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“I can’t believe how fast time has gone by.”
I nodded, taking in his words and mentally gearing myself up. I braced myself for what was to come. It wouldn’t be what I expected. It’d be much worse. They say everything happens for a reason, that we’re destined to meet certain expectations throughout the timeline of our lives. They’re inevitable. It’s already planned out.
If that were true, then this would be the beginning of the end for us. It always started and ended with her old man.
“I don’t think I need to tell you how I feel about your friendship with my daughter?”
I shook my head. “No, sir.”
He eyed me up and down, trying to read me and my reaction to him. I held my ground. I’d never disrespect him, and it was obvious he was trying to have a man-to-man conversation with me. I owed him enough to listen.
“Elizabeth needs to experience new things and grow up, Ethan. All she knows is you. I don’t have to tell you that, do I?”
“All I have is her too.”
He tapered his stare at me. “You both need to experience new things without each other. It’s not healthy to only have one another.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I kept my mouth shut. Instead, I set my elbows on my knees and bowed my head.
I know.
I knew it all.
I knew everything and where this was going…
ChapterSix
Ethan
“You knowLivvy as well as we do. She’s stubborn and hardheaded. It doesn’t matter how many times we’ve tried to talk to her. She won’t listen to us. We’ve spent the entire school year trying to get through to her, but nothing. It doesn’t matter what we say, she’s going to feel the way she wants.”
“I understand, sir.”
“Do you? Because I don’t think you do.”
“Sir, I—”
“Do you know she applied to SCU?”
I jerked back. I didn’t know that. “Now why do you think that is?”
I didn’t have to answer him. He knew I was aware of why she’d apply there. I had a free ride to South Carolina University. I’d be a fool not to go there. As much as I wanted to be with her and despite getting accepted to Stanford, I couldn’t afford it.
He read my mind. “I didn’t think so. It’s been hard for her mother and me to watch her this year. It would hurt any parent to watch their child suffer from something they can’t understand is in their best interest, which is why I’m hoping that you can help us.”
I angrily shut my eyes, bile rising up in my throat, but I swallowed it back down. I wasn’t mad at him. I wasn’t mad at Livvy. I was mad at myself. Nothing would change what he expected me to do. It didn’t matter. I knew what I needed to do even though it was the furthest thing from what I wanted. He was right, though. I couldn’t ignore that fact.
He's right.
His words made a mockery of me, and I knew that too.
“I know you care for Livvy. You wouldn’t be sitting here if you didn’t. That’s why, I know you’ll do the right thing and let her find her own way. Not follow yours. Do you understand me, Ethan?”
I slightly nodded, keeping my emotions in check.
“I want my daughter to be independent and make her own choices, decide what’s right for her, and she can’t do that with you around. You know that as well, right?”
I vaguely nodded again, not being able to form words or even coherent thoughts for that matter.
