sorting through the pile. I brought probably three pairs of shorts, two pairs of jeans, ten tops, and five shoes. For shopping almost every day instead of studying I had the amount of clothes of a poor person. I hung up all my clothes in the closet and placed all my shoes in there as well before closing the sliding doors. “Well that was hard.” I said sarcastically flopping back on my bed, which I must say, is so comfortable. I was just beginning to doze of yet again before my stomach let out a low growl. “I’m so hungry.” I whined placing my hands over my empty stomach. I guess I had to leave the room sooner or later. I got to my feet and landed with a ‘thud’ on the floor. “Mine as well get something to eat.” I walked out into the hall before descending the stairs.

 

“Hey sweetie.” My dad called from the table. I looked at him a nodded my head.

 

“Hey.”

 

“I have a plate for you already sitting on the table.” Tanya said from the stove. I took a seat and began eating the food that was on the plate. Tanya made mashed potatoes, corn, biscuits, and basically every single food that I loved. I sat there sitting at the table feeling a wave of guilt wash over my body. To think of all the things I called Tanya, I couldn’t help but feel almost disgusted with myself. But then again, she was the reason my dad walked out on my mom and I. Either way, I felt like the biggest piece of trash ever to walk the Earth.

 

“So Camille, have you ever worked with horses before?” I shook my head because I had a mouth full of mashed potatoes in my mouth. “Well I can teach you.” She said smiling. “There’s nothing more liberating than riding on the back of a horse.” I nodded not really knowing what to say to that. “Thank you” or maybe “Yea”, how do you answer that?

 

“Well, when you two are done.” Dad said pushing his chair out from behind the table. “Camille if you could meet me in the barn.” And then he walked out the patio doors.

 

Tanya smiled. “Your father has a surprise for you. I helped him with picking.” She winked. “You can go now if you want. I won’t be offended.”

 

“Okay, I’ll be right back then.” I picked up my plate and set it down on the counter next to the sink before walking out the same patio doors.

 

I emerged into the fresh, well somewhat, farm air and wandered down the steps toward the part of the farm where the barn was. “Dad?” I said with a slightly raised voice as I wandered down the rocky path that led me right to the entrance to the barn that housed most of the horses here. “Dad?” I called out again before seeing him at the other end of the barn by the paddock fence. “You wanted to talk to me?” I asked awkwardly seeing him talking to one of the stable hands.

 

“There you are.” He said smiling. “I have a surprise for you.” I’ll be honest, I probably should’ve been excited but I was actually nervous to see what it was. It’s been years and he was practically a stranger to me, my own father.

 

“Okay?” I followed him back into the barn and he told me to stop. I heard running footsteps before I was gently been pushed forward.

 

“I got you.” The voice didn’t belong to my dad. I guessed it belonged to the stable hand who he was standing with. I mean it had to be since he was the only other person I saw since I got here.

 

“Are you ready?” My dad asked.

 

“Uhhh…I guess?”

 

“Reach your hands out slowly.” He said and I did it. My hand found what I guessed was a horse? We were on a farm. “This is Romance, she’s a sweetheart.” I fully opened my eyes to see a black and white horse with a black and white mane standing in front of me.

 

“Dad, you know I’ve never been on a horse. Or around one for that fact.” He chuckled.

 

“Well, I guess I figured it would be a good way to bond with Tanya.” Nice. “Just keep an open mind about it. I would hate to see this sweet girl sit cooped up in her stall all day.”

 

I sighed. “I guess it can’t be that hard.” I reached my hand out to touch her soft nose again. She let out whinny.

 

“I think she likes you.” The stable hand said. I smiled. I took another look at him before realizing how cute he really was. “I’m Jace by the way.”

 

“I’m Camille.” Dad was about to say something before I saw a camera flash. “What the –”

 

Tanya snapped another picture before asking, “Do you like her?” I nodded.

 

“She’s…she’s pretty.” I stroked her nose one more time before feeling her nuzzle my arms. I jumped because it tickled.

 

“She’s a dream.” Tanya gushed. “I’m hoping we can ride sometime tomorrow after we go shopping for some clothes.”

 

“You don’t need to do that.” I said holding my hands up, but she insisted.

 

“Non-sense, you’re starting school in a month and I think you need more clothes.” I shrugged.

 

“It’s not necessary thought.”

 

“O please,” She flicked her wrist. “I’ve never had a daughter before. I was hoping you could be like the daughter I never had.” Okay…awkward.

 

I slightly smiled before saying, “Well maybe you can be like the mom I never had.” Is it just me, or did I just make this whole thing awkward.

 

“Well, I’m just excited to have another girl around here to talk to. The only ones here are the trainers and stable hands.” She laughed. “Well, I’ll leave you to Romance and we can talk about shopping later.” I nodded. I watched as she disappeared back toward the house.

 

“Camille, I was hoping we could talk sometime about what happened between your mother and I.” My dad said before realizing Jace had left. I looked up at him. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for losing touch with you. Every girl needs her father and that was my only job. I needed to take care of you and I felt that I failed at that.” You think. “But now we can make up for lost time.” I nodded feeling tears begin to swell my eyes.

 

“Yea, I need to take a walk.” I didn’t wait for him to say anything, I just ran. I ran without knowing where I was going. I was running away from my problems. 

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