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ChapterTwenty-Seven
ELIJAH
Two Months Later…
Life has been…weird since we got back from Laucala Island, very strange. I can’t quite put my finger on what has been so wild since I’ve returned, but I definitely haven’t felt like myself.
I guess work has kept me very busy. I have had a lot of catching up to do to ensure that all of my projects are up to scratch and that I was meeting all the right deadlines. But my personal life has been kinda crazy as well. June and I have been working together, more for Olivia’s sake. We’ve both been creating a better bond with her, and that feels great. I’m happy that we have been able to make things so much better. Wounds have been healing, thank goodness.
Which is why the message from Olivia, asking me to meet her at her apartment, is strange. Since she’s still living with Isabella, that isn’t a place I’m keen to go to because I don’t want to open up the feelings that I have been trying my hardest to bottle away. But Olivia was insistent so I’m not going to let her down.
Not this soon into our bond being created.
Oh God, this is weird. Being back at this building is a very strange sensation. One that I don’t think I was really ready for, if I’m honest. The last time I was here I didn’t even know Olivia, certainly not like a father is supposed to know a child. But now, it’s like I have come full circle.
Now everything is very different.
But that doesn’t make me any less nervous.
Isabella won’t be here.I do my best to convince myself.There is just no way…
Sure, Olivia has no idea what happened with us, I justknowI would have heard about it by now. But Isabella knows and I’m sure she won’t want to be around me either. I’m certain that as soon as I head up the stairs it will just be me and my daughter alone.
Although it doesn’t matter how many times I tell myself that, it doesn’t change the weird feeling in the pit of my belly. Much as I’ve tried to push all my feelings to one side, I can’t do it here. Everything is getting too much for me, it’s overwhelming me. I feel sick with it all.
I really hope it is just me and Olivia because I truly don’t know how I will cope with looking into Isabella’s beautiful big eyes once more, knowing she has a piece of my heart. One I gave over to her willingly and forgot to take back once we got home.
I don’t hesitate, because I don’t have the strength and willpower to think this through, I knock on the door right away so I can see my daughter. The sooner I get my eyes on her and I work out the situation, the quicker I will be able to calm down.
“Hey, Dad.” Olivia answers the door quickly. “Come in a moment.”
I get distracted by the pinched expression on her face. She’s looking a little worried about something which allows me to enter into the apartment without really thinking about it. Olivia doesn’t fill me in as to what’s happening until she’s on the couch, her elbows on her knees, and her head resting in her hands. I tentatively sit in the nearby chair. It doesn’t escape my attention that she’s radiating a panic like nothing else.
“Isabella is sick,” she finally tells me, making my heart sink. “I don’t know what’s up with her, but she hasn’t been well since we got back from the island really. I mean, it hasn’t been this bad, but the fact that it keeps getting worse has me worried. I don’t want to leave her.”
I swallow hard. This isn’t an outcome that I’m prepared for. I wasn’t thinking that I would have to see Isabella again at all. That’s why we left things as we did when we got to the airport and went our separate ways. That was supposed to be the end of everything.
“What do you mean, sick?” I ask in a hollow, weird tone of voice. “Like, do you think she has caught something from the island? We’ve both been okay since then…”
“I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you.” She shrugs helplessly. “It’s been weird. I have been trying to get Isabella to see a doctor, but she doesn’t want to get medical attention because she can’t afford it. I guess health insurance isn’t one of those things a freelancer has.”
Shit, even though I can’t do much, I can definitely help financially. Since I’ve offered Olivia the money to get her own place as soon as she wants, she knows I can afford it. I don’t mind at all, I don’t mind doing anything to help anyone, but I’m a little worried that Isabella won’t like it.
She might not want me to pay for her.
Then again does that really matter? If she needs assistance then surely she won’t turn her back on the chance to be looked after.
Not because of her pride anyway, right?
“I can help out,” I offer while scanning Olivia’s reaction, just to check that I’m not overstepping any boundaries here. “If you need money for the hospital…”
Olivia’s eyes light up. “You would really do that? It’s just because I’m a bit freaked out, that’s all. She really hasn’t been herself since we got back home.”
Oh God, what if she’s sad? What if all of this is just heartbreak because of me? Then I will feel dreadful. I never wanted anything to happen to her, I never wanted to affect her happiness. It was just supposed to be a moment of fun, a holiday fling. We sunk in way too deep, didn’t we?
We allowed ourselves to get carried away and now…
Well, now we’re both sad. I have been throwing myself into everything to keep myself busy so I don’t think about it all too much, but of course it’s been on my mind the whole time.
