Page 25 of In a Perfect World

Then, like she wasn’t rearranging everything that I wanted in my life, Triana waved at me as she started walking off, and it killed me that I couldn’t follow her all the way back to her car.I could only follow her another twenty feet or so, and she acted like she didn’t need me for even that.

“Hey, wait up,” I told her.“I’ll walk you as far as I can.”

Triana immediately shook her head.“No need, Kairo.I know my way.”

“That’s not the point,” I told her.“We were just talking about bears.”

“While this region may have a Black Bear or two, they’re not running around in town,” she replied, and I really was going to have to do some research on bears.

“We’re not in town,” I pointed out.

“We’re close enough, Kairo,” she chuckled.“Trust me, I’m good.”

“What about me?”I joked, anything to keep her with me a little longer.

A strange look came over her eyes as she said, “Well, the law states that I’d have to let you get mauled because I’d be thrown in prison if I crossed over to help you, so...I guess we’re both on our own.”

Her words were a harsh reminder that we’d never be more than friends, and I was stuck in the thought long enough to let her get away again, and when my father’s words rang in my head, I knew that I was going to have to stay away from Triana from now on.

Chapter 13

Triana~

Neither of my parents greeted me this morning when I had walked into work, and it’d been on the tip of my tongue to call out their childish behavior.I mean, weren’t they supposed to be the parents in this relationship?Weren’t they supposed to be wiser and more mature than a twenty-four-year-old?Weren’t they the ones that were supposed to be reasonable and work to iron out any rifts in the family?

Well, whatever the expectation of being a parent was, by the time that lunch had rolled around, it was clear that my parents were choosing their pride over what made me happy.They were taking my refusal to marry Romelio as a personal affront, and it blew my mind how they could see no fault in their actions.I mean, did they really want me to be unhappy just so that they could save face?

It also hadn’t helped that Tomasco hadn’t been in the office today.One of our newest properties was having an issue with zoning concerns, so my brother had been scheduled to be up north all day, leaving me alone with our parents.

Nonetheless, it was closing time, and I was more than eager to get out of here.Since my job was in finance and accounting, I could work remotely from home if I had to, so it was easy to take the books home with me, getting me out of this current hellhole.

However, just as I was packing up my laptop, my parents walked into my office, and I braced myself for the apology thatwasn’tcoming.If they were here to talk to me about anything other than business, it was to strongarm me into agreeing to marry Romelio, and that just wasn’t going to happen.

Ever.

“I’m on my way out,” I told them rudely.“What do you guys need?”