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“What did your dad have to say?”
“I haven’t told him yet. I wanted to tell you first,” she says.
“I think it’s great, Sophia. I hated you doing something so dangerous anyway. At least now you’ll be out of harm’s way.”
She gives me a look, “I can take care of myself, thank you very much. But you’re right. I’m just going to chill for a couple of months. At least until we have our baby. Then I was thinking… I should go into fashion. Like the business aspect. I could get a job with a magazine or managing a company. It’ll be fun,” she says, her eyes glinting in a way that nearly takes my breath away.
“You’ll be amazing,” I tell her.
“I’ll tell my dad today. Albert’s coming to pick me up in an hour. And I still have commitments and a deal to conclude with Li Jen.”
“Who?”
“This Singaporean billionaire who’s our partner in mining.”
“Okay, stay safe,” I tell her, getting to my feet and packing away our plates.
“Don’t forget to come pick me up. We have a lunch appointment.”
I turn around so she doesn’t see my jaw clench. After several days of trying to convince me, I finally agreed to see my father. A part of me is still so angry. But another part understands that I can’t hate him forever. He may have done something unequivocally wrong. But he doesn’t deserve that.
And honestly, I can understand why he made his choices. I still don’t like those choices, but now that I’m going to become a parent myself, I get that he was just doing what he thought was best.
I hear Sophia rise to her feet and she throws her arms around her waist.
“It’ll be okay.”
“Sure, baby,” I say turning around to hug her and press a kiss to her hair. “And after we’re done with my father, I’ll take you ice skating. You said you loved to do it with your sister, right?”
She nods smiling up at me.
“It’s a date.”
I leave the house, driving to work, although a part of me is already itching to go back to her. I think I might have serious attachment issues.
After taking care of all the issues designated to me by the Don, I’m driving over to pick up Sophia. Lunch with my dad is a tense affair with Sophia handling most of the conversation and serving as a middle man between the both of us.
When she leaves to grab something from the kitchen, it’s just me and my dad in the dining room.
I haven’t been to this house since the fight. It doesn’t feel at home anymore. I don’t think it’s ever really felt like a home. Especially not since I had another one I spent majority of my time at growing up.
“You married a wonderful woman,” he speaks up.
My father’s aged a lot in the past few months. His dark hair has so much more gray and the wrinkles around his face are much more pronounced. Looking back on our relationship, a lot of things make so much more sense.
Why there always seemed to be this hole, that neither Elena nor I could cross when it came to my father. He was grieving his dead wife and we had no idea.
I clear my throat before replying, “She is. I’m lucky to have her.”
“You are. And I’m really thankful you decided to accept my invitation.”
“You have Sophia to thank for that. She might be even more stubborn than me.”
“I doubt that’s possible,” he smiles. “I know we have a long way to go before our relationship goes back to what it was Anthony but I want you to know that I am so proud of what you’ve been able to achieve.”
I swallow a knot in my throat, “Thanks, dad.”
Sophia returns and the tension in the air is calmer as we continue our meal. By the time we leave dad I’m feeling much lighter. We head over to the skating rink and it’s more fun than I’ve had in years.
