Free The Line That Binds Series Box Set by J. M. Miller

dust from the curtain rods. He turned around with his mouth open, mid lip-sync.
    “Hi?” I said. There were so many questions tumbling inside my mind they pushed themselves onto my greeting, morphing it into a question.
    “Hi,” he replied with an uneasy smile. His lips moved in silence, plotting his thoughts before he spoke again. “I know you were working hard upstairs this morning. It looks great.”
    “Thanks?” The situation was so confusing it sent my mind into a frenzy. I’d never seen him clean. He was always too busy. But he was also never home. That’s why he didn’t object to me cleaning the old house. He’d thanked me before, even after canning a few maids on my obsessive behalf, but he never tried to physically help.
    Dad began absently dusting the lamp on the table in front of him. “I didn’t want to sit around and worry about tomorrow’s continued job search so I decided to make myself useful. I also told Gavin to take the paintings down into the basement.”
    “Great,” I replied, this time showing my own uneasy smile. I honestly had no other words. I wasn’t going to thank him, if that was what he was expecting. After all, he was the parent in this household. Though, I was a little grateful. It meant I wouldn’t have a ton of cleaning to do tomorrow after I finished working.
    I turned to leave, but he spoke again. “I haven’t added you or Gavin to the bus routes so I’ll drop you both off tomorrow. I’m going to call sometime during the day to have Gavin’s set up. Just let me know if you want me to call for yours, too.”
    “No, that’s fine.” I cringed at the thought of riding the bus. “I’ll try to figure something out.” I hadn’t ridden a bus since middle school, when I didn’t have friends or boyfriends with licenses. I pulled the cash from my pocket, keeping a twenty for myself, and dropped it on the end table next to the couch. “I had to buy some replacement stuff, but this should help with food.”
    “You didn’t have to sell your clothes.” His eyes creased with sincerity, deepening the crow’s feet and exposing his true age. “I never wanted you to do that. We should be okay with the money from Vegas until I land something in town.”
    “Just in case,” I replied. “Plus they weren’t really fitting anymore.”
    “Oh.” He nodded in understanding. “Okay.”
    We stared blankly at each other for a moment with only Bob Marley’s lyrics passing between us. I supposed it was another opportunity to talk to him. Something that I’d wanted to do so many times during all the years he worked ridiculous hours. There were so many things I wanted to know about him, about Mom, about everything before and everything after.
    About life.
    I couldn’t remember the last time we shared a lengthy conversation, especially one that didn’t involve school or work, or Gavin. Anger used to be the only emotion I felt about our disconnection, and I appeased that anger by blowing every penny of my indecent monthly allowance. It was a habit that was nurtured by both parents, an acceptable Band-Aid for our broken family. It continued after Mom left, and it would’ve continued forever if Dad hadn’t lost his job. It was our normal. Now he didn’t have a job. And the man I once hardly knew I knew even less, if that was even possible. The anger over our nonexistent bond remained, though regret and sorrow have each taken a place inside my heart, especially in silent moments like this.
    I nodded in response to our shared discomfort. “I’ve got to wash these for tomorrow.” I held up the bags filled with my new wardrobe. “See ya later.”
    “Later,” he replied and turned his attention back to the curtains.
    Gavin had done as Dad asked and placed all of the paintings in the basement. All the dreary wells stood at the foot of the stairs, leaning against each other in multiple stacks. He left the grocery bag of laundry items there, too. Clearly, moving things to a better,