AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It looked as if someone had shot her through the heart. The pride, the joy, and everything she had been moments ago, shrank at the mention of her mother’s name. However, she didn’t drop her head; instead, she forced a smile.
“Yes, ma’am, I am. Did you know my mother?” she asked politely, not at all fazed.
No one else could see it, but the Thea from earlier has disappeared. The person smiling in front of us now was so foreign to me.
“Oh my goodness. It’s a small world. I had the pleasure of meeting your mother many times. She was a wonderful woman, and a brilliant lawyer. I’m so sorry to hear about her passing earlier on this year.”
“Mother, why don’t you go—”
“Honey!” she ignored me, calling over my father, “One of Levi’s students is Margaret Cunning’s daughter.”
Fuck.
“Thank God I’m out of the game,” he said as he came over. “The Cunning genes and mentoring from my son? The world doesn’t stand a chance! Your mother was a force to be reckoned with in court. I never won a single case against her.” He shook her hand, and it might as well have been a knife, but she accepted it graciously. “I can see it now… you look just like her. You’ll make a damned good lawyer.”
“Don’t give her too much praise. Ms. Cunning has to work her way up just like the rest of them, and she’s been slacking. Mr. Logan here has been on her heels since day one, and at the moment he’s a fine contender for the top place in the class,” I said as I tried to change the direction of the conversation.
Fortunately, it worked.
They all started talking animatedly... except for Thea. She took a step back, allowing the group to crowd in and surround my father, until she stood outside of the circle. No one seemed to notice or mind. She looked up to me and her eyes were dull. She gave me a fake smile, trying to convince me that she was okay, then she turned and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.
I had to wait a moment, laughing along at jokes I didn’t even hear, and nodding at comments I couldn’t care less about, before finally excusing myself.
Following the direction she went in, I tried to not draw any attention to myself as I went up the stairs. I saw the tail end of her dress disappear around the corner as she went into one of the bathrooms.
Before the door could close completely, I slipped in behind her. She kicked off her shoes as she reached the vanity, and she was trying her best to breathe slowly.
“Breathe,” I said to her, pulling her into my arms, “just keep breathing.”
“I’m fine,” she stated forcefully, standing straight once again.
“You’re lying.” I kissed the side of her shoulder. “You can pretend for everyone else, but do not do it to me.”
I joined her side and together we sunk to the floor. I pulled her unto my lap, and her dress billowed out around us, providing us with our own private island of sorts. She rested her head on my chest and I ran my hand up and down her back.
“I did this to myself Levi. I knew who she was. I knew that I would run into people that would sing her praises. I stepped into her world, I’m following in her footsteps. I have to accept that. I can’t just break down when people say her name or talk about how great of a person she was.
“Sometimes I think I should just come out and say it, tell them who she really was. But if I did that, then I truly would be a disgrace; the daughter of a convict and an abusive mother… who wants to be known like that? I suffer because I’m too much of a coward to tell the truth. So I have to accept it. I thought I had done so well too. I could even force a smile, but I couldn’t force myself to stay,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be the girl that always crumbles, the one that always needs to be saved, especially in a life I chose for myself. I won’t.”
“What’s the point of being with someone if they can’t save you every once in a while?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never saved you.”
She really had no idea what she meant to me.
“You save me just by being here. I was miserable before you, and I didn’t even know it. That’s how deluded I was. The last four months have been the best of my life. And in,” I paused and checked my watch and my eyes went wide, “six seconds, I hope this New Year lives up to it.”
She looked up at me and kissed me.
“Five,” I counted.
Kiss.
“Four.”
Kiss.
“Three,”
