“Not everything,” she muttered, averting her troubled gaze from mine. “How about you stop dancing around what you wantto say and just say it?” she asked, shrugging calmly while I paused midstride from pacing in front of her.
Women didn’t typically get away with talking to me like her. For some reason, when Harbor did it, it turned me on. Usually, I was ready to knock a bitch’s head through the wall, but with her, the vibe was different. I told myself that it was nothing. I had chemistry with most women. This was something else.
“Maybe we should have this conversation when you aren’t already emotionally charged,” I concluded, heading for the door.
“Oh, now you want to analyze me?” Her face balled up angrily.
“I’ll just give you a minute.” I traveled to the door and let myself out.
She must have grabbed something because I heard a thud, which meant she had thrown something at the door in her moment of rage. After I locked her up, I decided to join Celine and Ivy for dinner. The table was set, and the food was spread. Brownies were in the oven, and it smelled heavenly when I sat down. Ivy was already in her chair, and Celine brought fresh rolls over to go with everything. After saying grace we made our plates. Everything was mouthwatering. The steak was tender and juicy, the potatoes were seasoned to perfection, and the asparagus wrapped in bacon was one of my favorites. We ate in silence, and Ivy studied me as I stuffed my face. I could practically feel the hole she was burning in me.
“I got a list of schools so that we could go and ’em check out this week.” I didn’t bring my eyes up from the plate.
“Hmm, is it going to be private or public?” Ivy queried, and this time I focused on her.
I continued to chew my food while I soaked in her face. She was definitely grown up. She wasn’t some snaggletoothed little girl anymore that took my word as nothing but the truth. Shewas almost a teenager, and full of questions. I could see it in her bright eyes.
“Which do you prefer?” I asked, holding my utensils in each hand while lingering near my plate.
“I want to study arts. Public schools unfortunately are limited on those courses. So I would prefer private, even though I hate the people,” she muttered and rolled her pretty brown eyes right after.
“Then we will find something that suits you,” I agreed, nodding.
“So… Lyra isn’t here today.” Ivy moved her potatoes around on her plate and brought her eyes to mine.
“Nah, she’s just…”
“A friend?” Ivy chimed up, lifting one brow.
She didn’t give me room to reply. For a twelve-year-old, her conversation was a little too mature for my liking. I wondered how exactly Gardenia had been raising her.
“What about the other one? Who is she?” she asked, stuffing her face with potatoes.
“Harbor is… a business associate,” I answered, avoiding my daughter’s prodding stare.
“Why is she held hostage in her room all the time?” Ivy squinted and narrowed both brows at me. “I mean… is she antisocial or something?” For a second, I thought that my daughter had disobeyed and gone where she was forbidden.
She was concerned but more nosy than anything. My mouth stopped moving, and I shot a warning glare across the table. After I swallowed my food, I reached for the glass of Merlot that Celine poured and took a slow, thoughtful sip. Tension thick as fog built in the air. Ivy’s shoulders shrank, and her eyes drifted to her plate.
“Let’s make a few things clear around here. I am the parent. Your father. My seed is the reason you grew inside your mother.She’s not here anymore. I am who you have left. I have taken care of you your entire life. Maybe you have forgotten the rules. Or maybe you’re getting older and think that somehow they change. They don’t. We don’t talk about my life like I am your friend. That’s not what this is. You don’t question me about anything that goes on around here, and you stay in a child’s place.”
Ivy’s eyes misted, and she sniffled while slowly bobbing her head. The look on her face struck something inside me. It was the same sullen expression that Harbor wore when she heard her father’s accusations against her.
“I was just asking. I didn’t go over and start bothering her or anything. I just… I hear music in my room. It comes in through the vent, very faint. It’s pretty. I wonder what she’s doing in there for all those hours with those beautiful notes bouncing off the walls. She’s got taste too. Some of that stuff I’ve never heard before. Music. Real music.” Ivy’s eyes shined while she talked, and Celine simpered beside her while continuing to quietly eat.
She was resilient. Clearly, I had hurt her feelings, yet there she was finding a silver lining. Finally, after she finished her roll, she raised her shoulders.
“I guess I get it though. Wanting to be isolated. Sometimes it can feel like that even when people are around,” Ivy grumbled.
She sipped her water from a glass, and Celine stared on at her empathetically before lowering her eyes to her own food in front of her.
For the rest of the meal, no one spoke. Ivy cleared her plate and carried it to the sink while Celine picked up mine and hers and took them over. I sighed heavily. I was full as fuck from the meal, and my daughter and her inner thoughts were beginning to plague me. I didn’t want to be hard on her. She was all that I had left of Ivana. I had to make sure that a fine line was drawn between her and business. Things with Harbor were startingto be a complication. The entire time I sat there eating, I was submerged with thoughts of how I was going to play this shit with her. Tossing my napkin on the table, I stood and went over to the island in the kitchen. Ivy had practically bolted out of the room, and I was sitting here also trying to think of ways to apologize to her.
“What is really bothering you?” Celine didn’t even turn around to face me.
“Where do you want me to start?” I asked, running my hand down my face.
Stressed wasn’t even the fucking word.
