Page 86 of Until Now

“I’m not sure there’s anything to talk about.”

“Beh, non sono d'accordo.”

“Davina, I am not in the mood for this.”

“All due respect, I don’t give a shit.” I sit in the chair next to him. “You have been mad at me since we left Haven. It’s the middle of October, you cannot seriously still be holding this against me.”

“I’m sorry, Piccola.” When he finally looks at me, the cracks in his armor are growing bigger. “But, you have to understand where I’m coming from. You bring this boy into our home and you don’t even know him. You pretend to be dating him, you—”

“Oh, Davina! You’re here.” Mother joins us ignoring the obvious tension. “I see you have the photos from the wedding. Let me see!” I hand her the photos without looking away from Daddy. “Oh, they are just beautiful. You walked her?” She holds up a photo of me and Elizabeth walking down the aisle.

“Since Daddy wasn’t there, she asked me to do it.”

“You look stunning, just beautiful.” Mother pauses coming to the next photo. “Oh my, is that Nick? Doesn’t he look handsome?”

I don’t miss the way Daddy rolls his eyes at the mention of Nick.

“Mother, I need to go.”

“Oh,” she holds up a different photo of Nick and me dancing. Why would Elizabeth include that photo in their stack? She should know better. “You’re just glowing.”

“Please, make sure you let Elizabeth know you got the photos. She’s been bugging me to drop them off.”

“Of course.” Mother continues to shuffle through the photos. “Oh, I heard you saw Lee recently.”

“What?”

“Yes, he mentioned he saw you.”

“No, I— Oh, you mean when he broke into my house?”

“Ha fatto cosa?” Daddy’s attention is fully on me now. He’s probably wondering why I didn’t tell him. I thought about it, but we aren’t exactly talking right now. Besides, I handled it.

“Well, I guess it’s not really breaking in when you know where the spare key is, but…I told him to fuck off.”

“Language, Davina,” Mother warns.

“When did you see Lee, Bri?” Daddy asks.

“Oh no, darling, I haven’t. Karol was telling me about it.”

“Ooookay, well as much fun as I’m not having, I have to go now.” I can feel the tension mounting between my parents. I’d rather not be around when Daddy decides to push the topic.

“So soon?”

“Yeah, I have plans that don’t include talking about my stalker ex-boyfriend.” I smile at Daddy when he chuckles.

“Well, if you get the chance, give him a call. I know he would love to hear from you.”

“That sounds awful, so I won’t be doing that.” I make my way toward the patio door. “And, if you do see him again, make sure you remind him of what I told him the last time I saw him.” I smirk. “Goodnight.”

Behind me, I hear Daddy say, “Stop trying to push her on him, Bri.”

“I just want her to be happy,” she whispers.

“I don’t think her idea of happy includes Lee.”

At least someone around her understands that.

---