Chapter 1 - The Ringing Phone
The vibration of my father’s name on the screen felt loud against the quiet of our kitchen. Daniel looked up from his tablet, his eyes narrowing slightly as he watched me. For three years, since the quiet estrangement that began when I chose to build Wildflower House instead of taking a desk job at my father's architectural firm, my father had communicated with me exclusively through brief, polite texts on my birthday and Christmas.
My mother was the one who managed the family's narrative. My father was the one who simply looked away.
Until Friday afternoon, less than twenty-four hours before Tyler and Haley's grand wedding.
I swiped the screen and pressed it to my ear.
"Dad."
He paused, a heavy, measured silence on the line. When he finally spoke, his voice lacked its usual commanding authority. It sounded tired. Thinner than I remembered.
"Kora, sweetheart… what’s happening?" he asked.
I didn't answer right away. I took a sip of my coffee, looking out the kitchen window at the manicured lawn of Wildflower House, where the white tent was supposed to go up in less than twelve hours.
"What do you mean, Dad?" I asked calmly.
"I mean, the florist just called the house in a panic," he said, his tone ticking up with underlying stress. "Beverly. She said her delivery trucks for tomorrow have been cancelled. And the catering manager from Cypress Kitchen called your mother twenty minutes ago saying their contract was terminated under Section 14. Kora, the guests start arriving in less than twenty-four hours. Tyler is losing his mind. What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything," I replied, keeping my voice even. "I stayed home. Exactly like Mom and Tyler asked me to."
"Don't play games with me," he snapped, a flash of his old impatience bleeding through. "You own the venue. You handle the preferred vendors. Beverly said you pulled the master authorization. If you have a grievance with your mother or Tyler about the seating chart or... or whatever foolishness happened this week, you fix this right now. You call Beverly back."
"I can't do that, Dad," I said.
"Why the hell not?"
"Because Wildflower Hospitality LLC isn't a family charity, and Section 14 of our operating agreement gives the sole managing member the absolute right to terminate vendor access and venue use in the event of a breach of conduct or unmitigated liability," I recited, the words familiar and ironclad. "Tyler signed it in November. Mom co-signed as guarantor. You might want to ask them if they ever turned to page eighteen before signing their names."
The line went silent. I could hear the faint murmur of voices in the background—my mother crying, someone else panicking.
"Kora," my father said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "This is your brother's wedding. Your family. You are humiliating us in front of three hundred people."
"No, Dad," I said quietly. "I'm just staying out of their hair. Exactly like they asked me to."
May you like
And with that, I hung up.
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