“As I was driving over here, I got a phone call, and the man said he was my father.”
“What the hell did he want?”
“To get to know me.”
“He is nuts. Almost thirty-plus years go by, and now he wants to get to know you.”
My dad was mad. I had never seen him so angry. We had never talked about my real father. The subject never came up. They were there for me when he wasn’t. If it weren’t for them, I would have lived in foster care until I was eighteen. I was lucky to have found them.
“So, are you going to see him?” my mom asked worriedly.
My fists tightened. “No, I don’t think so. I have nothing to say to him.”
My mother shook her head and walked into the dining room calling out for us to come. Dinner was ready, and I was starving. I had not eaten all day.
“So, how is Ella?” my mom asked.
I choked on my food. I didn’t want to tell her that Ella walked out on me. I hoped she was coming back to me, so I didn’t want my mom to have any hard feelings toward her.
“She’s busy working. She’s doing great.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ELLA
Today, I was meeting up with Charlotte at her house. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of weeks and wanted to catch up. She’d been out of town for her internship. I really needed to confide in her and get another opinion. I wanted to forgive him and get back together. I wanted to be with him, but he hurt me. A little time to process everything was important. He had been calling me every day. Yesterday, I almost answered just to hear his voice. I missed his warm body next to me at night.
I finally made it to Charlotte’s house.
“You look so down. Let’s get you smiling,” she said to me.
“I am just thinking of Alexander. I miss him.”
“Well then, call him and make up. God knows he wants you back. What are you waiting for?”
“I don’t know. What if he is keeping other things from me?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he has a secret wife and kids?”
“Now you are just making this bigger than it needs to be. Don’t even begin to go down that road. Nothing good can come from that.”
She was right. Charlotte was always good about talking sense into me. Sometimes, I wondered how I would have gottenthrough life without her. She had truly been there for me since the day I met her.
“How’s your love life going?” I asked her.
“Well, nothing is going on. You know how I feel about that. If I don’t think that it will go anywhere, I don’t waste my time,” she said, laughing.
That was true. She wasn’t one that played around. She wanted to find a guy and settle down, but she wouldn’t just date anyone. He needed to have certain qualities. I thought that was good. Charlotte walked to the fridge and returned with some beers.
“I’ve got your favorite, Bud Light Lime. Figured you would need one.”
“You know me so well.”
She knew I only liked one kind of beer. I took a beer from her and took a drink. “So, I think I’m going to call Alexander tomorrow. I’ve got to stop doing this and hear his side of the story. I miss him a lot.”
Charlotte smiled. I saw a bright future for us, so I needed to fight for that and stop acting like a child.