Sneak Peek: May I "Ch 35"

Walking into the kitchen, he watched as she nursed a hot cup of tea and looked out the window—choosing to sit beside her at the table. He gave her a look as if he were saying: I’d rather that you stayed.

“It was a private conversation.” Gillian took another sip of tea, clearly knowing what he was thinking. Cal looked rather uncomfortable, although he was trying not to show it. Her thoughts went back to her conversation with Emily, and she couldn’t help notice that her thoughts were reflecting his own.

“The conversations between Zoe and me are anything but private anymore.”As she glanced back out the window, she could feel his eyes on her. “You should know that as well as anyone.”

“I do.” She circled her index finger around the rim of the cup. Thinking about it for a second, she gave a slight shake of her head, as if she were considering telling her the thought.

"Your father has his own ways of doing things. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Emily said, in a more determined tone this time. "I brought my bag with me, so I can get some studying done."

"You can come to me with anything, if you ever need to talk. You know that, right?"

Her conversation with Emily came floating back to her, as if a sudden thought. She cleared her throat and went back to circling her finger around the rim of the cup— with some kind of fake fascination.  

“You can’t ignore him forever” A voice told her. She took another sip, suddenly half-disappointed that she had drained the rest of the liquid distraction. Meeting his gaze, she cleared her throat. But as she opened her mouth to say something, he beat her too it—clearly thinking the same thing she was—in some way or another.

He sighed with such indecision that it made her rethink telling him. She went to the cabinet and pulled out a pudding, then a spoon from the drawer. It took one look that she could clearly read—he was seriously asking for her opinion, or he was trying to see if she had talked to Emily lately—to which he wasn’t that far off.

She sat back down at the table, feeling her hands shaking. He made a slight gesture for her to pass it over for her. He felt crazy for letting her eat the brown goop in the first place. Just like he had ignored almost everything else with a passion, and it was killing him. Truthfully, he couldn’t stop thinking about what she had said to him as he watched her fall asleep earlier.