Page 22

CHAPTER SEVEN

“I’LL GET RID of him,” said my dad. “You don’t want him here, and I’ll tell him to go.”

That was the right thing, after all. But some part of me was warmed by the fact that Damian was here. He hadn’t really done this before. He hadn’t come for me. He’d mostly just rolled over and surrendered and given me up.

My dad had already parked his car, however, and he was out of the driver’s seat, going to speak to Damien.

I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying as I leaned over the passenger’s seat and watched. Damian was gesturing a lot with his hands, talking a lot. My dad was saying very little. He had his arms folded over his chest and he was nodding with his head towards the road.

This went on a while.

Damian kept talking and my dad kept trying to get him to go.

But it became apparent Damian wasn’t going to go.

So, I got out of the car, and immediately, I could hear what Damian was saying. “…me talk to her for a few minutes. If she tells me to leave, if I hear it from her mouth, I swear I’ll go.”

I approached them both.

My dad turned to see me. “Well, here she is. Go ahead, sweetheart, tell him you don’t want him here.”

“Leona,” said Damian, “come on a walk with me. Just a walk. Down the road to the Philips dock. That’s all. Just give me ten minutes.”

I let out a breath and it was like I deflated. “Okay,” I said in a tiny voice.

“That’s not fair,” said my father. “You two, the first time you were close, you were all over each other. And now you’re using that against her.”

“Please, Leona?” Damian only had eyes for me.

I turned to my dad. “It’s all right. We should talk, I guess. It’s going to have to happen sooner or later. At least, here, there isn’t anyone else around.”

“Are you sure, Leo?” said my dad. “Because if any part of you doesn’t want this, you need to tell me. After that conversation we just had—”

“I know,” I interrupted, feeling embarrassed because maybe I simply couldn’t resist him. Maybe I was an idiot when it came to Damian Lowell.

My dad seemed to hear something in my tone. His shoulders slumped. He opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, shut his mouth, and shook his head. “Ten minutes,” he said. “Much longer than that and I’m coming looking for you.”

“I’ll be all right,” I said to my dad.

“I won’t let anything happen to her,” said Damian.

My father barked out a mirthless laugh.

Damian hung his head.

A moment passed and then Damian gestured for us to walk.

I fell into step with him, looking up at his features, so familiar to me. I had loved this man, and I had thought I would spend my whole life with him. But now, all this time had passed, and he was practically a stranger.

“You’re here,” he said.

“I am,” I said.

We crossed the road and began to walk along a worn footpath that went next to the river. It stretched from this dock down to the next dock, owned by our neighbors, the Philips.

“She left you… she wrote this whole thing out. It’s practically a novel.” He laughed a little. “A manifesto.”

“What?” I said. “Are we talking about Opal?”