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I laughed. “Yeah…still not sure if he’s serious or will come back with a gun.”

“Let’s hope not.”

I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned against him with my head on his chest and my eyes closed.

He kissed the top of my head and put his arms around my shoulders, holding me tightly against him as we both relaxed.

No matter the outcome when I go home tomorrow, I wanted to enjoy tonight with Riggs and not think about what kind of nasty words she had prepared for me next.

*

Everything I hoped for was the total opposite of how she reacted the next day.

She screamed at me, telling me how wrong it was to date a much older man and that I would go to hell for it.

That God didn’t appreciate women like me, and how Dad was wrong for defending me.

She had repeated herself about ten times, and while I sat on the couch and listened to her rude and offensive comments, I stared blankly ahead, waiting for her to be done.

Even Dad couldn’t get her to calm down, and I wished I hadn’t gone home from Riggs’s this morning.

I wished I had stayed cuddled up with him in his bed, with his arms around me and our naked skin touching.

But I hoped this would be a normal conversation, seeing as we were both mature adults.

“And in ten years…dear God! Do you really wanna be known as the almost thirty-year-old who’s still with a now even older man? Do you really want others to talk behind your back?”

That was a sentence I had to respond to. I sat up straight and looked her dead in the eyes, wanting her full attention.

“I’ve never cared about what others think, and maybe you should start doing the same. Because the more that comes out of your mouth, the more I realize that this is about you. It’s you who can’t handle the fact that I’m in love, and you would break with every strange look you’d get, being known as the stepmother whose daughter is dating an older guy. It bothers you and you’re scared! But guess what, Della? This isn’t about you. This is about me wanting to be with a man who treats me with much respect, and who loves me no matter the circumstances! So I kindly ask you to mind your own business and stop caring about who I wanna be with because no matter how long you’ll be angry about this, I won’t stop seeing Riggs.”

That shut her up, but only for a few minutes.

When I got up from the couch to walk away, she shook her head and laughed. “He won’t come here, and for as long as you’re still in college, you will not leave the house to go out,” she threatened.

I raised my brows at her, then looked at Dad who was rubbing his forehead with his fingers.

“This is still my house, Della. You don’t decide who comes and goes. You’ve done enough talking for today. Go take a bath or something.”

I almost laughed because of how annoyed Dad was, but I didn’t so she wouldn’t get even angrier.

“It’s immoral,” she spat, and with one last angry look, she headed upstairs.

“I’m sorry for the way she’s talking to you, Valley. I wish it were easier. I don’t know what to do,” he told me.

I sighed and walked over to sit on the arm rest of the couch next to him, wrapping my arm around his shoulder.

“You don’t have to apologize. Knowing you accept my relationship with Riggs is enough for me. Even if I never thought you’d be okay with it.”

“I’ve been strict with you all your life, Valley. I think it’s time for me to step back a little. You’ve never gotten into trouble and you’re also succeeding in school. You’re going to do great things, and I don’t wanna hold you back.”

“Your words mean the world to me,” I told him with a bright smile, hugging him tightly and closing my eyes to make sure not to ever forget this moment.

38

Despite Della still not willing to talk to me, the past few weeks have been incredible.

Riggs and I spent almost every night together at his place, and when Della decided to go out and have dinner with her girlfriends, Dad was nice enough to invite Riggs over.

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