Mystery flew through Karlee’s ears as Billie Eilish’s ethereal tone whispered through her earbuds.  The sun could not break through the cloud cover and settled for a slow spread of pink to break up the melancholic monochrome that the tropical storm left in its wake.  A gust flew through the holes in Karlee’s oversized sweater and whipped her fine, dark honey hair into a dance around her face.  Unphased, Karlee’s eyes were staid on shore, where the waves rose and fell in sequence.  A silhouette a few feet behind the edge of the shore cast out again, fiddling with the rod for a moment before setting it in the rod holder planted in the sand.  The figure then sat slowly into a lawn chair and took a swig from a thermos.

Karlee hummed softly with the song as she approached the lawn chair.  Her father looked back at her and gave a gentle grin before turning back to the waves.  Standing beside him, Karlee removed her right earbud and leaned down to kiss his cheek before setting her hand on his shoulder.  He brought his hand up to rest on hers and they stood in silent awe, each taking in the crisp, October morning.  Karlee gave a loving squeeze to her father’s shoulder before reaching down for his thermos and taking a sip of the warm coffee.  No cream.  Two Stevia packets.

“Catch anything?” she asked, gesturing her head toward the cooler beside the fishing gear.

“Not worth keeping.  Caught a little bluefish, but he couldn’t have been more than a foot, so he wasn’t worth bringing home.  Give him another year or so to fatten up.”

“That is, if Joe doesn’t get him first,” Karlee’s voice was full of teasing and her father let out a sigh and shook his head.

“Yeah, exactly,” he looked over at her and rolled his eyes.  “He was out here this morning and called me over to look at his cooler before heading in.  Three big ones.  Said he came out here at 4:30 this morning and caught ‘em all up right quick.  I think he was out here longer than he remembers.”

Karlee chuckled and sat down on the sand beside him, looking back out toward the horizon.  “I thought you were going to get me up to come out this morning.”

“I had thought about it, but I know you were up studying last night.”

“I would have gotten up.”  Her eyes drifted toward his profile, taking in the dark circles under his eyes, and the wrinkles she had never remembered being there before her mother left.

“I know that.  You needed sleep.  How late were you up, anyway?”

Karlee shrugged, “Two forty-five-ish.”

Her father turned towards her with a chiding look, “Karlee, you need to be getting more sleep than that.”

“I know that, Dad, but I also need to keep up my grades.  Some of the scholarships were only valid the one semester.”

“I understand that, but you can’t be going along on less than four hours of sleep for that long, Kar.”  The concern for his daughter crept its way into his voice, and he reached over to pat her shoulder.  “Remember what your mom always said about sleep.  It’s necessary for -”

“Yeah, well, Mom always said a lot of things.”

Silence.

“Kar, I know -”

“Stop,” her voice shook slightly and she cleared her throat.  “I don’t need to hear it again.”

“Karlee, your mom -”

“Left.  She left.”  Karlee stood up and brushed the sand off of her legs, blinking the beginning of tears out of her gray-green eyes.  “I’m fine, Dad, okay.  I don’t want to talk about her.”

Her father sighed and ran a hand over his face.  “Okay.”

Karlee leaned down to absently kiss the top of his head.  “I’m going to go make breakfast and get Livi up.  You want some French Toast?”

“I think I’ll be good.  I need to pack up here soon and get to work.”  He stood slowly from the chair and began folding it up.

“You’re working today?  It’s Saturday.”

“They asked me last night to come in and do a little overtime today.  With Charlie leaving, we are a little backed up until we fill that position.”  He walked over to his fishing rod and began to reel it in.  “Will you and Liv be okay today?”

“Yeah,” Karlee said absent-mindedly as she tried to figure out how to make sure Livi was occupied today while she studied for her exam on Monday.

“Are you sure?  I can contact your grandmother and see if she can take Livi for the day.”

“No, I’m fine.  I can handle it.”  Karlee grabbed the lawn chair, folded it up, and swung it over her shoulder.

“I can get that, Kar.”  His eyes softened as he looked at her.

“I got it.  See you inside, Dad.”  Karlee turned on her heels and put her earbuds back in, making her way towards their house.

“If I love you was a promise, would you break it if you’re honest?”  Karlee’s eyebrows furrowed as her lips curled into a bittersweet acknowledgment of her reality and took a breath before softly joining in with the song.  “I don’t wanna be you… anymore.”