Joe grabbed his cellphone and dialled the number he already knew so well, his home number. A couple rings and a familiar voice answered. "La?" His mother was on the other side. They exchanged a few words, all in Samoan because it meant so much more.
"I have someone here next to me jumping from excitement who reeeeally wants to talk you, la." His mother said with a smile in her voice. "Well let me talk to her then." Joe said, a smile on his lips already.
"Tam'a?!" A high pitched voice, yet soft like music to Joe's ears, screamed on the other line. "Hey, princess. How are you?"
"I'm ok. Where are you?!" Jojo was super excited, Joe could tell. "I'm a little far. Daddy misses you, baby."
"I miss you too, daddy. When will come home?" Her tone soften, it hurt her that he wasn't there. "Soon. Ok? Soon." It hurt him even more. His heart started racing, not from excitement, but from sorrow; his daughter was the most precious thing he had in the world and not having her around made it so much worse to survive his every day. "Awwwww. You always say that! And you never come and you never see me surf!"
"But you need to get good first to show daddy. That was our deal, remember? Because when daddy's there he wants to see you rock the board." A soft laugh escaped his lips but he could feel his heart getting smaller. "Uhm... Alright. Alright, deal! I'm gonna be so much better than you!" She said and laughed. In the background Joe heard his mother laughing too. "We'll see about that, la. Listen, daddy needs to know something. Remember that show you liked very much? Victorious?"
"Mmhm?" He just knew she had nodded as well. "Well, daddy wants to know who was your favorite from the show."
"Victoria! Jade was mean." He knew it. "But why, tam'a?"
"Daddy met Cat, princess." Oh what had he said... all hell broke loose on the other line. A moment later, Joe's mother was back on the phone. "Leati I don't know what you told your daughter but she went crazy!" She said and laughed, probably looking at her granddaughter. Joe laughed too. "I just told her I met someone she used to see on tv." In the background, Jojo screamed: "Can I meet her, daddy? Can I? Please!"
"Tina, tell her yes she will meet Cat." Joe said, laughing softly. Joe's mother gave her the message and more screaming happened. Joe laughed harder. "Alright I see I made her day."
"You always do, atali'i. She misses you every day. These calls mean so much to her." Joe stopped for a moment and closed his eyes. It meant a lot to him too. It was his only connection to his daughter while he was travelling. But enough good news, he needed to ask the hardest question. "Has Galina been calling?" His mother sighed. "She called on Thursday. But Jojo refused to talk to her."
A moment of silence. Joe sighed. "At least she called. Alright, tina, I have to hang up. I need to go to the gym and maybe to the arena..."
"I'm proud of you, Leati." Joe smiled sadly.
"I'm proud of you, Mother. Tell Jojo I love her." And a few moments later he hung up the phone and the tears he was holding for so long ran freely.
