Protecting Her - Alexis Noelle Page 0,50

and I will go back to normal. I know that I need to keep calm and there are so many question I have that are unanswered.

“Okay, I will call the restaurant downstairs and see if they have private rooms. You don’t need anyone getting wind of this and having it plastered all over the paper. Thank God he did that in the lobby and not outside; they would have run with that shit.” I nod at him, lost in thought about what this could mean. “I’ll text him and give him the information.”

I want to run to him, to hug him. I want to tell him how scared and nervous I am at the same time. I don’t. The wall I have started to build against him is stopping me. I look at him and our eyes lock. I can tell he feels the distance that I’ve put between us. I hate it. I hate myself for doing this to us. We were so happy and I screwed it up.

“Hunter I…” His phone rings and it breaks the moment.

“Hello? Okay great, we will be down.” He turns toward me. “We should talk before we go down there.”

“About what?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt. I can see the hope in your eyes. You don’t know what his intentions are. I mean, the guy disappeared from your life and all of a sudden he is just here again? You can’t tell me that it doesn’t seem off to you.” He is looking at me and I can tell that he is sincere, but that doesn’t mean that I want to hear what he has to say.

“You have no idea what his intentions are. How can you just assume that they are bad?” I know I’m getting defensive but this is something I have wished for since I was a little girl.

“You know what Sam, you know best, so I’ll just shut up and let you live your life without any interference from me. It seems like that’s what you want these days anyway.” He throws his hands in the air as he walks to the door and holds it open. I want to close it, to tell him that’s not what I want at all but once again, I don’t.

I walk to the door and stop when I get in front of him. I look up but his eyes don’t meet mine. Maybe I did it. Maybe I pushed him away. That’s what I wanted, right?

It’s the last thing I wanted.

I’m an idiot.

I need to fix this.

I will tonight.

Chapter Twenty Five

Samantha

The ride downstairs is quiet. I hate that I have turned us into this. That my stupidity and emotional immaturity caused this separation between us. Aside from that, I am so anxious to sit down with my dad. To see him again, to talk to him, to maybe replace the family that I lost in my mother. I always watched girls with their dads and I was so envious of them. Every Father’s Day, all I wanted was to celebrate with him.

Hunter hasn’t said a word and I know that he is less than happy about my enthusiasm. He is skeptical of my father’s motives and I understand that he is trying to protect me, but right now I just don’t want to hear it. When I give the hostess my name, she walks me back to a booth that is a little more secluded than the others. My dad isn’t here yet so it’s just Hunter and I.

“I don’t want things to be like this between us.” My eyes are trained on the table. I can’t look at him. I am so embarrassed by the way I have been acting this past week.

“Well then, you shouldn’t make them like this.” His tone is cold and dismissive. I can tell that he has no interest in talking to me right now.

I look up to see my dad being led to the table. I can’t help the smile that crosses my face. I feel like the little girl who was waiting for her daddy to come back all those years ago. He smiles at me as he sits down and even though we aren’t close, I can sense Hunter tense.

“Hey, sweetie. I’m glad that you agreed to meet with me.” His term of endearment doesn’t go unnoticed by Hunter or I. Where I smile at it and feel like it shows he still loves me, I can tell by his scoff that