Page 116 of Living Legend

My dad had his hands still placed over Daya’s shoulders and it looked like he was using his thumbs to massage her shoulder blades. She reached up and patted one of his hands, but then grabbed onto his fingers for a small moment and gave them a small squeeze.

Daya grabbed the clothes and held them in her palms, as if she was a waitress handling a plate of food. “I’ll go see if she wants them.” She gave me another smile, her nose ring sparkling in the morning sun as she walked past me towards the bathroom.

I let my eyes roam to my father to find his eyes had followed her, like he was in a trance. It was like he had forgotten I was there for a moment. His eyes looked the same as Reese’s when he first saw Jules Fox on our first day of training. She had red hair that she had placed in two buns on each side of her head and a birthmark the size of my hand on her neck. Reese had taken one look at her and instantly, I saw the change in his face. He had the same eyes my father had now.

Puppy dog eyes.

I fast forwarded to when Reese asked her out, she said yes, but after a few weeks went by, she ended up catching him fucking around with her roommate. I always knew he wasn’t the instant love type, which is why I didn’t stop him when he’d told me he planned to ask Jules out to lunch with hearts for eyes. I wasn’t with my father all the time like I was with Reese. I didn’t know anything about Daya. I wasn’t aware of the conversations they had been having, or how much she even knew about this situation at all. I just knew at that moment that he was downright smitten.

“You have a girlfriend?” I asked, plainly.

He blinked and then blinked again. His eyes finally looked at me with a more familiar shine. He furrowed his brow, as if he was taking in what I had asked.

“Huh?” my father asked, sounding dumbfounded. He turned towards the kitchen counter, setting his mug down and opening the cabinets to gather some plates.

“I asked if she was your girlfriend, Dad,” I answered in the most obvious ‘you aren’t fooling anyone’ tone I could muster. “Girlfriend, main squeeze, other half, ball and chain, any of those titles will do.”

He closed the cabinet and started laying the plates out. “Girlfriend makes me sound like I’m twenty again. It’s complicated. She didn’t know how you would feel about the whole thing, so she was fine with just keeping things between us.”

I scrunched up the side of my mouth. “Doesn’t seem so complicated to me. Just so you know, I can’t reprimand you for having a lady friend, Dad.” He rolled his eyes. I walked over and leaned back against the kitchen counter. “Did you know her from before?”

He started to turn down the stove dials, bringing the eggs and bacon to a low heat. “Yes, but we didn’t speak much. Plus, she practiced as a guardian angel, so we didn’t really run in the same circles.”

I nodded, knowing that back then, depending on where you were allocated in training pretty much determined the people you crossed paths with. You were what you were back then and that was all. If you didn’t like it…well then, you were welcome to leave. Nowadays, you could fraternize with whoever you wished. You could even cross train if you so wished.

“A guardian? That’s impressive.” I placed my hands behind me and braced them on the counter. “And she has a daughter? Also at The Skies?”

My dad shook his head. “No, that wasn’t something her daughter wanted to do, so she didn’t push. I told her thatyouwould never shut up about The Skies and how I wished you were more subtle about your interest.”

“I wanted to make sure you got the message.”

He chuckled but didn’t say anything back. He just started to pile the food onto the plates one by one. I rolled my eyes at how nervous he looked.

“How long have you two been…?”

“A few months,” he cut me off, exasperated.

“Dad, why didn’t you tell me about her?”

“There is nothing to tell. We’re just hanging out.”

“I blatantly saw you two flirting. Hanging out sounds like you two sit around and discuss your latest hobbies and what kind of seasoning they had in the market this week. We both know you guys probably do exactly that but add in kissing.”

He looked over at me with a pointed expression. “We talk now and then, alright? She comes over sometimes and we have dinner.”

I narrowed my eyes. “So…like dates? Which can involve kissing?”

“Nicholas.” He sounded irritated, but all I wanted to do was laugh.

“She seems nice, okay. It’s odd to see you start to settle with someone, that’s all.”

After learning my mother left, my father always made himself available to me for whatever I needed. He was nevernotthere. He wasn’t a hovering parent, but he always made sure I was looked after. Dani didn’t have to point out that my father was a good-looking man; that was always a fact growing up. There was never a time women didn’t give him a second look while we walked through the village. When I got a bit older, I started to really notice it, but less like a boy and more like a full-blown teenager going through puberty.

Once I hit twenty, I realized he never actually went for any of them. Women would blatantly lean over counters in front of him or brush his arm with theirs, or even laugh at his not funny jokes with a breathy laugh. He would fall for none of it. He would always be home with me and smile as Reese and I would go about our lives as newly grown adult men, free to make our own mistakes and live our own lives. Daya didn’t peg me as the type to flash the swell of her breasts for attention, which is why I think their coming together was more natural, probably a run in at the store. Something cute.

“How did you two meet, anyway?” I asked, wanting to confirm my own suspicions.

“Nothing fancy, I was coming home from my weekly stroll in the woods, and I noticed her carrying a bunch of groceries bags. I gave her a hand, that’s all.”

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