Page 72 of Wicked Dix

Deciding to put myself out of my misery, I slip in my earbuds and listen to some jazz while concentrating on my emails. Most are notes from Susanna keeping me up to date. However, there are two messages which catch my eye.

One is from Chad, forwarding me the details for the Gerald Harriet’s Fellowship Awards night which will be held early December. The other is from Sunnyfields Hospital, inviting me to a family fun day which will take place in a couple of weeks.

Although I have been visiting my father once a week, he still hates my guts. The only time I get a glimmer of a response is when Maddy is with me. It almost looks like he’s listening a quarter of the time. But when it’s just him and me, I may as well be invisible.

I jolt up when I feel a hand on my shoulder. “Sorry,” Maddy apologizes as I slip out my earbuds.

“It’s okay. How was Mary?” I ask, spinning my chair around to face her. When her cheeks flush, I decide I don’t want to know.

She looks at my laptop and smiles. “That looks like fun. Are you going?”

I turn back around to look at the invite. “I don’t know. It would feel kind of weird going, considering my father wishes I were dead.”

“Don’t say that. No, he doesn’t. I’ve seen small improvements. You just have to keep trying,” she encourages.

I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “He’s a stubborn old fool.”

“Look who’s talking.” She giggles when I turn over my shoulder and raise an eyebrow.

“So would you like to come with me?”

“To the family day?”

I nod and swivel my chair around.

“Um…”

When she hesitates, I quickly backtrack. “If you don’t want to, I understand.”

She quickly shakes her head. “No, it’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s just…” She pulls her sleeves over her hands. “It’s a family day.”

“And?”

“And I’m not technically family.”

Unable to help myself, I lunge forward and draw her onto my lap. I brush back her hair so I can look into her eyes. “You’re my family, therefore you’re also my father’s. If you’d like to attend, then the invitation stands. If it’s too weird, then I totally understand.”

“Do you think they’ll have those mini pigs in blankets like they did the last time we visited?” is her reply.

I smile. “I’ll make sure of it.”

She nestles into my arms, sighing contentedly when I slip my hands over her ass. “So did you want to go get something to eat? It’s your birthday. We can’t waste it indoors when it’s such a nice day out.”

She seems to weigh up my question. “Maybe we could take some of the leftover food and a bottle of Frankcati...”

I laugh and correct her. “It’s Frascati. I think it’s time I taught you some Italian.”

She pulls out of my hold and rolls her eyes. “Anyway, Mr. Smarty Pants, like I was saying, maybe we could take the leftoverfood and have a picnic.I saw some gorgeous spots on our drive yesterday.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I playfully smack her ass as she jumps up. “How about you put something together while I finish up in here?”

She nods. Her happiness is contagious, and I can’t help but smile as she skips off to the kitchen.

However, I look up from my laptop when she comes into the room a moment later. “Maybe you could teach me something easy in Italian? Just to start me off.” As she swallows nervously, I wonder why.

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