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I stare at her. I don't really know what else to say. I am so bad at small talk and find it quite exhausting, to be honest.
She fidgets a little and I watch her. She is really cute. Sexy cute. My eyes are still running up and down her body, looking at the feminine features of her beautiful face, tracing the curve of her lips.
"Where are you off to?" She pulls me from my thoughts.
"Going to grab some dinner for us. Have a nice day, Gabi."
I just do not know what else to say. I get back into my car feeling a bit out of place.
"Let me move my car out of your way. Sorry again - about that - um - have an awesome day, Alex. See you around."
"See you around, Gabi."
Gabi climbs into her car and waits in her driveway for me to pull all the way out of mine. I pull out into the street. Lost in thought I drive towards the mall.
It has been many years since I was involved with a woman.
I think back to when my little girl was only five years old, and we lost her mother. My wife. The love of my life.
We met in the military, and both worked military jobs. It allowed us to move around together. We were married for seven years in total. She was my entire world and when I got the news that she had been killed in action, it broke me in ways I'm still learning about today. It shut me down emotionally and cut me off from being able to express anything openly or easily.
I left the military shortly after her death. My daughter and I moved into the home her mother left for us in her will, one that she inherited from her family, and I started a company of my own. I had so many contacts around the world that I built through my years of traveling and being in the Navy Seals. Using those contacts, I built up a multinational corporation that has boomed to become a billion-dollar company.
To be honest, I have structured it so well and hired such good people that the company practically runs itself and I technically do not have to work another day in my life, if I chose that.
But I find myself drawn to work. I work harder now than I ever have actually. It keeps me busy.
It is the only way I can blank out the hurt and the constant thoughts of what I have been through, what I have lost.
Besides work and training in martial arts, the only thing that I make time for is my beautiful little girl, Isabella. She is ten now. I have been a single dad for five years and I think I am doing a good job of it. She is growing up to be such a kind and loving person. I think about how much she has grown up and I wonder how much longer I will be able to call her my little girl. She will always be though, no matter how old she is.
I shake my head realizing she will be a teenager in a few very short years. Time has flown by so quickly.
No, I do not have time to be wondering what it would be like to date my new neighbor. I have a company to run and a little tween to look after. I think it's going to be more challenging with Isabella as she gets older, and me being a single dad.
My life is full and busy and even though it's not at all what I imagined it would be by now, at this age, I love my daughter and don't have time for anything else.
When I arrive back home with pizza for dinner I'm still thinking about my new neighbor. She is much better looking than the old lady who lived there before her. Obviously. I chuckle to myself.
I think about how cute she was when she apologized over and over again for nearly backing into me. She seems to have a kind heart.
I park my car and look across the street towards her house, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. I had already been having some inappropriate thoughts about her, but now that I have met her face to face, I seem to be more taken with her. She is absolutely stunning. I guess it's easy to be so taken with her. I wonder why she is single.
I walk into my house and Isabella comes running through to the living room.
"Yay - pizza. I'm so hungry, Dad."
I am happy to see she is feeling a bit better.
"Well, grab us some plates, and let's go sit at the table."
I pour us each a glass of water and carry it to the dining room table. Isabella chats a little bit about her day. She seems a lot calmer now than she did when she came home from school.
My blood boils when I think about those asshole kids who keep bullying her. She is going to need to learn to speak up for herself otherwise they'll never stop. She has such an empathic outlook on life, just like her mother, and is so kind towards everyone that it is so easy to take advantage of her. There is a group of kids who keep picking on her because she does not have a mother.
I have spoken to the school about it numerous times and to my absolute frustration, nothing has changed yet. The kids are still getting away with it and my daughter is still coming home crying one day a week. I just do not understand how it keeps happening and why the teachers are not paying closer attention after the situation was brought to them. How can they not put an end to it?
I have thought about changing schools, even though it would mean a huge change in our lives as the next available school is quite a bit further away from here than I would like. We might even have to move if that becomes necessary.
