Sweet Love - Mia Kayla Page 0,97
memory or a dream.
My mother stood and extended a bagel that she’d spread cream cheese on. “There’s a ton of things your father and I regret. A lot of things we wish we could have done differently.” She breathed out a small sigh.
My gaze flickered to my father at the other end of the table.
“At the time … Connor, we were doing the best we could,” my father added, his gaze flickering from the table and back to meet my face.
I swallowed back a lump in the back of my throat because as I stared back at my father, I realized it was a memory. They’d thrown me a birthday party at one of those trampoline places. I’d dragged my mother out to the trampoline, and in turn, she’d grabbed my father.
Seriously, a man could only take so much. After leaving Charlie last night, all emotional, and then this …
I could’ve gotten on a plane this morning and never looked back. But like the saying went, Tomorrow is never promised.
“I’m sorry,” I said, all this pent-up emotion filling me up and spilling out. “I haven’t been the easiest through the years. I’ve been kind of an asshole more recently, to be honest.”
My father stood then. “There’s no need to be sorry. All we can do is move forward from this.”
His words hit me directly in the chest because he was right. All we could do was move forward or harbor all this animosity and never speak again. But what was the point of that?
As I glanced around the room and caught Nana’s eye, I realized that, yeah … my dad had been a shitty dad, but he had done the best he could at the time. He had given me his time when he had it, like spending my birthday with me in that memory that had pushed to the surface.
We weren’t perfect.
My father walked toward me then and patted my shoulder, bringing me in for a hug. “When you come back to Chicago next time, you’re staying with us.”
I nodded against him, feeling like a teenager again. I couldn’t recall the last time my father had hugged me. Just then another memory triggered. It was when I had gotten into an accident when I was sixteen years old. He’d rushed to the hospital, and his eyes had checked for any damages before he pulled me into a hug. The hug was brief because the yelling ensued right after about my reckless behavior, car racing, but the hug had happened. A shallow sigh escaped as the memory surfaced.
In front of me, my mother cupped her mouth, and her eyes shone with unshed tears.
Nana, being the dramatic grandmother that she was, jumped us as though we were in a hug bubble. “See, I knew this would happen. Food always brings everyone together.”
I laughed, and so did my father, who stepped back to look at me—for once, pride showing heavy in his irises.
“You did well, son. I know this is the total revamp we need. You did well.”
“Thanks.”
“We’re going to miss you,” my mother chimed in.
That was when Kyle added, “He’ll be back … don’t you worry.”
They drove me to the airport that day. All five of them hopped in the car to drop me off as though we were a family who did that when we so weren’t.
I hopped on my flight back to New York, and for once in my life, this dreadful feeling sat at the pit of my stomach. Usually, I was relieved, leaving, but I couldn’t place this new, foreign feeling. I got nauseous on the plane as if my body were rejecting the flight back to New York.
Chapter 31
Charlie
The next day at work was horrid. I couldn’t pretend that I hadn’t cried my eyes out because I could barely see out of them, given they were so puffy.
Casey brought me my favorite coffee in a venti cup to my desk. She gave me a hug without saying a word, and I was glad she’d said nothing because the tears would have been endless and flowing. If his name were mentioned, it would be game over.
Erica from the marketing team came over just before lunch. “Hey. I just wanted to come over and show you your new desk.”
My eyes flew to my hairline, and I cocked my head. “Sorry?”
“We’re working on the new specs this afternoon, and Mr. Colby said you’d join us. I think it makes sense to move your desk closer to our team.”
“Oh.” Goodness,