SEVENTEEN
Belle
“You’re home early.”
I stare at Dad as I ditch Sharon’s keys on the kitchen bench. “It’s eight o’clock at night.”
He shrugs. “Didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow.”
I follow him as he takes the two coffees in his hands through to the living room, setting Sharon’s down beside her.
“Thanks for the loan of the car.” I give her a smile as I drop onto the sofa. “I refuelled on my way back.”
Also spent an hour at a scenic spot, flat on my back atop the picnic table while I contemplated life, death and every damn subject in-between. I didn’t realise how much time had passed until Zeus’s message came through.
He’s painted his kitchen how I envisioned. If that didn’t sway me, then the way he signed off gave me the last ounce of resolve I needed to follow my heart and set things right.
“Anytime.” Sharon gives me a smile as she sets the book she was reading in her lap. “How was he?”
“Surprised.” I look between the two of them, my expression enough to make Dad reach for the remote and mute the TV. “I split up with Damien.”
“What?” Dad says at the same time as Sharon asks, “Why?”
“We’ve been distant,” I explain.
“Understandable when you’re a world apart,” Dad says.
“It’s not just recently.” I close my eyes, brow pinched. “Always.” I reopen them to find Dad confused and Sharon concerned. “I don’t love him.”
“I’m sorry,” Sharon offers, shifting out of her armchair to sit beside me.
I look to Dad as she takes my hand. “I couldn’t love him, Dad. I still love Zeus.”
“For fuck’s sake,” he mutters under his breath, top lip tight. “This again?”
“Zeus sent me a message the week I got back,” I confess. “I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d get mad at him.”
“I told that fucker not to get in touch with you. I told him to stay away.”
“He has stayed away,” I press. “The contact has been civil. Just chatting about tattoos and stuff.” And a love that never died. “I want to see him, but I wanted to tell you first.”
“Why?”
“John,” Sharon says. “Let her state her piece without making her feel bad for doing so, would you?”
His gaze softens as it falls on the woman beside me. I might be clutching at straws, but I’d almost say that in that moment he realises what love is, and that he can’t deny how I feel—only state how he does.
“I don’t want you to see him,” Dad says flatly.
“You can’t just ban me—”
“Ah.” He holds his hand up to stop me. “It’s not up for discussion, Belle. I know you two love each other; I get that. But he’s seventeen years older than you,” he stresses. “That brings complications with it neither of you can deny.”
“I don’t care about the complications.” Sharon tightens her hold, thumb stroking my hand as my distress becomes clear. “Don’t you get it? I tried to move on. I tried to do what you wanted and found a guy my age. And it didn’t work. I was bloody miserable with Damien because there was no passion. No spark. Nothing.” I take a moment to gather myself, pulling in a deep breath as Dad silently stews. “I didn’t need him.”
“You don’t need Zeus either.”
“I do.” I drop Sharon’s hand, rising to my feet. “Why can’t you accept that?”
Dad stares across to the front windows, seeming to refuse to carry on the conversation.
“Ugh.” I let loose a frustrated growl and storm from the room.
I can’t be around him when he’s like this: stubborn and arrogant. Why can’t he let this go? What will it take for Dad to realise that no matter what I do, nothing will change my mind when it comes to Zeus?
“Belle?” Sharon’s soft call pulls me from where I stew, seated on the back step. “Do you mind if I join you?”
“No. Please.” I pat the step beside me.
She settles, legs out straight before her as she stares at her hands atop her knees. “I think you need to give your dad time to adjust, is all.”
“He’s had three years to adjust to the idea.”
She lifts her eyebrows. “Not really, love. If you’d stayed here, never met Damien, then I think he would have had three years to adjust. But from what your father tells me, he set that notion aside when you called to tell him you were moving in with a boy.”
She has a point. I’ve dropped the bombshell on Dad right after telling him I broke up with Damien. I might have known for a long time that this was coming, but as far as an outsider looking in was concerned, I was happy in my new relationship.
I’d left Zeus behind.
“I won’t let it go,” I tell her. “I’m not under any illusion that I haven’t got work to do as far as repairing things with Zeus goes, but Sharon”—I turn to face her—“he told me he still loves me in those messages. He said he never stopped. I can’t ignore that when I feel the same way.”
“No, you can’t.” She pats my knee. “But you also have to acknowledge how this looks to anybody who doesn’t know that.” She sighs. “You’ve broken up with your partner of however long—two years, is it?—and now you’re chasing down the man who you left behind in a cloud of controversy. It doesn’t look good, no matter what the story behind it is.”
Hell—it doesn’t.
“What do I do, then? I need to tell Zeus how I feel.”
“Why?” She frowns.
Why? “Because…” I hesitate, having not really thought about it until now. “I’m afraid if I don’t then he’ll move on.” How two-faced does that sound? “Oh my God,” I moan. “I’m such a mess.”
Sharon chuckles, hand rubbing my back. “No, darling. You’re just young and in love.”