AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Grief scratches down the insides of my rib cage, a lifetime of resentments fighting to get to the surface of my pain.
“He never talked about you.” As soon as I say the words, I regret them. I don’t know why I said it—maybe I wasn’t donetrying to get a rise out of him, but I don’t think that’s what it is. I think it’s more of a simple question than a statement. Had my father been so good at keeping his life compartmentalized that I was just one of the victims? Kingsley had been as much a kept secret to me as I had been to him.
Thankfully, he doesn’t seem too hurt. I don’t want to hurt him. There must already be so much pain in him.
“Well, our friendship was private. Sometimes that’s important in the world we live in. It wasn’t really anyone’s business but ours. It wasn’t a performative friendship, it was a real one.”
A mature answer.
One that I still feel too raw to give about my own relationship.
“That’s a nice way of looking at it.”
He picks up his fork, taps it against his thigh. “Not talking about you is not the same thing, Luna. And I’m sorry he didn’t tell me about you. That doesn’t feel fair to you. I don’t think I’ve even come close to understanding why.”
“It’s a long story.” I sigh, suddenly exhausted again. The sadness weighs so heavily on me, my heart feels like it’s carrying a load a hundred times my body weight. And every breath is a battle.
“Maybe you’ll feel like telling me sometime.”
“Maybe.”
We finish the fruit in silence. It should feel awkward sharing a bowl with someone who is essentially a total stranger, except for the fact that I’ve drunkenly straddled on his thigh, tried to kiss him, and had him force water on me multiple times.
Maybe that’s why I feel safe with him.
If he’d wanted to do something to me, anything, he’d had his chance.
He busies himself with gathering up the food dishes and carries them out of the room, then returns with a fresh pot of tea and pours us each a cup.
I instantly feel a comforting warmth spread from my chest and all the way through my body, right from the very first sip.
“I must be irritable,” I blurt out without explanation.
“A little mouthy but I wouldn’t call you irritable exactly,” he shoots back, dead pan.
I laugh, glad for the mood lightening. “I meant that… Wait, I’m not mouthy. I’m spirited! Anyway, I just meant your irritable man tea seems to be working on me.”
“Oh, well, this one is for relaxation. My sister-in-law formulated it specially for all of us. Apparently, we’re prone to stress-related issues. Can’t imagine why.” He gives me a pointed look that I return with a wide grin.
“Maybe it’s because you’re working at three a.m. after driving all day,” I say, watching him over the rim of my teacup.
“That’s a normal night for me.” He glances at the laptop on the coffee table. “But I wasn’t working, per se.”
“Reading up on celebrity gossip? Are you team Cardi B or Nicki Minaj?”
“I was reading through the terms of your trust.”
Wow. Way to dump a bucket of ice water onto the conversation, and not just from his lack of verbal skills this time.
When I don’t say anything, he continues. “Do you understand what this trust is?”
I place the cup and saucer onto the table and stare down at my fingers, gently shaking my head.
He opens the laptop and pulls out the folder before flipping through it. “So, Ernest, your father, put the shares he left you in The Hamilton Group, as well as half of his personal stock portfolio, into a trust for you. There is also a £1million cash account. And according to the terms, the trust needs to be managed by—”
“Managed?”
He nods. “It basically means that they make decisions about the assets in the trust.”
