Page 38 of The Casualty of Us
It’s not the room’s fault either.
It’s as beautiful as ever with its elegant design and matching white furniture but just…not quite right. I sit on my bed and let my eyes trail across the vanity standing next to the door. The bookshelves that are half empty beside my bed. Trying to shake off the feeling and blowing out a breath before turning back to finish wrapping Ollie’s present.
A soft knock comes that has me calling out, “Who is it?”
“Just me, Princess.” My dad’s steady voice comes with a cracking of the door. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I fold the wrapping paper up over the edge of Ollie’s present and tape it down before looking up at him with a grin. “I already finished yours.”
He gives me an indulgent smile back, lines cutting deeply into a face that’s an older version of Ollie and dressed in his usual sweater and slacks. “What’d you get me?”
“Not telling.” I pull a face at him before quickly finishing up Ollie’s present as he walks over to sit on the side of my bed. “Ollie probably will, though.”
“About your present to me or his?”
“Both if you catch him at the right time,” I quip, setting the now finished gift to the side and looking back up to see the lines beside his eyes crinkle. “What’s up?”
“Nothing, nothing,” he sighs, happy lines fading from his face and clueing me in on that there is, in fact, something. “I justwanted to give you a heads-up that we hired you and Ollie your own security team for when you’re home over the summer.”
“What?” My brows fall in confusion. “Don’t we already have one?” I wave a hand toward my windows with a soft scoff. “Or have those guys who’ve been following us around all break just been sightseeing?”
“No, we do—they are,” he corrects before starting in what I like to call his lawyer voice. “But they’re more for the family as a whole. These ones will be specifically assigned to you and Ollie. You two will be their only priority.”
“That seems excessive.” I scowl, not liking the sound of it one bit. “I know you and Mom worry because they never caught them, but do we really need, like, individual—”
“Indulge your old man, yeah?” He gives me the same crooked grin that Ollie does. “It’ll make me worry less about my little girl if I know you’re safe and they can stay in the apartment above the garage if we ever need them to.”
“Iamsafe,” I argue, repeating the words inside my head a few times as well to really drive them home as his grin fades into what I think is him trying to look stern. Either way, it quickly has me sighing. “Fine, but I have conditions.”
“As mine and your mother’s daughter, I would expect nothing less.” He chuckles before gesturing at me. “Proceed.”
“One.” I hold up a hand and quickly start ticking off on my fingers. “They can’t get in the way of me being a normal person. I’m going to feel suffocated if they try to stop me from living.”
“Understandable.” He nods. “I’ll make sure they know to only step in if there’s international travel involved.”
“Funny.” I snort before pointing to my next finger. “Two, I need to have space, they don’t need to be in my room when I’m home or following me into the bathroom.”
“I give you full permission to fire them if they try to.”
I lift a brow at that, but he just smiles back as I round out number three. “And this last one might sound familiar, but it bears repeating: Ineedspace to breathe. No locked doors or shutting me up in the name of safety.”
His face falls with a solemn look. “I know, Princess.” He reaches out, taking my hand in his. “I know that, and they do too. I’ve made that very clear. It’s just an extra precaution and really, you won’t even know they’re there unless you need them.”
I stare at him for a couple of seconds, something about it all niggling at me before giving a reluctant nod. “Okay.”
“Okay then.” He gives my hand a squeeze. “Now hurry up in here, your mom—”
“Hey, Dad,” I start suddenly, something, maybe the black present staring at me from under the tree every day makes me ask. “How did you know you liked Mom? Like when you met, how did you know that it was worth it?”
His brows pop up in surprise, another crooked grin appearing on his face a second later. “Does this have anything to do with the stray present under the tree that Ollie scowls at every time he sees it?”
“Maybe.” I purse my lips to hide a smile. “It could.”
“Well,” he sighs, looking up into the air thoughtfully. “You know the story by now. I was spending a semester abroad in France. Your mother was traveling through Europe, and we met one day while drinking wine at a café with mutual friends.”
“And?” I push.
“And.” His gaze comes back to mine with a shrug. “She was incandescent. I’d never met anyone like her. Who lived so freely. I was sitting there with all my carefully laid plans, and she was hopping from town to town just embracing whatever life threw at her.” He chuckles softly. “Except when she didn’t like whatever that was, then I’m pretty sure she made the world weep.”
