AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I hope this tastes as yummy as it looks,” she teases and begins to dig in.
“Tea or coffee?” I ask, turning away once again.
“Tea,” she responds with a mouthful of toast.
I pivot to the gleaming steel pot on the stove to brew a pot. As the kettle begins to heat on the stove, I select a fragrant loose-leaf tea blend from an array of ornate tea tins that line the counter.
Before I turn back to Carissa, she is already halfway done.
“I didn't realize how hungry I was.” She shrugs.
“I’m happy you like it,” I chuckle quietly.
“You never really talk about your family,” she says, catching me off guard. It’s then that I realize she is holding the little framed picture of my dad that I leave on the kitchen island.
“There’s really nothing to talk about,” I say dryly and turn back to the whistling kettle.
“Surely there is. Otherwise, why is there a picture of this man in the kitchen?”
“That’s my father.”
I pour the steaming water over the tea leaves, releasing an aromatic cloud that fills the kitchen.
“He’s better looking than you are,” she says fearlessly and laughs when I turn to look at her.
“Seriously, why is a picture of your father in the kitchen?”
Clarissa is diving into a part of my life that I hate to revisit, but instead of feeling anger like I always feel, something compels me to share this vulnerable part of myself.
“I have one in my room too. But I like to keep this one here to remind myself at breakfast to never trust any woman.”
Carissa’s brows furrow in confusion, and her mouth stops chewing.
“You aren’t serious, are you?”
I scoff. “I’m dead serious.”
I walk toward her with two teacups and finally settle on the stool next to hers so that our knees are touching.
“I never talk about this but––”
“It’s okay. I didn't mean to pry,” she interrupts me.
“My mom cheated on my dad,” I drop the bombshell. “I was only a boy when I saw her. The whole act and everything.”
Her face becomes stiff, and her mouth stays open, but no words come out.
“I haven’t been able to forgive her since,” I continue. “And I haven’t forgiven women in general for that. She ruined our family and sent my dad to an early grave while she is now remarried.”
“I’m so sorry, Jayden,” she finally says.
I scoff. “It’s because of her that I have seen women as nothing but objects and treated them accordingly.”
Before I can say any more, Carissa takes my hand and rubs it gently, forcing me to hold her gaze.
“What she did is wrong. But you would be no different from her if you allow yourself to take revenge on other people who didn’t hurt you, and you will miss out on a lot of love,” she says in the calmest tone I have ever heard from her.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
