Curvy Girls Can't Date Bad Boys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,44
just ensure that I wouldn't follow through when I had the opportunity.
“But I did want to give you some bags to take to your place,” I told Jordan. “Just in case I can’t get home or to my car.”
She nodded somberly, and I could see the reality hitting everyone’s faces. I could be homeless before high school graduation.
After we finished our breakfast, we got the bags transferred over and went to the Academy for another day of school.
Now, all there was to do was wait for the moment when I would see my dad after dinner and tell him the hardest words. That his dreams for me were not going to come true because I had an even bigger dream for myself.
Twenty-Eight
I dressed in a simple LBD for the dinner at the Alexanders’. I didn't know why Dad was pushing for us all to get together tonight, but it would be fine to deal with them all at one time. A Last Supper of sorts.
While on the drive, I sent a text to Ronan. He seemed to be like my sunshine in the dark cloud of reality.
Zara: How was your day?
Ronan: Good. Except for Brock eating the rest of our cereal.
Zara: Didn't you just buy like three boxes yesterday?
Ronan: Four.
Zara: How can you eat that much cereal and not get sick?
Ronan: He should be studied for science.
Zara: What are you doing tonight?
Ronan: Editing. I thought you had a family dinner thing tonight?
Zara: On my way there now. (Not driving.)
Ronan: Hey, I don’t judge.
Zara: True. You do drive a motorcycle. Clearly a disregard for safety.
Ronan: Hey, you rode on it.
Zara: Touché
Ronan: I'm glad you texted. It was hard to think about my writing with you on my mind.
Zara: I wish we could hang out tonight.
Ronan: Soon.
With that promise, I sent him a goodbye text and put my phone in my purse. We were pulling down the Alexanders’ elaborate winding driveway with perfect hedging and an expensive stretch of bright green lawn. I wondered whether Ryde was helping foot the landscaping bill as well. And why they needed him to.
The car came to a stop, and I heard the driver come around to the back. My door swung open, and I stepped down. My father got out of another black car at the same time.
“Zara,” he said. “It’s good to see you.” He folded me into a hug, and I hugged him back tightly, knowing that it might be one of the last I had for a while. I tried to imprint his scent of tea spices and cologne on my memory. I would miss that if he couldn’t understand.
He tried to pull back, but I still held on. Smiling down at me, he said, “My daughter actually misses me? Remind me to go on business trips more often.”
I smiled up at him, a little embarrassed, and backed up. “Sorry, it's just good to see you.”
He extended his elbow for me, and I put my arm through his.
“Let's go inside?” he suggested.
“Sure,” I answered, squeezing his arm just a little tighter.
He pressed the doorbell, and we heard echoing chimes throughout the inside of the house. Within moments, a woman in a simple black and white uniform answered the door. “Welcome to the Alexanders’. Come inside. May I take your coats?”
Dad slipped out of his blazer and handed it to her, while I gave her my jacket. I examined the broad entryway, filled with natural light coming in from stained-glass windows, expensive-looking decorations, and ceilings that stretched at least twenty feet in the air. It might have looked like a church if not for the modern art pieces lining the hallway.
After the maid had our coats, she led us into a sitting room where the Alexander family was relaxing on plush furniture, sipping from crystal glasses.
Upon seeing us, Pam Alexander, Merritt and Ryde’s mother, came to greet us. She extended her arms wide and gave my father a kiss on each cheek, and then she pulled me into a hug. Her chest was hard, and I barely kept from gasping in pain.
Merritt smiled to us from her seat. “So happy to see you both,” she said, being the perfect daughter.
Both Ryde and his father were drinking amber liquid and arguing with each other about something. They hardly even noticed we were there.
Ronan only had eyes for me when we were together. Just another painful reminder of how wrong this match was.
“Boys,” Pam said with a tight smile, “greet our guests.”