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Show Inside Out, 225 We were standing in the middle of the kitchen now. Everyone else had gone to bed, it seemed. I turned to face him, looked him full in the face and saw that he was getting older. He looked tired and worried but his eyes were full of love for me. It surprised me to see that he really did need my reassurance. I hadn't thought before that parents might need emotional help from their kids sometimes. For a second I thought about Terra's mom, waiting to hear Terra's reaction to the news in her father's letter. And then I thought about Leslie. I reached out and took my father's hand, looked right into his eyes and said, "Dad, I really do know you love me. You're busy with all of us, but you love me as much as you love them. I know it. And . . . And I know I was unfair to Leslie. I'm going to try to do better with her, to get to know her. She's really trying to be good to me. I know that." He smiled a huge smile. "Ahh, Andli, thank you. That's the best thing you can do forme." ] "It's what I should do," I said. Then something shifted in his face. "Andli, I've been thinking. It was wrong of me to keep you from driving. I guess-I guess I thought I could keep you safe, somehow guarantee that nothing bad would happen to you if I kept you off the road. But that's not fair of me. You've got to grow up and be in the world. I'm sorry for being stupid. What I'm trying to say is I'm ready for you to get your license." "Really?" "Really." "Thank you!" I threw my arms around him. |