stopped eating, staring at me with his hands clasped together above his soup.
He wasn’t going to let this go.
“Alright.” I set my spoon down to the side so I wouldn’t have to keep stirring my soup and pretend I was hungry. “Well, I was seeing this guy…but it didn’t work out. So, I guess I’m a little sad about it.” A little? The biggest understatement of the year.
“A man?” he asked, unable to hide his surprise. “Didn’t realize you were seeing anybody.”
“It wasn’t serious. But then it was serious. And then it wasn’t serious again…”
“Did he end things?”
“No…I did.” I couldn’t believe I was talking about a guy to my father, and even more surprisingly, he wasn’t being weird about it. Maybe he really saw me as an adult rather than his little girl. Or maybe he just wanted me to be married as soon as possible, to have a man in my life who would take care of me the way Damien took care of Anna.
“Why?”
I tried to think of the best way to phrase it. “When things got serious, I realized he wasn’t the right man to be serious with, so I ended it before it could get more complicated.”
“So, he wasn’t marriage material?”
“I guess.”
He nodded like he understood even though there was no way he could. “Does he want to have a family?”
“He said he would do it if it was important to me.”
“So, you had that conversation?” he asked in surprise. “Then you must have loved this man.”
I shrugged in response, refusing to say the words.
“Then what makes him unfit for you, sweetheart? Because you can have any man you want, and if this is the man you want, he must be something.”
He was definitely something, just not the right something. “Damien doesn’t like him.” I was frank about it. That way, I could cut off all further questions. “And Damien will never like him. I thought it was more important to be with a man who would be accepted by my family.”
“Well, Damien doesn’t like a lot of people…”
I chuckled slightly. “True.”
“You’re wise beyond your years to make a hard decision like that. But, as your advocate, I also have to say…you’re the one in the relationship. Your brother is not.”
Now, I loved my father so much more. My eyes softened, wishing Damien possessed his gentleness. “Well, Damien really hates him, and his reasons are not unfounded.”
“Then why would you love a man your brother despises?”
I stared at my soup again. “Because I didn’t know the reasons why Damien hated him when we met. If I had, I’m sure it would have changed everything.”
“Can you tell me what these reasons are?”
I thought about coming clean right then and there, but I already had to deal with Damien’s resentment; I couldn’t handle getting it from my father too. “It doesn’t matter, Dad. I’m not seeing him anymore, so…” I grabbed my spoon and took a sip, letting the autumn flavors splash into my mouth.
He was quiet for a long time, regarding everything I said with silent concentration. “If you really love this man, like the way I loved your mother, the way Damien loves Anna, I feel like you should try to work it out. Because love is always stronger than hate, sweetheart. Always.”
I stirred the contents and kept my face stoic, even though my expression wanted to slacken, my eyes flood with tears. “I tried talking to Damien many times, Dad. He won’t change his mind. So, let’s just leave it at that…”
I didn’t hear from Heath for a long time.
Over a week.
I went to his place, got what I needed to survive, but he didn’t reciprocate. He seemed to be keeping his distance, because being with me was harder than being without me. I tried not to think about what he did in his spare time, if he was picking up other women, if he was paying for sex again, if he was doing everything people usually did to get over an ex.
Even if they meant nothing to him, the idea still killed me.
I couldn’t be with someone else, not for a long time. It would be so awkward, so sad, so forced. There would never be a time when I met a man who was better than Heath, who made the butterflies in my stomach soar, and not just because the gypsy told me so. I already knew how I felt about him, knew it was special, knew it couldn’t be replicated with