To Stop Waiting

ChelseaLynn walked the two and a half miles to her house; her dad was at work. Usually when her teachers bombarded her with questions she used he dad ‘picking’ her up to excuse herself. It took her twenty-five minutes to walk the two and a half miles so now she was about a mile away from her home. Being the runner that she is, she ran the last mile to her house. The weight of her loaded backpack didn’t slow her, just presented more of a challenge, one that she appreciated. It took her a record time of six minutes to get to her house. She got to the front porch and went to sit on the padded cushions of the swing. Chelsea relaxed for a few minutes then stood up and felt under the cushions for something. She pulled her hand out holding a silver key and a note. She unfolded the orange sticky-note and read her father’s note:

I’ll be home about an hour later than usual today. I hope you don’t mind, but could you cook dinner tonight. Hope it’s not too much of a hassle for you.

Your Old Man

Sure, dad. It’s no problem at all. You should know that, Chelsea thought. She unlocked the door and walked into the kitchen. She put her backpack on her chair and began to pull out the ingredients for her favorite dinner. She grabbed a large pot from above the refrigerator, filled it with lightly salted water and put it to boil. Four ounces of linguine pasta were added, and then put it to drain about ten minutes later. To coat the chicken breasts, Chelsea put the Cajon seasoning and the two chicken breasts into a plastic bag and shook them. She put the Cajon-coated chicken breasts on a large skillet over medium heat and sautéed the chicken in butter for six minutes. She added sliced green and red bell pepper avoiding the mushrooms and green onion the recipe called for. ChelseaLynn stirred the ingredients for a few minutes then reduced the heat so that she could add cream, basil, lemon pepper, salt, garlic powder and black pepper. For the last step, Chelsea put in the pasta and tossed it around along with the other ingredients to heat it up. She split the now warn pasta and pepper into two equal servings and put each onto its own plate along with one chicken breast. It smelled and looked perfect.

Figuring she had a few minutes before her dad got home, she started to make Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. She had just wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer when she heard her dad’s car in the driveway. Chelsea’s face lit up at the sound and she ran through the front door to greet her father.

“Daddy!” she yelled running into his arms as is she were a five year old.

“Hey baby girl,” John said laughing at his daughter. “How was your day?”

“The same as always,” Chelsea responded, shrugging. “I made dinner like you asked.”

“Thanks sweetie.”

“You know you didn’t have to ask, right? I’ve made dinner every night since…” ChelseaLynn trailed off not sure if she wanted to finish. She didn’t care that her mom left them; she just didn’t like talking about it out loud. “Well, I’ve made dinner every night for almost a year now, it’s no big deal.” John stole a glance at his daughter; she had come so close to mentioning that fateful night. He wished she would’ve, he was beginning to think she still hadn’t gotten over it.

“Chelse. Do you want to talk about it?”

“’Bout what, Dad?”

“Your mom.” John kept a close eye on Chelsea. When he mentioned her mom she turned away.

“What’s there to talk about? She left us and that’s that. We can’t go back in time and I know she’s never coming back. There’s nothing we can do.” Chelsea began walking into the house, her father following behind. She put her dad’s plate of Cajun Chicken Pasta into the microwave, gave it to him then did the same with her plate.

“Are you excited about the last day of school?” John asked after a few minutes of dead silence.

“Yes and no.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, I’m ready for the last day of school at Rocky Mountain Middle School, but I just wish High School will start on Monday. I don’t want to wait the whole summer for it.”

“You and Andee both,” John said looking amused.

“By the way, what time is she supposed to be home tonight?” Chelsea asked. Her older (by one year) sister, AndeeLynn, had gone to a friend’s house after school. John looked at the clock mounted on the wall.

“She should be here in about half an hour.”

“Cool, I need to talk to her. Anyways, speaking of half an hour, I need to put the cookies into the oven!”

“You’re making cookies?” John asked sarcastically.

“Yup! Like always!” She rolled half of the dough into round balls and put them onto the cookie sheet her father had gotten out for her.

“Cookie Monster is going to love you,” John said using Andee’s nickname from when she was four years old. Chelsea shook her head, smiling.

“I wouldn’t go calling her that if she has any friends over, she’ll kill you.”

“Yeah. She’s my Cookie Monster and you’re my Humming Bird,” he began. Chelsea had just put the cookies into the oven and was sitting on the counter.

“Aww, come on, Dad. Please don’t. It’s embarrassing.” ChelseaLynn fake-glared at her dad.

“Geeez. Fine, Chelse,” John said holding his arms up in defeat. “Are you still going after that record deal?”

“Daaaad,” the blonde haired teen whined. “I was, like, five.”

“So?” John raised his eyebrows. “You might still want one.”

“Fine, maybe I do.”

“I thought so. Sing one of your songs for me.”

“I don’t want to,” Chelsea said looking away from her dad in embarrassment.

“It’s just the two of us,” John said, trying to convince his daughter to sing. There was a knock on the front door and Chelsea hopped off of the countertop.

“No it’s not, Andee’s home.”