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“Just come to dinner. It’s free, for crying out loud. This house won’t be going anywhere anytime soon,” he said.
“I said no, Greyson. I don’t feel like going anywhere. I need to go through my father’s things and sort through some paperwork, and then the reading of their wills is on Monday,” I said.
“All the more reason for you to get your mind off things,” he said.
“Either stay and help or leave,” I said.
I heard him huff before he pushed his body off the doorway. It groaned underneath his weight, and I watched him turn his back in the glass of the case. I rose my hands to finger the reflections of the trophies, studying them intently as I reminisced on the awards ceremonies I went to as a child. My father single-handedly changed the face of medical supplies with some of his own personal inventions, and much of the money he had acquired in his older age came from the patents and licensing of the technology he’d developed. He would initially design them to help someone in our community, but they somehow always ended up in the right hands.
To this day, I’m convinced it was my stepmother recognizing my father’s talents in a way he never did.
“Stella?”
I turned at the sound of Daisy’s voice and watched her come around the corner. I smiled, ecstatic to see my best friend, and I strode over to her before I wrapped her up in my arms.
“He’s gone, Daisy,” I said breathlessly.
“Greyson or your father?” she asked.
I pulled back, kissing her on the cheek before I sighed.
“What the hell was he doing here?” she asked.
“Wanting to take me out to dinner,” I said.
“Then why is he leaving?” she asked
“Because I told him not tonight,” I said.
“He’s a dick, Stella,” she said.
“He’s got his moments, yes,” I said.
“He’s got more than moments, Stella. He’s a grade-A asshole. You just lost your dad, and you mean to tell me he’s not even staying with you? He should be the one helping you do this,” she said.
“In his defense, I didn’t ask either of you to come. I simply told you both I was coming here,” I said.
“Which is Stella-code for ‘please come be with me,’” she said.
“Well, when I speak in Stella-code, I know he usually doesn’t get it. And that’s fine with me.”
“No, you make it fine because you know if you asked him to stay, even without dinner and the assumed sex afterward, he still wouldn’t stay.”
“Daisy, not right now,” I said, sighing.
“Fine, fine. Alright, alright. I’ll play nice. But I hate Greyson. He’s a shithead who isn’t good enough for you,” she said.
“I get it, Daisy.”
“How’re you doing, Stella?” she asked.
“It hurts,” I said. “Real deep down.”
“Come here.”
She wrapped me back up in her arms, and I sighed heavily into her shoulder. It hurt so much standing in this room, but I knew I had to do it. My father’s desk and his books held so much information I would need on the company when they handed it over to me, and the sooner I could figure out where they’d left off, the sooner I could get everything back on track.
“Want to go sit on his leather couch in the corner?” she asked.
