program. Seven months later, you had to have another surgery. Now it’s rehab again. I have supported you through all of it. We agreed that once you graduated from university, you would find a way to support yourself financially. You graduated two months ago. I feel I have been patient waiting this long to revisit this discussion.”
Frustration had Jasmine pressing her lips together. Was it her fault Matthew Gersch had dropped her in the middle of their pas de deux and ruptured her ACL? If it hadn’t been for that, she was sure she’d be dancing with her new company right then instead of having this conversation.
It wouldn’t make a difference to utter those words to her father, however. Li Wei didn’t believe in shifting responsibility, and he had raised his daughters to accept ownership of their circumstances. That Jasmine retained bitter resentment toward Matthew was her own cross to bear.
“I appreciate all you’ve done for me,” she said. “I’m fortunate to have your support. Dr. Parker says in just a few more months—”
“I can’t afford a few more months.”
Her lips parted. She drew a shallow, tenuous breath. “Are you all right, Bàba? You’re not…”
Picking up on her concern, he waved his hand and shook his head. “Of course I am all right. I would hardly spring something like an illness on you, especially after what we went through with your mother.”
Jasmine allowed herself to breathe. Relief blended with confusion.
What had her father meant about not being able to afford to continue helping her even for a few months? He was a tenured professor of accounting at Emory University. His salary was substantial. The house was paid for, as it was the home he and her mother had purchased right after they got married. Between that and the life insurance payment he received after her mother died six years ago, money shouldn’t have been a problem.
Was she really such a drain on his finances?
Did she really just try and justify urging her father to spend her mother’s life insurance money on her?
Who had she become?
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t realize…I don’t want to be a burden.”
He tugged off his gardening gloves and reached over to cover her hand with his. “You are never a burden, my daughter. But it is my role as your parent to give you wings, and I fear I have merely clipped them.”
“That’s not true. You’re helping me accomplish my goal of dancing professionally. This injury is just a temporary setback.”
Something in her father’s expression before he looked away made her wonder how much he agreed with her. “Be that as it may, your mother and I planned carefully for our retirement. By continuing to support you as I have…as we did before your mother passed…I have had to push off my retirement.”
Her father had been twelve years older than her mother and they had waited until later in life to have children. Jasmine hadn’t really considered that her father had already celebrated his seventieth birthday, nor that he actually wanted to retire. Teaching had been his whole life.
“I see,” she murmured.
“I’ll cover your rent and expenses through the end of the month,” he said, returning to the Rhododendron.
That gave her a little jolt. It was the tenth of February.
“That’s barely more than two weeks. What will I tell Danielle?” she asked, referring to her roommate.
“I have already communicated with Danielle’s parents about this change. They are prepared to pay your portion of the rent until she finds a new roommate.”
Jasmine lifted the trowel she’d been using earlier and wiped it with one of the cloths her father used to keep his gardening tools clean. Her movements were focused and purposeful to keep from throwing the trowel through the greenhouse window across the yard. She may have been raised to respect and honor her parents, but that didn’t mean she agreed with her father’s unyielding decision.
“It seems you’ve left me with no choice.” Her tone was as brisk as her movements.
“I believe this is the best way to make this transition. Clean and precise,” her father said with a snip of his shears, “like pruning an overgrown bush to allow for new growth.”
“I’m not a Rhododendron,” she muttered.
Once again, her father paused to focus on her. He transitioned into Mandarin when he said, “I am confident you can handle this change, daughter. It is time for you to rely on your inner strength. You have resources aside from my money. Make use of them.”