AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay.”
He stops and his blue eyes turn to me, pinning me in my seat. “Am I boring you?”
“No, not at all! It’s just a lot to take in,” I admit while my cheeks warm. We’ve been at this for a good while now.
“Hm, I guess. Let’s take a break and focus on something else for a while.”
“Okay.” My shoulders drop in relief. I’m used to lectures in school and from Father Murray, but my mind wanders so easily. Dad thinks that’s the reason my grades aren’t great. I hide a sigh as I hear his voice in my head, ‘With grades like this, Caitlin, the best you can do for yourself is to find a well-off husband to take care of you.’ All I want to do is draw.
Aidan faces me, perched on the edge of his desk opposite mine, his long legs crossed in front of him. “Tell me a bit about yourself, Caitlin. I’ve not seen much of you the last couple ofyears.”
“Oh! Um…” What do I tell him? How can I seem interesting to him when my life is pretty boring. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you always wear skirts?”
A laugh bubbles up my throat. I didn’t expect that question. “I guess.” I smooth out the fabric of my skirt. It’s quite a vibrant one with animal print. I’ll never tell Mum that I picked it up at a charity shop.
“Why?”
“Because… because Mum says that I should. She says that women of a certain class always wear skirts.” I shrug my shoulders. “I guess she wants me to be of that class.”
He tilts his head to the side, one stray curl falling onto his forehead. “Interesting.”
“What else do you want to know?” I smile, amused by how he can find such a mundane thing of interest.
“Do you have a lot of friends in college?”
“Um, not that many.” I shift in my seat, not liking the turn of the conversation.
“Why not?”
“Well, I, um… They like to… Well, some of them like to bend the rules, sneak out and look for parties and stuff.”
“But you don’t.”
“No. Mum says I’m more a moth than a social butterfly.” I laugh, but it’s kind of stuck in my throat, so I hurry to say, “Sh-she’s fine with that, though. She doesn’t want me to go off the rails, you know? It’s not really in my personality to go off the rails, so I don’t think she has anything to worry about.”
“You’re a good girl.”
I glance up at Aidan, and my insides go all kind of gooey asthe corner of his mouth lifts. He crosses his arms and the shirt stretches to make room for his bulging biceps. I wet my lips.
“Huh? Oh, yes, although Father Murray doesn’t think so.” I huff before I slap my hand over my mouth. “I shouldn’t talk badly about him.”
“What’s wrong, Caitlin?” Aidan straightens, his relaxed demeanour turning focused.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Come on, you can talk to me. I’ll not tell anyone.”
“Well… I’m just…” I squeeze my eyelids closed for a second, and then the words burst from my mouth. “It’s so unfair! Every time I go to confession, Mum calls Father Murray beforehand and tells him what to talk about. It’s not confession time, it’s lecture time. Like this morning, he spent the whole session talking about greed, because Mum and Dad think it was greed that made me ask for a part of the company and not because I have an interest in the business.” I gasp for air at the end of my rant.
Aidan’s eyes have turned dark, his brows furrowed. I start to fidget with my pens when he doesn’t say anything.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on like that,” I mumble.
“I think your mother and Father Murray need a bit of the same medicine that your dad got yesterday,” he says quietly.
“What do you mean?”
