Authors Note:
Welcome back everyone, I've been reworking this chapter and am so satisfied with the changes I have made. With the new update I'm trying to place more focus on Lily's anxieties and her abandonment issues. Again feel free to leave a comment on what you think of the updates. This a warning I will be deleting Phlox at the start of the new year so if you haven't followed this story, please do. Also a special shout out to the word processing app, so much easier then carrying around my laptop. Love y'all.
Chapter Two: Purple Crocus
I woke up the next morning to the sound of light rain hitting the window pane, it was a calming sound; reminding me that I was home where I belong. I look at the small digital alarm clock that read out at 7:00 AM in bright red numbers. I was in time to see dad off to work.
I threw the navy comforter off of my body and stood up off the full-sized bed. The bed made a slightly squeaky noise from where the springs rubbed against each other. Stretching up to the ceiling several of my joints popped, making me sigh with the relief. Walking across the dark, cold hardwood floors to my desk, I turned on the small lamp letting the room fill with light. I took a moment to look around at the grey walls. There was hardly any empty space on them; the only reason I knew they were still grey was because of the small slivers of color in-between the countless pictures of me and Leah, me and dad, and my sketches that I deemed worthy enough to be displayed.
I started my journey downstairs to being working on breakfast for me and dad. It was a routine for awhile for me to make us food. It started when I was 6 and at that time it was only under supervision but this year dad had decided that I was mature enough to be trusted alone. Before I took over, we usually had the only few dishes that dad knew how to cook and none of them being healthy and acquit to support a growing child. So more often than not, we relied on Aunt Sue to make more balanced meals and send them home with me. The first couple years of me cooking was definitely a struggle but I slowly got better at it, just like most skills all it took a was practice.
You shouldn't have had learn to do that so soon, it's her fault you didn't get to be a child.
Shaking my head to rid the spiral I was about to go down if I gave the thought acknowledgment. Today was not going to be another day where I made myself mad.
Walking down the hallway and stairs, I observed the olive green walls that were painted before I was born, back when the house was first build, and noticed that they were not only slightly chipping at the bottom but also had turned a puke green from age. I made a mental note to ask dad to take me to the hardware store to pick up new paint so I could repaint the walls at some point before the school year started. More pictures lined the wall of me growing up from me as a newborn to taking my first steps, and first days of school. But there was noticeable lack of photos of Reneé, dad had removed those after I took one and threw it down the stairs when I was 10, I couldn't stand looking at her smile anymore.
I was mulling over what new color the walls should be painted, switching my thoughts once again. Becoming happy to have found another train of thought took over and it didn't include the abandonment of my mother. I was so focused that I didn't notice dad was standing at the stove until his voice ripped through my thoughts.
"Good morning Lily ."
My breathing hitched as I was spooked, not expecting him to be downstairs yet. I took a few deep breathes to get my heart rate back to normal.
"Dad, you scared the crap out of me! What are you doing up? You're usually not down until at least 7:45,"
Rubbing his neck as he sheepishly replied, " Sorry about that Lily Pad, I figured you would sleep in a bit, being so tired from traveling and all, so I decided to make us breakfast."
A small grateful smile appeared at my dad's most he was the gruff police officer, but he had always looked after me and made sure I was happy. I was a complete and utter daddy's girl, the whole town knew it too. They knew if anyone hurt me they would have to deal with my dad and no one wanted to get on the Chiefs bad side.
"Thank you, Dad, I really appreciate it, but you know I actually enjoy cooking for us. I wouldn't have minded doing it this morning."
"What's that supposed to mean, I like cooking too," Dad replied with a mocking look of offense.
"Dad, I remember you once turning the stove off and storming away while announcing you were going to the diner for dinner cause you can't, and I quote, 'Do this shit,'" I replied while slightly chuckling at the memory, I must have been around 7 and had come down with the flu so I couldn't make dinner that night. But for some reason dad decided to make homemade soup, instead of just asking Aunt Sue to bring some by.
"In my defense that recipe was confusing and you were sick. Also watch your mouth young lady. I don't wanna hear you cussing." Dad said with a slight stern voice all the while returning my smile.
I sat down at the table, noticing the cup of cranberry juice that was set on the table. It made me smile know that dad had set everything up so I could just relax this morning.
After taking a sip of my juice, I replied: "I'm just quoting you, dad, if you want me to watch my mouth, you should watch yours."
