Page 18 of Not Mine To Love

I had forgotten Dad had been there. “You remember that?”

“Remember that? I was the one who drove to Walgreens to get you Dramamine.”

I frowned. “I thought—”

He raised an eyebrow. “That Tom had gotten it?” He shook his head. “He was too busy showing the yacht off to his friends.”

Of course, that sounded like him. It seemed even when I knew the worst, I was still trying to see the best in him. I was glad I had wised up and moved on.

“Hey Dad,” I said, wondering something I hadn’t dared ask.

“Huh, hon?”

“Were you and Mom ever friends?”

He let out a low whistle. “We were a lot of things, but friends definitely wasn’t one of them.”

I nodded while I digested what he had just said. “Tom and I had been a lot of things too, but never friends.”

I bent down and kissed him on the forehead. “Have a good night.”

“Heading to bed already?” He had cards in his hand and was shuffling them. “How about a game of poker before bed?”

I was about to decline, but figured, why not? The night was still young.

I finally made it to bed at one in the morning. Dad could play poker all day if I let him.

As I went to sleep, all I could think about was whether or not I would turn into my dad. I knew he was happy, but wasn’t he lonely? I didn’t think about it often, but if someone had asked me the answer would be yes.

“Please, please take my place,” Ana begged me the next day. I was at her apartment, and we were waiting for Julius to show up. She told me it was a wedding emergency and that she needed my help immediately. I dropped what I was doing and headed straight over.

Her apartment was sort of bare, and something about it seemed kind of masculine. I guessed it was the pile of athletic sneakers that were in front of the closet door and the random jerseys thrown across the couch. I was pretty sure Julius didn’t live there too, but I guessed he tended to leave his stuff at her place. That made sense. After all, they were engaged.

I looked at her in confusion. What exactly did she want from me? “Take your place for what?”

“I hate flowers. Like I really do….”

“Okay???”

“So can you go pick out flowers with Julius?”

I looked around as if hoping someone could save me, but there were only the two of us there.

“Can’t your mom go with him instead?”

She looked at me as if I had lost it. Maybe I had.

“Are you kidding me? Just in case you haven’t noticed, they hate each other. If I send my mom and Julius to the floral shop together, neither one will make it out alive.”

She had a point, but still, I didn’t want to be the sacrificial lamb. I thought about it. It would be a good opportunity to get to know Julius better. Maybe then I could see if he had any skeletons in the closet.

Reluctantly, I said, “Umm… I guess I can do it. Just tell me when.”

“Now.”

“Now?”

“Thanks so much, I’ll tell Julius.”