Cruel Summer

“YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!?”

Everyone in the hotel lobby was silent. Not a single guest turned their eyes away from the drama that was happening between a father and his eldest daughter. As Summer shouted from the top of her lungs, her father stood his ground and scrunched his face with anger.

“I am dead serious!” he scolded, pointing his index finger toward her.

“The concert is literally tomorrow!” she cried. “You know how much this means to me!”

“Well, you should have thought about that before you made a damn fool of yourself,” he snarled. “Damn it Summer, do you even realize how bad this makes our family look?”

“I didn’t mean to, okay? I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not sorry…” her father huffed. “All you had to do was stay at home like we asked. Instead, you chose to ignore us. I swear…this is why we can’t have nice things.”

While staring at her father’s burning red face, Summer gradually began to calm herself down. Her eyes were beginning to water and she did her best to make her lips quiver as she pleaded for forgiveness.

“Look…I know that I did something bad,” Summer pouted, pressing her hands together in a praying motion. “I truly am sorry about it…I really am! Please, Dad. It’s Christmas. Is there any way you can forgive me? I promise I won’t do it again.”

Placing both hands on his hips, Summer’s dad let out a long sigh as he listened to his daughter ramble on. Checking the time on his watch, he glanced over at his wife and other daughter while contemplating his response.

“You do know this could ruin the family business your uncle and I worked so hard for?” he groaned.

“I…I didn’t know,” Summer mumbled.

“No…of course not,” her father chuckled sarcastically. “You know what? You’re right. It is the holiday season and I think you deserve a second chance.”

“You mean it?!” Summer said with the biggest smile on her face. “Oh, thank you fath-!”

“Not so fast young lady!” her father rebutted. “You aren’t out of the woods just yet. You seriously need to learn to respect your elders.”

“Okay…” she hummed.

Curling his index finger to his lips, Summer’s dad began pacing back and forth as he thought of an appropriate punishment for her. While looking around the room, he then shifted his attention back to Summer and folded his arms.

“This is how it’s going to go down,” her father continued. “You are going to go back up to your hotel room and I want you to spend the rest of tonight thinking about what you have done. When your uncle gets here, I want you to apologize to him for how you acted. IF…and I do mean if, he forgives you, then you can go to the concert tomorrow. If not, I will call someone in the morning to pick you up and take you back home while the rest of the family stays here on vacation.”

Standing there motionless, Summer was sickened by his response. She went from being the happiest person in the world to now only feeling anger and bitterness toward her dad. Clenching her fists, Summer shrugged her shoulders and fought against the idea.

“No! There’s no way I’m apologizing to that creep!” she defended. “You know I don’t like Uncle Joe!”

“See, that’s your problem right there!” her father shouted. “Like it or not, Uncle Joe is part of this family. OUR FAMILY. Tell me why you shouldn’t apologize to him. Give me one good reason, Summer.”

“He’s a fucking pervert!” Summer rebutted. “He always tries to flirt with me and my friend and it’s disgusting!”

“You know, that’s the problem with your generation. You are all so sensitive.”

“NO. WE. ARE. NOT.” Summer defended. “He’s a dirty old man who tries his best to schmooze his way into anything. Have you seen how he behaves towards me and my friends? He’s gross!”

“Did he ever touch you inappropriately?” her father huffed.

“Huh?”

“Did…Uncle Joe ever inappropriately touch you or your friends?” he pressed on.

“N…no,” Summer hesitantly answered.

“Did he ever say he wants to have sex with you or your friends?”

“No, but-”

“Then Uncle Joe has done nothing wrong,” her father sighed.

“You’ve got to be joking!” she hissed. “He’s sexually harassed us numerous times! Just because he didn’t psychically do anything doesn’t make it okay for him to continue his toxic behavior.”

“Well maybe if you weren’t so rude to him, he’d probably respect you more,” her father patronized.

Dropping her jaw in disbelief, Summer was now silent. She fought every bone in her body to not smack that smug look off of her father’s face. With a single tear trickling down her cheek, Summer slowly began shaking her head.

“Wow…” she whispered.

As the drama began winding down, all the guests in the hotel lobby eventually turned their attention away from Summer and her father.

“This conversation is over, Summer,” her dad exhaled. “I want you to go back into your hotel room and think about what we’ve talked about. Here in the next hour, I will DoorDash your dinner for you.”

“Do we still get to pick the Christmas tree this year?” asked Summer’s little sister as she chimed into their conversation.

“Yes sweetie,” their father smiled. “After we have dinner, we will go to the Christmas tree farm and pick out a tree.”

Pouting her lips, Summer glared at her father in disbelief. Another teardrop began to roll down her face as she hoisted her purse strap over her shoulder.

“I can’t believe you…” she seethed, resentfully staring at her father.

No more words were exchanged between them. After glaring at her dad for a few more seconds, Summer eventually turned around and walked back toward her hotel room.