"Alright you got a deal. Well here you go, the Charlie special, egg, bacon, and sausage with a side of toast," Dad said as he placed the food on my plate and then repeated the tasks of plating his own food.
After swallowing a bite of food, I said: "This is perfect, dad. Thank you again for making breakfast."
After hearing his grunt of agreement at my comment, I asked "So dad are we still going down to Uncle Harry's after you get off of work?" Keeping my tone hopeful as I really wanted to go.
"I already called Sue before you got up. She's going to come by around 10 and pick you up. You can spend the day with them and I'll come down after my shift and we'll have dinner with the Clearwater's, hopefully the Black's will come too."
I flew out of my chair and gave my dad the biggest hug, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you."
My dad just smiled and returned my hug, saying, "I'm glad you're happy, Lily Pad. I know you've missed your friend. I also know that going to Arizona was a difficult choice for you"
I quickly returned to my chair to finish my meal. Glancing out the window, I took note of the rain coming down outside."Do you think that the weather's too bad to go surfing?"
"It supposed to clear up around 1 and there hasn't been any lighting or thunder, so I would say it's fine," Dad replied while finishing his coffee.
I sat there drinking my juice, running through what me and Leah could do today. Glancing at the clock on the wall, I noticed it was 8:15.
"Well, it's time for you to be going to work dad" I said knowing he had to be at work at 8:30 and even though it will only take about 10 minutes to get there, dad liked to be there early. His thought processing that if he's early he can get in the right mindset to deal with the day.
Dad pushed back from the table and stood with a yawn saying, "I guess so. If I have to. Much rather spend the day with you."
I walked behind him to the front hallway, When I looked at the walls and remembered what I had been thinking about earlier before he scared me.
"Oh, dad, is it okay if we go to the hardware store, at some point, to pick up some new paint for the hallway. I noticed the paint was chipping when I came down this morning."
"Sounds good, Lily . What color are you thinking?" I heard him respond while putting on his gun belt, he still kept the bullet separated, a habit he gained when I was younger.
"I don't know, dad maybe a light blue that would brighten the hallway," I replied shrugging my shoulders.
"Okay, then we'll go on early Saturday. Then we can spend the weekend, whenever I get off of work, painting" He replied with a short nod, "Well, I'm off. I'll see you around 7 or so."
"Okay, dad. Love you. I'll see you after work. Be safe. ." I replied while giving him a hug. He returned it tightly, almost squeezing the air out of my lungs.
"I will Lily Pad, I love you so much."
This was our daily routine and good luck charm since I was old enough to walk. Even before Reneé left, I would give him a hug before he left for work and told him I loved him. Even though crime rate was very low in Forks and I was sure dad did whatever measures it took to be safe but you never know what will happen in life. So I wanted to make sure the last thing he heard from me was that I loved him and the last thing I knew when he left me is that he love me.
There was one day, not long after Reneé left, when I was mad at him, I can't even remember what I was angry about; it probably wasn't even something he did. I just was so angry at life.
I refused to say goodbye, the entire day I was terrified he wouldn't come back. That I would lose him. That I would be fully alone. And worst of all it would have been my fault for not telling him to be safe. When he opened the door that night, I tackled him before he could fully enter the house. Just breathing in his scent and cementing the feeling of his arms around me. I couldn't stop apologizing and asking him not to leave me. He wrapped around me and hushed my fears, promising that no matter what happened, he would always be with me.
I never missed a goodbye hug again, no matter how angry I was or even if I was sick. I needed my daddy to know how much he meant to me.
I watched as Dad backed up and drove away from the house through the window. My hands slightly shaking for a moment as he left my field of view. Taking a deep breath I turned to the kitchen and went to clean it.
Looking at it I smiled at the memory of us renovating it together. Dad and I spent entire summer painting the kitchen cabinets and changing the layout. The cabinets , once a pale yellow became a deep maroon color, with the rest of the kitchen, a bright white. Dad was skeptical of the color of the cabinets when I broached him about it but ended up loving the shade or at least saying, "it's okay." We also added an small island with a black granite countertop. I loved the way it made a focal point in the kitchen and complimented the rest of the colors in the room. Since I was the primary one cooking in the kitchen, it made me happy every time I walked in not only because it was beautiful but it was also the memory of us working on it together to fix it together.
I quickly got to washing the dirty pans and dishes. I finished pretty quickly and was left with about two hours before Aunt Sue picked me up. I decided to start the new book that I picked up in phoenix after I got changed.
