AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her apartment was nothing like I expected. It wasn't big, and the paint on the walls looked like a unicorn had vomited all over it, but something about the place felt very comfortable.
I caught her watching me with a glare as if expecting me to criticize her apartment.
"It's…" I searched for the right word. "Nice."
For the life of me, I couldn't understand why she would leave the mansion, where she grew up, and move to such a basic place.
"Of course it is. It's mine." Her tone was sharp, and I recognized it as her being on guard.
"You can sit down on the sofa," she said over her back at me as she dropped her bag on the small kitchen counter. That is if your suit is not too expensive for my cheap furniture."
Ouch.
Nevertheless, I dropped down on the sofa, a brow shooting up. It was surprisingly soft. My gaze never left Felicity, though.
As always, she was beautiful, and I was thankful she'd taken after her mother, though she was the only one in the family who wore glasses. Her maxi skirt fell to her ankles. The only skin she showed was her lower arms, visible from under the dress shirt she'd folded up to her elbow.
I frowned. Wait. Long skirt? Why was I just noticing that? In fact, now that I thought about it, I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen her in those cute summer dresses and denim shorts she liked to wear.
When did that happen? Fuck.
I'd been so caught up in my head that I hadn't thought to check on her.
That boy, Aaron, had opened a tap inside me that I hadn't been able to shut since his visit this morning.
My daughter didn't sit. Instead, she stood next to the counter and folded her arms across her chest, her gaze fixed on me. I would have given anything to know what was running through her mind.
"You wanted to talk," she said. "So talk."
Straight to the point. Her voice had so much anger, and I briefly wondered if our relationship was beyond repair. Regardless, I was willing to try.
How did one start to apologize after a four-year fuck up?
"Did you later catch the real culprit?" I asked.
What was wrong with me? Two words. I'm sorry. How hard could that be?
Oblivious to my internal struggles, she nodded. "Yeah. Thankfully, I'm not jobless anymore."
I nodded curtly. "I'm glad."
Her eyes narrowed again. Seriously. It was beginning to worry me how good she was at unsettling me with those eyes of hers. "You're glad? The same person who has been badgering me to work for him?"
I allowed a wry smile to stretch my lips. "Yeah, well. I was recently told that I can be a little overbearing sometimes."
"A little?" she scoffed. "More like a lot."
"I get it."
An awkward silence followed. We held eye contact for a few moments, and in those moments, it hit me that everything that had happened had been really hard on her. If I was right—and I usually was—then she'd changed her mode of dressing because of it.
She'd been young—too young. A blinding wave of emotion hit me, and I let out a sigh.
"Come sit, sweetheart. There's something I have to tell you."
Surprisingly, she didn't argue. Maybe she also felt very heavy like I did. After all, it took two to tango. Though in this case, I'd taken the lead.
Felicity sat beside me, keeping a reasonable distance between us. It hurt that my little girl would feel the need to keep any kind of space between us, but I understood that it made her feel more at ease.
