I hadn’t heard from my stepdaughter, Hyacinth, in what felt like ages. So, when she invited me to dinner, I thought maybe this was it—the moment we might finally clear the air. But honestly, I could never have guessed the surprise she had in store for me that night at the restaurant.
My name’s Rufus, and I’m 50 years old. Over the years, I’ve learned to settle into my routines. My life is pretty simple, maybe even a little too predictable. I work an average office job, live in a modest home, and usually spend my evenings with a book or watching the news on TV.
It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a life I’m used to and fine with. The one thing I’ve never been able to fully figure out is my relationship with my stepdaughter, Hyacinth.
It had been a long time—maybe over a year—since I’d heard from her. We never really hit it off, not since I married her mom, Lilith, when Hyacinth was still a teenager.
She always kept her distance, and, over time, I guess I did too. I wasn’t pushing to be close anymore. But when she called out of the blue, sounding unusually upbeat, it caught me off guard.
“Hey, Rufus,” she said, her voice surprisingly cheerful. “How about we grab dinner? There’s this new restaurant I want to try.”
At first, I didn’t know what to think. It had been so long since we spoke, and now she was inviting me to dinner? Was this her way of trying to make things right? To reconnect? If it was, I wasn’t about to say no. I’d been waiting for something like this for years—a chance to feel like family.
