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A few minutes later, I hear a door slam upstairs and then Landon comes into view as he moves down the stairs. I quickly wipe my eyes before he can see that Griffin’s words affected me. He crosses the room and pulls me into his arms, hugging me to his chest. “I’m sorry.”
I pull back and put my arms on his chest. “Don’t be sorry. I’m the one that should be sorry. I pushed for this…I thought…I mean, this just wasn’t the right time.”
“There was probably never going to be the right time. My son hates me, and you by proxy.”
“He doesn’t hate you, Landon. Or me. He’s just angry. He’s upset. He’s sixteen.” I shrug. “His parents are getting a divorce, he’s in legal trouble, he can’t take the car when he wants…” I chuckle. “Any kid would be pissed.” God knows I want to break down completely, but I want to be strong for Landon. He needed me to be strong. Just like I’d need him to be the strong one when we go to my parents.
“Blake’s outside, I’m out,” I hear grumbled as Griffin walks by the kitchen. I turn my head just in time to see jeans and a hoodie walk by the kitchen and into the foyer.
“Be home by midnight!” Landon calls.
“Whatever.” I hear, and I frown as I’m fairly certain at sixteen, my parents would have yanked me back into the house and told me my plans were indefinitely canceled if I ever took that tone with them.
Pink colors his cheeks as if he can hear my thoughts about Griffin’s blatant disrespect when my eyes meet his and he backs up a little. “You hungry?”
“Not for food,” I tell him as I make my way towards him, unbuttoning my shirt with every step before I let it fall to the floor.
“I know what you’re doing.” He tells me as he lifts me into his arms and sets me on the counter.
“I’m not doing anything.” I lean forward, desperate to make contact with his mouth when he backs away.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take for him to come around…” He trails off.
“I don’t mind waiting.”
“I’m just…really fucking sorry, Serena. I don’t know what to do about him.” He rests his elbows on the counter and drops his head into his hands.
“Have you thought about seeing someone?”
His head jerks up to look at me. “Like a therapist?”
“There’s nothing wrong with needing a little help understanding your child. Most parents don’t.” I shrug.
He stands up straight and crosses his arms. “What’s that about? You think I don’t notice those comments you make because I let them go by, but I hear them. Viv and P adore you.”
“Is that what you think? Is that what you see? Perception isn’t always reality, you know.”
I shrug, unsure of how to unleash the different kind of daddy issues I have. Not all of them stem from an absent father or one that doesn’t pay you any attention. There could be other issues, ones that you don’t even realize you have until you’re older and the damage is done. Ones that involve another sibling.
“Skyler is the little princess of the family. I was only two when she came around and it was…difficult sharing the spotlight. Mostly because Skyler didn’t share, she took.” I shrug. “So, I grew up being the quiet one, the shy one, the reserved one, because Skyler was loud and exuberant and all the attention was always on her, and I don’t know,” I sigh, “I guess I resented that. Her and I have a weird relationship now. We fight a lot…we grew up fighting a lot, and I’m not always the nicest to her. My parents have refereed a lot of our fights over the years and my dad always took Sky’s side. It’s hard growing up in a house where you don’t feel like you’re heard, you know?” I had come to terms with this years ago, so I’m almost numb to the feelings about my parents, but exposing this part of my heart to Landon makes me more emotional than usual. I don’t even realize I’m crying until I feel his hands under my eyes. “Shit. Sorry.”
“Look at you, swearing and everything,” he jokes as he presses a kiss to my forehead and laces my hands with his. “Serena, look at me, baby.” I meet his gaze. “I hear you. I see… everything about you, even the parts you try to hide.”
The butterflies in my stomach explode from their cocoons, fluttering throughout my whole body. “No one has ever…wanted to see.” I had spent years guarding my heart, only letting a few people in, but Landon has surged through and planted his little white flag there. Claiming it, marking it, owning it.
He can have it.
“Landon…”
“Serena, I am…so crazy about you. Do you hear me?” He grips my jaw and stares into my eyes. “Crazy. So crazy that I want to tell your dad what’s been going on. So crazy that I want to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with you…wherever that is. So crazy that the idea of you going away to law school has me wanting to pack up my shit and follow you.”
I gasp. It had been a thought in the back of my head. What would happen if I go away? Pending my LSATs, a few schools have already been sniffing around, including my father’s alma mater in D.C. “But you’re a partner here. In a huge firm you helped build.”
He shrugs. “I can go anywhere, baby. Would I prefer you went to one of the eight states I’m licensed to practice law, that’d be great, but I’m not picky. I just want to be where you are.” He smiles and my eyes widen at the implication.
“You’ve taken EIGHT different Bar exams?”
He snorts. “That’s your takeaway?” He shakes his head. “No, only three, but I can waive into the others.”
