'don't tell daddy'

deleted scenes, part 3: redeeming my parents

Programming note: To commemorate the paperback release, I’m running deleted chapters/scenes from the first draft of Ambition Monster all week.

It’s the fall of 1997. I’m 24 and still married to Troy. We’ve just moved to Boston, one final relocation to see if we can make this flimsy Saran Wrap marriage stick. I’m back in college, close to a writing degree, up to my neck in schoolwork, waitressing work, and newly-acquired student loans. One afternoon my dad calls and tells me he’s buying tickets to see the Indigo Girls, my mom’s current favorite band, for her birthday. He wants me to come down and join, a mother-daughter date. Like most things with my dad, it’s more a command than an ask. I could say no but I don’t want to let him down so I say “Yeah, sure.”