Heading back upstairs, I quickly put on my black one-piece swimsuit to wear under my wetsuit. Dad still refused to let me wear two pieces, still trying hold on to the idea I'm a little girl, his little girl. Also packing a bag of stuff to take with me to the beach. I was unfortunately blessed with porcelain white skin and lacked any ability to tan so sunscreen was a necessity. I also placed the stereotypical stuff a person would need at the beach in the bag.
Time flew by, and I was getting to the end of the fourth chapter when I heard a sudden loud bang on the front door. I put in the bookmark and got up.
I basically flew to the front door and whipped it open. In front of me was a tall russet skin girl with long shiny black hair that was tied back into a high ponytail and shiny onyx eyes that whispered mischief. Her face slim with high cheekbones and a strong jaw. A strong but delicate mixture of features filled out the rest of her face; a full pouty mouth and long elegant nose. She had fairly lean build but you could tell underneath there was muscle. All together she was simply alluring.
It took me a second before recognized who was before me, and I beamed with delight and embraced her in a bone-crushing hug when I came to the realization.
"Oh my god, Leah look at you, how did you become so gorgeous and tall so quickly, I didn't recognize you" I shrieked in delight, before I left she was the same size as me, about five feet tall, and she still had a fair about of baby fat, but that seems to be gone, and she is now towering over me.
"So have you, I mean that figure is stunning. All you need is to grow a couple of inches, and you'll be the talk of the town with the boys. Especially with those cerulean eyes and wild strawberry blonde hair." She replied with the broadest grin. "So, are you ready to hit the road and have some fun."
"With you always, just let me grab my stuff," I replied. I grabbed my bag and put my new book in, even though I doubt I'll actually read it when I was gone. Finally I grabbed my jacket to keep the chill off.
"Okay, I'm ready." Taking a second to lock the door, I joined in her mom's 4 door sedan.
"Hi Aunt Sue, how's Uncle Harry? Where's Seth?" I rushed out as soon as Leah closed the door and we bucked our seatbelts.
Sue was also a very tall woman, so it was no surprise that Leah was taking after her. Leah was almost a carbon copy of her mother, except her mother had a rounder face and softer jawline. She also wasn't as lean as Leah but Aunt Sue was still beautiful, her kindness simply radiated out of her.
As she put the car in reverse and slowly backed out the driveway, "Harry's good hun, the doctor told him to cut back on the fish-fry, but he refuses to listen like typical men do, but I've been making him eat more vegetables, so there's that. Seth's being watched over by Allison Uley right now." She answered smiling into the rearview. "So how was your trip with your mother?" Leah gave a hard look at her mother as if telling her to be quiet as she knew that talking about Renée always sent me into a a dark place.
I had expected this question to come a lot from our family, so I calmly responded with a forced smile, "It was fine, hot but exciting Renée planned a lot of activities around my hobby of drawing. She took me to a pottery class, I really liked it, if only I knew someone who be able to teach me."
"Well, that's excellent, Lily, Quil Atera's mother actually does quite a bit of pottery, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind giving you lessons. I'll talk to her next time I see her. " She replied in her bright and cheery voice.
"That would be amazing, Thank you, Aunt Sue," I responded with a genuine smile this time.
She replied, noticing my smile, "It's no problem, hun anything to help, plus it also nice to have more than one hobby."
The rest of the ride was spent with all of us making small talk and them catching me up on all the drama that was going on in our tiny town. We quickly pulled up to the Clearwater's humble home. Leah and I rushed out of the car to head to her bedroom to put on our wetsuits.
As soon as the door was closed, Leah turned to me and said: "I'll wait till we' re alone on the beach, and then you can really talk about what happened at Renée's."
We helped each other zip into the wetsuits and headed to the garage to grab our boards. It was just easier to leave my board here than lug it back and forth from my house to Leah's. Especially since it barely fit in dads cruiser. Plus, the Clearwater's never minded that I left it here. We grabbed our boards and started heading towards the beach.
Before we reached the small path that would take us down to the beach, Sue's voice called out, "Wait, girls here's a cooler full of sandwiches and some waters. I know you girls won't come back for hours, so I figured you would like something to eat while your down at the beach."
"Thanks." We replied as we grab the cooler. Leah deciding she would carry the boards commenting teasingly that she had the larger arm span while mine was more like a t-Rex. I hip checked her in response. Once we got everything settled we headed down the pathway to the beach.
