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Chapter Fourteen - Charles
I’m angry. I can’t show it in front of Lillian because it will upset her more. The way he spoke to me on the phone was expected but the way he treated her was not. I don’t mind him being mad at me and blaming me, but how can he do that to her?
Lillian curls up on the sofa to nap, her eyes still puffy from crying. I sit next to her and read my novel. It’s hard to let my mind be distracted. I’m meant to leave in two days and spend the remaining seven before Christmas Eve in Dubai for work. After Chuck’s behaviour, I doubt I’ll be going to Christmas with him. Why can’t she come with me? We can spend Christmas together in the heat. It’s too good a thought to get excited about. She might have plans with family, although it’s evident she’s not close to them.
My stomach churns, reminding me that it’s evening and we need to eat, so I call her favorite Chinese restaurant and order everything I can possibly think of. Food might cheer her up.
“How many are you feeding?” Her voice pulls my attention away from the paperwork sitting on the kitchen side.
“Hey, baby girl. You feeling a little better?” I don’t have to move because she crosses the room and enters into my arms, her eyes going straight to what’s laid out in front of me. Airline tickets.
“When do you leave?” She looks at me surprised; did she forget I work between here and Dubai?
“I have to go back before Christmas.” The disappointment on her face gives me hope. Hope for everything—a future, a Christmas together, and anything we want after that.
“I thought you’d be here until after Christmas now.” She shrugs off the information as she steps out of my arms to go to the fridge. Pulling out two bottles of water, she offers me one.
“Well…” I put the water down beside me. “Why don’t you come with me and we will spend Christmas there? I’m not going to attend the family Christmas after this.”
“Where? Dubai?” Her shock makes me wonder if this is the wrong move. Is this not what she wants?
“Yeah, why not?” I want her to come with me, to be a start of something. To be the start of anything she wants.
“Just pack and leave?”
“Yeah, we can do anything you lik—
Her face slowly transforms from confused to agitated and from that to angry. “Are you serious? Your son, my best friend, just found out about us sleeping together behind his back and you’re happy to just dump everything and run?” She puts her water bottle down and crosses her arms, scowling at me like I couldn’t have said anything worse.
Why is she angry at me? It’s Chuck that upset her! “I don’t want to see him after he treated you like that!”
“Had it crossed your mind that he could be in a bad place right now and that was just a result from that?”
Why on earth would he be in a bad place? “You’re just making excuses for him.” I shouldn’t be surprised. She is his best friend.
“Excuse me? I wouldn’t say finding out you’re bi-sexual is an excuse.” Her anger fizzles to shock. “I d—”
“He’s gay?” My mind reels as I try to absorb this new information. I didn’t have any warning; he’s always dated girls. Was I meant to know this?
“No! He’s bi.” She leans back on the counter, her attention moving from me to the floor. “I didn’t mean to tell you. He was should have been the one.”
“This doesn’t change anything. I still want you to come to Dubai with me.” I want to wrap her up in my arms again and make the confused, stressed look in her eyes go away, but I can tell by the way her arms are wrapped around herself that she doesn’t want to be touched right now.
“You need to be there to support your family right now, something you told me you’ve regretted not doing in the past. So no, I’m not going to Dubai.” She stands up and moves out of the kitchen, walking to the window in the living room to stare out at the view of the street.
“He’s made his choice—”
“And you’re making mine up.” She spins to stare at me, refueled with anger again. “Stop thinking about your feelings. Think about his and only his as you should be because he is your son.” She walks over, picking up her things from beside the sofa. “I’m going home. I don’t want you to follow me and I don’t want to see you until I’m ready. You need to see your family on Christmas. I hope you make the right choice.”
I can’t find anything to say as she walks toward the front door. She’s right about me being a lacking father but I’m not ashamed of being mad at him for attacking Lillian the way he did. I expect her to stop but she opens the front door and leaves without as much as a glance toward me.
How did we go from cuddling on the sofa to her walking out within the span of an hour? What went wrong? She looked so angry at me. Was she actually angry at me and what I did or is she just angry at the situation? But the biggest question going around in my head is, does she care about me the way I care about her if she can just walk out of the apartment without a second thought?
