S1 Week 3 Bonus Story: Daddy Dearest

Life with a Single Father

Welcome to Trainwrecks, a free-to-read fiction serial that follows a group of six Seattle-adjacent friends from the year 2004 to the year 2015. Join Luna Cruz, Sebastian Velasquez, Dimitri and Victoria Hale, Duke Kingston, and Jasmine Nolan as they stumble their way from adolescence to adulthood, falling in love, making mistakes, overcoming their pasts, and staying together through it all.

For series introduction, character profiles, relationship charts, and general orientation, check out the Table of Contents!

Author’s Note: This bonus chapter is exclusively for paid subscribers. For $5 a month (or a discounted $50 a year), you will receive an extra bonus story every week. Your paid subscription will be reinvested into the series in the form of artwork and advertising!

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Victoria’s earliest memory of her father was him stumbling home with his arm slung across his mate’s shoulder. She was three or four at the time, but she recalled the strong scent of alcohol that clung to him as he swooped down and kissed her on the head, his slurred speech as he called her his princess, the way he giggled all the way to the couch where his friend dumped him, complaining about how much he weighed. Then her great aunt Carmine shut the door on the scene and, with her usual severe expression, told Victoria it was time for bed.

~*~

For as long as she could remember, her father had been sad.

Certainly, there were times when he smiled and laughed with her, played with her in the park, took her on trips to other European countries, and told her outright how much fun he was having. But other times, she’d wake in her hotel bed and find him standing by the window, beer bottle in hand, his silhouette cutting the loneliest figure she had ever seen.

“Why is Daddy so sad?” she asked her great aunt Sophia one day as she brushed her hair to get her ready for school. Unlike Carmine, Sophia’s face was gentle and sweet, and she wore pretty dresses that made her look like a doll.

“Your father’s had his heart broken,” she said.

Victoria didn’t understand what that meant. “Shouldn’t he fix it, then? He’s a doctor.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple, love. Now be a good girl and hold still.”

She held still, trying to picture her father’s heart cracked down the middle, or perhaps missing a piece here and there. Surely, he must know how to fix it. He’d learnt how to fix all sorts of things.

“How does a broken heart get fixed?”

“Hmm… time, I suppose.” Sophia finished tying her braided ponytail. “Time heals all wounds. Some just take longer than others.” She tapped her on the shoulder. “Off you pop! The headmistress will be cross if you’re tardy again.”