The Clearwater's didn't live directly on the beach but it was only a 10 minute trek through the forest to get to the shore line. But over the years of us journeying down there was a defined pathway of well worn soil. Through the whole walk me and Leah were silent just simply enjoying being together again.
Once we arrived we took a moment to gaze out onto the stormy sea.
We quickly got started on waxing our boards, turning to Leah I say, "are we sure that this is the best idea the waves are super high."
"Oh come on Lil, these aren't the highest waves we've ever surfed, and you know it," Leah snarked out.
"True, but I also haven't ridden in a month" I replied and stuck my tongue out.
"It's like riding a bike Lil, you know that during the winter, we go months without, and we're still doing fine during the summer."
I nodded in agreement. "Alright"
Getting in the water it was a slight temperature shock but after taking a second to adjust we paddled out to the water. I was thanking god that the wetsuit that I was wearing for keeping me from completely numb.
We waited for the right wave, just sitting on the boards letting the salt air and rocking motions of the waves lure us into the comfort of being back in sync.
"This is it Lil!" Leah exclaimed, quickly getting on top of her board.
I followed suit and lost myself in the sensation of being free.
Time passed quickly and by the time we arrived back on the shore to take a break, our fingers were completely pruned up and our hair was soaked.
"So how was it, being with Renée, honestly?" Leah asked after taking a sip of water.
"It wasn't bad I guess."
"Oh come on Lil, I know your not being honest with me. I know you. You're voice gets a little high pitched and you're eyes shake when you're lying. So tell me what was it like." Leah said looking at me.
I turned my focus to breaking waves and took a deep breath. "I was awful, she never even talked about it or brought it up. She spent a lot of time talking about Bella. Sure, she planned activities around my interests but it just felt like it was because she was trying to win my affections instead of trying to heal our broken relationship. She acted like nothing was wrong as if it hadn't been years since she last seen me or probably even thought about me. As if what she did wasn't wrong and I was perfectly fine."
"Fuck that sucks. So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know, I can't just not go next summer. Dad was so happy he got to see Bella. I can't deprive him of that. He's done so much for me." I replied with a sigh. "And Bella also deserves a chance to get to know Dad. She was too young to remember him and remember exactly what happened. So I doubt she has as much anger and resentment. So I gotta be the bigger person and just suck it up."
"Why don't you bring it up to her? Lay it out on the table and see what happens"
"Because I want her to take accountability on what her actions did to me." I snap.
"She won't know until you tell her Lil." Leah said softly.
"Why should I tell her anything. She left me. She fucked me over. She broke me." My voice starting to crack.
Leah scooted close, wrapping her arms around me. "I know Lil, but you're going to have to accept the past at some point and find a way to move on. Because the thing with anger is it drags you down and leaves you spent."
I buried my head in the crook of her neck. "I'm just not ready yet."
"I know but you'll get there one day. I know you will."
We sat there for a moment just letting her comfort me as I reined in my swirling emotions.
"I love you, Leah." I said while tightly embracing her.
"You'll always have me." She said running a hand through my hair.
I smiled knowing that no matter what happened I'll have her by my side.
After a moment I hesitantly asked "So did you get to see Bella, ya know while she was here? What's she like?"
I wanted to know so much about her. Although Reneé had pretty much told me about her the whole time I was in Arizona. I wanted to know what my best friend thought about her. How were we similar? Did we sound alike? Did we have the same temperament?
"Oh, yha, your sister, the little bookworm." Leah said, "I think she spent the whole time she was here with her nose stuck in a book. She barely talked while she was down here."
With shock in my voice, I replied: "Really, she didn't even try to do anything other than read when you were around her?"
"Nope," Leah said, popping the p "I even offered to try and teach her to surf, and she turned me down straight."
"Well, it kind of makes sense. I learned when I was in Arizona that she has no coordination like none at all and is liable to trip over the air."
she responded with a slight chuckle, "you're kidding, no one can be that clumsy."
"Dead serious apparently she's had more broken bones than Humpty dumpty," I said as I joined in her light laughter.
"Well, it's a good thing that no one took her up to the cliffs she might have drowned after falling off the edge by accident,"
"She shouldn't be up there in the first place, Leah, only strong swimmers can survive the jump, and besides, we only got clearance from our dads this year, and that's only for the lowest cliff."
"I know Lil, besides she was well supervised the whole time she was here. Jacob Black barely let her out of his sight. I think the little guy has a crush on your sister and you know he's the biggest tattletale. Besides I mean, she's only what five? She's super tiny, so no one would even think about letting her up there."
