AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Aw, babe, don't be. I keep telling you, don't worry about these things until you have something to worry about. There is no point. You need to live in the moment and not in the what ifs or possibilities of everything going wrong.”
“I get what you're saying and I love the positive vibe that comes from it, but I feel stuck when I think of what the future holds. Everything changes when Dad comes back and starts pushing Matthew on me? He already messaged me this morning with a list of the dates Matthew's supposed to be taking me on the next week and a half.”
When I speak to Dad, after we talk about that whole contract thing and the wedding date, I’m going to tell him I’m too busy to go out. Aside from the possibility of working later on the set of the art show, I just want to spend my time with Dante. I’m hoping Dad will drop the whole thing and act like a reasonable person.
“Screw the dates. Make up some excuse. What the hell can Matthew do? He can’t do shit if you don’t want to go out with him and daddy dearest is all the way in freaking Japan. He can’t see what you’re doing or who you’re screwing.”
“Harper,” I chide, but she’s actually right.
“Don’t you Harper me. In fact, I think you should tell your father what Matthew said about the accident. It wasn’t cool at all.”
“You think he’s going to care about that?”
“Of course he will. Matthew's going around talking the kind of shit reporters love to hear. I was very vigilant during the time of the accident. Yes, there might have been one and two blogs that said that you could have been drinking, but that was just gossip.”
Hearing confirmation of what people were saying hurts me more.
“I hate that people could make such a nasty remark.”
“Me too, but it wasn’t something for you to worry about and your father extinguished that shit talk straightaway.”
Dad probably did that because he was worried about his precious image. If people were already talking about the accident in such a negative way, he most likely didn't want to add fuel to the flames that were already sparking. Especially not during his assent to governor.
“It just hurts.”
“I know sweetie, but people are going to say whatever they want, especially about people like us. The children of the wealthy. They always expect to find some dark secret or some secret something that needs to be covered up. They'll make anything up to get a story. You can't let it get to you.”
“I know.” Shoving it all to the back of beyond is realistically the only thing I can do. “It's just hard and not exactly the only thing I have to worry about.”
“Which is why you should just focus on taking each day as it comes and don't worry about things you can't control.” She sounds like one of those positive thinking gurus. “Okay?”
“Okay.”
“For the love of all things holy, please don’t say okay likethatto keep me quiet. It won’t work.”
She has me smiling again. I can just imagine her standing in a room with her foot tapping and her eyebrows arched.
“Okay.” I say it with more umph this time like I’m part of the cheer squad at nationals.
“That’s the spirit.” She laughs. “I’m gonna have to run now. Wish you were here, though. My God, Serenity, Australia is soooo beautiful. It's absolutely fantastic and like a whole other world. You would love it. There are so many gorgeous places you'd love to paint.”
I smile wider. “I can imagine.” Australia is right up there with my top five places to visit. “Let's go there someday soon.”
“You bet cha. Alrighty, I'll give you a call tomorrow during my break or sooner.”
“Cool. Speak to you later.”
“Let me know what happens. I wantallthe deets.” She giggles. “I want to hear about absolutely everything that happens next with that gorgeous man of yours.”
“Okay Harper.” I sigh. “Love you.”
“Love you too, babe.”
We hang up and I set the phone next to me.
I pull in a measured breath and spend the next few minutes staring at the beautiful city lights lighting up the night sky.
In the cascade of twinkling lights my mind travels and I think of what all the things that could happen next for the millionth time. Everything that comes to me is as equally worrying as it is exciting. More so on the exciting side because of Dante.
