Page 44 of DadBod

“For how long?” She’s giving this some thought at least.

“Until you’re twenty-one.”

“You can’t do that, Dad.” God, she’s angry. Her pretty face is beet red.

“I can and I will. We’re not doing this all summer, Ryann. Either you get with the program or no more phone, no more internet.”

“What?” she practically screams that part. “You can’t get rid of the internet.”

“Why not?” Rome asks. “I’ve got a hot spot. I’ll be okay.”

“You cannot be serious.” Ryann is beyond angry.

“I’m deadly serious.” He chuckles, but it’s dark. “I wanted to take the door off your bedroom, but Elizabeth thought that was taking it too far.”

He’s lying. That was my idea, but I see what he’s doing. He’s attempting to make me look like the good cop. I appreciate that.

“What?” she screeches again. “You can’t take my door.”

“I can. And I will if you don’t change your attitude about this summer.”

The girl sure can scream, because she does so at the top of her lungs. Not only that, Ryann does that thing where she throws her body down onto her bed and punches and kicks. It’s surreal watching it. I mean, I’ve seen it on television, and I’m sure I did it when I was her age.

Okay. Maybe not.

Taking the phone off speaker because I’d hate for her to hear us, I say softly to Rome, “She’s kicking and screaming, literally.”

“I heard.”

“Are we doing the right thing?” Rome’s quiet for too long. “Rome?”

He finally speaks, “What else can we do? We’ve got to smoke her out.”

Ryann’s stopped kicking, but she’s still facedown on her bed. It’s a crapshoot at this point. I’ve no idea what she’ll do now. “I’ll let you know what happens.”

“Sure.” Rome’s quiet again. “And thank you, Elizabeth.”

“Don’t thank me yet.”