"She's nine, it's hard to believe she's that old." I remarked. " I wonder if I'm ever going to see her again. It's as if we are always crossing paths but never meeting in the middle,"
It depressed me to know that she had grown so much, and all I knew about her was the things that other people had told me but never from her.
"I know Lil , but something tells me that you'll get to see her one day," Leah said while, again, wrapping me in a hug.
"I hope so," I said, getting to my feet "well, come on, it's still a couple hours before we need to be back at your house for dinner."
We surfed for another couple hours taking turns laughing and just having a great time after being away from each other for so long. Sooner than we wished, the sky became darker, and we realized it was time to head back to Leah's house, as soon as we put away our surfboards, we headed inside.
The overwhelming scent of food made us realize how hungry we had become since our lunch on the beach. We walked closer to the kitchen to see Aunt Sue cooking fish, which clued me in to the fact we were having a fish fry which made me beam brightly.
Hearing our footsteps, Aunt Sue turned around and smiled, "You girls look like you had fun."
Leah replied, "We did, the water was freezing, but we quickly got warm the more we moved. Thanks for the sandwiches, mom."
I responded with a quick thank you as well when I heard some fussing through the baby monitor, which was on the counter.
"That'll be Seth waking up, Leah would you get him after you change out of your wetsuit? I can't exactly leave the stove right now." Sue asked while giving Leah a pleading smile.
"I'll get him, Aunt Sue; I've missed the little man," I answered.
Seeming pleased with the response, Sue responded with a "Thanks, hun," and a kiss on the cheek.
We headed into Leah's small bedroom that was surrounded by wood paneling and had the same pictures hanging on the wall, but it also held some tribal paintings that her mom had painted. She was a brilliant artist who had taught me a lot of what I knew. She took note of my interest when she was watching me and took the time to teach me some fundamentals over the years. Leah, bless her heart, never really found a calling to art like me. She instead wanted to spend her time outside in nature, adventuring around. She dragged me on enough crazy adventures during our time as friends.
Changing into our regular clothes, we welcomed the warmth of dry clothes. Also pulling our hair from our ponytails and quickly towel drying it, enough to stop the sea water we had collected from dripping all over the place.
When we were done, I headed into the small bedroom across the hall while Leah headed into the kitchen to help her mom finish cooking dinner.
I took a step into the room and immediately smiled down at the crib at Seth. I had always had a soft spot for children to the point that it shocked dad that I wanted to become a nurse and not a teacher like he expected. Not that he was disappointed in my choice, he told me that he would always be proud to say that I was his child. When I had finally came an absolute decision to be a nurse he bought me my first book on the history of nursing.
Seth smiled up at me, reaching his tiny baby arms at me in a grabbing motion, indicating that he wanted to be up with me. I slowly picked him up, bouncing him a bit to make him giggle and smile even more.
"Hey baby, I missed you." I said rubbing my nose against his.
He squealed and patted my face with his little hands. Placing tiny kisses all over his face I delighted in his beaming face. With him, in my arms, I walked to the kitchen.
"Put the fish on the table, Leah. Everything is ready now, all we need is for the men to come in," I heard Sue say.
"Here's baby Sethy, Aunt Sue," I announce as I walk into the room.
"Oh, thank you, Lily , you can hand him to me. I just finished cooking, so I'm free to have him," Sue said.
"If I must." I playfully pouted.
"You can't steal my brother Lil." Leah said teasingly shaking her finger at me.
"I'll give him back …. Eventually"
Sue chuckled at us and took Seth from me. Once my arms were free I went to sit beside Leah. It was moments later that we heard a car door close.
"That'll be them." Aunt Sue mused.
I walk to the window of the kitchen to see dad slowly walking towards the house, laughing at something Harry had said while putting him in a headlock. I smiled at their friendship, that they still acted like they were 15 instead of the 30 year olds they were. I knew that it would be the same with me and Leah.
Sitting back down beside Leah, and we started chatting about the upcoming school year. Leah was heading into 8th grade like an average child, which I envied her for sometimes. I was heading into my freshman year of high school, which I was nervous about. Although I had a few acquaintances in my grade, I also had a lot of people making fun of me at the same time. I was often called brainiac and made fun of for the fact that I hadn't entirely gone through puberty yet. Especially by some of the girls, who would constantly tease me about my body and tell me that no one likes the know it all and maybe if I didn't act like I was better than everyone maybe someone would actually like me. There was also the comments about my broken family which hurt me the most.
