Page 38 of Not Your Little Girl Anymore

“I’m good. I’m fine,” he says, then unfolds the paper. He looks back up at me and a broad smile spreads across his face, sharpening his jawline.

I shake my head. “Goodnight, Alec Sokolov.”

***

I can tell my father isn’t thrilled about today any more than I am. His breathing is heavy, coming in short gasps, and he paces back and forth in his room as he gathers his things.

I don’t blame him. He has kept it together since I came home. I haven’t seen him cry once.

I watch him for a moment longer as his fingers tremble, buttoning the final button of his dress shirt before I close the door to my room and get my dress on. Taking a minute, I stare at myself in my vanity mirror, sweeping short strands of my blond hair behind my ear and then shuffling through my makeup bag for my Maybelline mascara.

I’m not at all worried about where Mom is being buried. Dad picked the most beautiful cemetery in town, and I know she would have loved it.

But everything feels surreal.

Tossing my mascara back into my bag, I grab the speech I wrote down off my desk, fold the paper, and stuff it into the side pockets of my black dress. I’m not much of a purse kind of gal. I prefer pockets. Everything and anything. If it has pockets, I’m buying it.

So, when I saw this dress, I knew it would be perfect for today. It’s long and flowy and has a small slit on one side from my mid-thigh down. It’s casual but elegant.

I open the door to my bedroom and notice Dad isn’t in his room anymore, so I head downstairs to find him in the kitchen, tying his dress shoes.

He looks up at me. “Hey, princess.”

I give a sad smile. “Hi.”

He finishes one shoe and moves on to the other. “Everything will turn out beautiful,” he reassures me.

I know it will be, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I nod, fighting through the ache in my chest as the front door opens and Chloe comes inside. She notices me first, but then her head moves toward Dad. She has a wrapped box in her hand but moves the box behind her back.

“Hi, Mr. Raleigh.”

I roll my eyes, finding it hard not to smirk at her way of sucking up to my father. She’s always done that.

“Hi, Chloe.” Dad doesn’t sound enthused.

He’s always loved Chloe, though. She was my only friend that Mom and Dad would allow to sleep over when I was growing up. As we got older, it was like Chloe had some magical charm on my parents.

She looks at me, and her eyes widen as if she is silently trying to tell me something, but when Dad stands and looks in our direction, she fixes her expression quickly and smiles at him.

It doesn’t take me long to know she has something to tell me that she doesn’t want Dad to overhear.

“Well, I’ll see you there, sweetheart,” Dad says and kisses the top of my head before walking toward the door. “See you, Chloe.”

The second the door clicked shut, Chloe let out a long breath. “Thank god.” She swings her arms out in front of her with a box wrapped in glitter wrapping paper.

“Glitter. Are you serious?” I’ve always hated glitter. It gets everywhere.

“Your favorite,” she wiggles her eyebrows. “Open it later. When you’re ready.”

I sigh, take the box out of her hands, and run upstairs, leaving it on my bed. When I head back downstairs, Chloe is typing away at her phone.

“Who do you text all day?” I ask. She shakes her head, but it’s the blush on her cheeks that I notice. “Oh, Chloe has a boyfriend?”

“Not exactly. Maybe? I hope,” she shrugs. “Let’s go. You can’t be late.”

***

I take in a large amount of air and blow out slowly before following the stone path up the short hill to where my mother is being put to rest. Chloe stays close to me, and I couldn’t be more thankful that she’s by my side through it all.

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