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I close my eyes in irritation and open them again. “Firstly, you lost the right to call her your daughter a long time ago. Secondly, that is the third time you’ve called me Chris, don’t do it again.” I order. The only person I want calling me that is Charlotte and Zoe is annoyingly taking my time from seeing her. “And lastly, at a point in my life, I would have done anything for you, but you mean nothing to me anymore. If you want to fix things with my daughter, it has to be Ava’s choice. I won’t force or convince her to do what she doesn’t want to do.”
“Please, Christopher…”
“Get out of my house, Zoe. I won’t repeat myself again.” I rise to my feet and leave her on the kitchen floor to drag my suitcase into my bedroom. “I don’t want to see you in here when I get back or I’ll have security accompany you out,” I yell before closing the door behind me.
Then, I pull out my phone from my pocket and dial the number I’ve been itching to call since I arrived. “Charlotte…” I breathe with relief as soon as the call connects.
“Dad?”
“Ava?” Why is Ava picking Charlotte’s call? “Why do you have Charlotte’s phone, is everything okay?” Panic starts to swell in me at the thought of something going wrong with Charlotte.
“Charlotte went back to the lab. She didn’t take her phone with her this time, because there’s no point. How are you talking to me right now?”
“I’m in New York.” I tell her.
“What? Why?”
Rather than reply to her, I focus on what is important to me in this very moment. “Why did she return to the lab? Doesn’t she have two more days left?”
“I don’t know, she didn’t say. All she said was that she had something very important to do back there. Why are you in New York? You still have a month and some days to go.”
“When did Charlotte leave?”
“Dad,” Ava whines.
“I’ll explain to you later, I promise. Just tell me when she left, it’s urgent.”
“Fine,” she sighs. “She left for the airport this morning.”
Shit. It’s noon already which means I missed her. “Okay, thanks Ava.” I’m about to end the call when I hesitate. “Zoe was waiting for me at my door when I arrived.”
There’s silence on the other end of the call and then, “I don’t want to talk about it, Dad.”
I respect her decision. “I understand. But, are you okay, pumpkin?”
“I will be. We will talk when you get back, Dad, I promise.”
“Okay. I love you, Ava.”
“I love you too, Dad.”
The call ends and I immediately start to set things in motion again so I don’t miss the love of my life this time around.
17
CHARLOTTE
My left leg bounces in anticipation as I stare out through the window of the plane, sorely tempted to shout out “Are we there yet?” I still can’t believe I walked out on my date last night only for me to go home and pack my things to leave for Chris’ undersea lab this morning.
Oh well, if it weren’t for Ava’s persistence, I never would have agreed to go on that date with Lance, nor would I have showed up. It may sound harsh, but Lance deserves a woman that isn’t irrevocably in love with another man.
Yes, I am in love with Christopher Young.
I realized that in the middle of my date with Lance when he was droning on and on about his aspirations in life and all I could think about was Chris. I couldn’t stop wondering what he was doing back at the lab, if he missed me as much as I missed him.
I replayed all the memories we’ve shared since we met and one in particular stood out to me. The memory of that night as we lay side by side watching the beauty of the night sky while he laid his heart bare to me.
Back then, I had concluded that Chris had to fight his demons alone and come for me after. Never did I consider fighting those demons alongside him.
