Re: Savannah/Jamie
"Is the age the problem?" she asked gently. "Or is it what it represents? Because you're an adult now, a year more or less doesn't really mean much at this point. Even if he were older, he couldn't tell you what to do or ground you if you don't listen." Not that she thought any of their parents ever did that. "Except that the baggage isn't out there or with him, it's inside you, Jamie, and you can talk about separating the two so you don't project, but you can't do that. No one could, because your head might tell you that it's two different people and then he will do something that's so much like your father that nothing your head says will impact how you feel and I can guarantee that you will have that."
She sighed. "My father told me that this is the best solution. I get to have a great and young dad and he doesn't have to deal with me growing up. He meant well and that's so much like my father that it hurts, but the fact that he truly didn't want to deal with me as a child hurts too. So you accept that you can't change people, accept that who they were at a young age is just a mirror of who they were at an older age and then you work at reconciling your feelings, because you can't separate them and you will start drinking if you try. On the other hand, I think he might actually prefer if you tell him how you feel, not what happened, because he can't fix that, but if he has something to fix, something to strive for, he might just surprise you."
She nodded. "And I don't want him to make you even more closed off than you already are." Savannah chuckled at the last comment. "His secretaries started with a sense of awe. I started feeling like a primary school teacher trying to make people behave, so the shine was off before I even started."