The only one I had told about the bullying was Leah. I knew if I had told dad he would try and do something about it, which would only make it worse. The last thing I need is for the other kids to say I needed dad to fight my battles. So I simply suffered in silence constantly reminding myself it's not for long.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by a hand waving in my face.
"Lily, honey, you in there," I heard my dad's voice say while poking my side.
Laughing as he hit a particularly ticklish spot, "Stop dad."
"Just making sure that you're still with us" he laughed with his deep voice. "You looked like a zombie."
Simply rolling my eyes at dads laughter, "Thanks for the confidence dad."
Sue's voice cut through the laughing with a tone of mirth, "So where are Billy and Jacob?"
"Sarah said Jacob came down with a cold and needed Billy to stay home with the twins while she watched over Jacob, and she also didn't want to have them around Seth just in case it was contagious," Charlie responded after calming down and sitting down across from me.
Harry came over to give Leah a kiss to her forehead, then repeated the action to Seth and stated: "They promised we would all get together after they get over the sickness, Sarah promised to make lasagna."
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but it's understandable. I'll call after dinner and see if she needs anything," Sue said with a worried look on her face. She knew how bad a cold was to deal with especially with kids.
Harry placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, saying, "I'm sure everything will be fine, Sue. Sarah said she's heading to the store tonight to pick up cold medicine. Now on to another worry what's for dinner? Is that fish fry I smell?"
"Always thinking with your stomach, I swear Harry, and you wonder why the doctor is worried about your blood pressure," Sue said while sitting Seth in his high chair. And then setting across from Leah beside the high chair and Harry sitting at the head of the table.
"My blood pressure is just fine, women plus with you pushing those damn vegetables on me; I'm the pinnacle of health," Harry said while barking out a laugh during his response showing that he was only faking his anger. Sue smiled and began to serve out the food. Dad and Harry immediately dug into the food while Sue, Leah, and I took our time to eat mostly chatting about upcoming plans for Leah and me to hang out.
"So Lily , How did your trip with your mother go? See any boys you like there?" Harry laughed out, knowing it would push my dad's buttons. Ever since I was 10, dad made it perfectly clear I was not allowed to date until I was dead, which of course, was what all dad's said. But seeing as how my dad owned various guns, I somewhat believed if I did ever get a boyfriend, the boy would be shot the moment he admitted he liked me to my dad.
"It went alright, Uncle Harry, and no, I spent most of my time in art classes, so there were no cute boys to talk to. Well, there was this one boy . . ." I trailed off with a grin on my face know it was going to stir my dad up to a tizzy
Dad choked on the bite of food that he was eating and looked me dead in the eye, saying "boy, what boy you never said anything about a boy yesterday."
Giving a sly smile,"Because the never was one dad."
He gave me an unpleasant look and replied with "fine tease an old man into a heart attack. No boy is good enough for you anyway Lily Pad."
Sue smiled, "Well if we're talking about boys, we should talk about Leah's crush on a certain Uley boy."
Leah blushed a deep red, "I told you that in confidence mom."
Uncle Harry choked on his fish. Dad hitting his back making sure he didn't fully suffocate over the shock. "Are you talking about Sam Uley? Leah, he's far to old for you." Harry said after
Leah slammed her utensils down, "he's not that much older dad." She then tucked her head down and whispered, "besides, I doubt he even knows who I am."
Sue patted her daughters hand, "he'd be a fool to not know how amazing you are, honey."
"She's right Leah. This Sam guy would be lucky to have you." I chimed in.
"Still say he's too old" Harry muttered.
Dad just grinned, "Not so fun, is it old man."
"We're the same age, dumbass." Harry bit back.
With that, the rest of the dinner went well with laughing and joking around, especially dad and Harry. It was honestly hilarious seeing those two grown men reduced themselves into teenage boys when around each other.
Seth seemed to fall asleep halfway through the night, and with that, Sue called it a night for us.
Dad and I said our goodbyes quickly, and Leah promised she'll see me tomorrow for us to hang out at my house.
On the 20 minute drive home, I fell asleep just from the tiring day of both physical and emotional exhaustion. I didn't even feel when dad picked me up and carried me into the house. Even though he struggled a little to fully support my weight going up the stairs.
I only woke when I felt my comforter being pulled over me. With bleary and a soft voice, I quickly call out.
"Love you, dad."
"Love you too, Lily Pad," and with that, he turned off the light, and I fell back into a dreamless sleep.
