Capturing Memories

°•°Chapter 38°•°

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

-Rumi.

Chloe's POV.

"Dad," I gasp recognizing the unknown caller, "How are you, Chloe?" my heart drops while listening to his for the first time in over seven years. Like what were the odds of my dad, calling me right after Zach brought him up in our conversation yesterday.

"Princess," my jaw tightens upon hearing his voice again, "What do you want?" I ask him coldly as I feel all sense of emotion drain out of me. He sighs before finding his voice again, "I'm in Colorado,"

"I'm sorry, what?!" I question in disbelief and shut my eyes feeling everything messed up as Blake walks into the kitchen with a smile, "Chloe, are you there?"

Once again my dad's voice breaks my thoughts as panic rises in me, "Y-yes," I choke out the word trying not to meet Blake's gaze as tears threatened to roll down my face, "Could we meet up?"

"Chloe?" Blake snaps me out of my shocked state and that's when I realized my knuckles are pale from gripping the counter too hard, "Who is it? Is everything alright?"

He asks me concerned and with that, all hell breaks loose making me let out the first tear, free, "It's dad,"

I whisper and Blake's eyes widen as all the sleepiness washed off his face, "Chloe, is that Blake?" dad's voice interrupts before Blake grabbed the phone from my hand looking as if he could kill someone right now, "What do you want from us?"

"You fucked up way long ago and now you're back to messing with our lives when everything's in place?!" Blake tries to keep his voice low but it's still loud enough to make dad's ears bleed.

The realization hits me and that's when I nudge Blake's arm, "It's his birthday!" I whisper shout but it comes out as a sob with me being my miserable self. Blake's arm wraps around my shoulder, pulling me into a hug as meaningless tears roll down my face.

"It's a no Mr. Miller," is the last thing Blake says bitterly before putting my phone back on the counter as I feel his racing heart against my cheek, "Chloe," he lifts my head enough to see my tear-drenched face while shaking his head in disappointment.

"I-I don't get it, why would he call after so long, and how does he know that I live in Colorado?" I ask him wiping away my never-ending tears with the back of my hands, "I don't know,"

Blake sighs closing his eyes trying to avoid showing me how weak this call made him too, "Do you think he contacted mom?"

"That's a possibility," I sigh, getting off the barstool and turning on the coffee machine. This wasn't expected and both of us sure didn't need this right now, "I think we need to talk to mom,"

~•~•~•

"Yes, of course. We'll do our best," I say with the best formal smile I could muster to the woman sitting opposite to me, "Thank you, Ms. Miller. I look forward to your visit tomorrow,"

"I'll be there by eleven am tomorrow and I'm sure would be able to get everything set for the photoshoot this weekend," I tell her as she stands up and I do the same, straightening out my linen white shirt.

She extends her arm with a charming smile and I extend mine in a handshake, sealing the deal, "I'll email the details to you by eight tomorrow morning,"

"Alright," I nod my head, retrieving my arm as I glanced at visiting card she gave me of her art gallery, "Goodbye Ms. Miller,"

"Goodbye," I flash a smile before she walked out of the studio. Sighing, I settle down in my chair, once I made sure Ms. Taylor has left, "Good job Chloe,"

I whisper to myself as I look at the clock, which read 7:25 pm and close my eyes. Dad. Oh, he sure as hell makes sure we never forget him and now he had to call me up which led to Blake going upset during his holiday which he got to have after so long. That isn't even the most surprising part because the thing that pissed me off more was mom giving dad my details.

Why? Because he finally thinks, he feels guilty for the ghosting us, and mom thought it'd make us happy to talk to him again. I love my mom but that was a crappy move because she knew we were finally over trying to reach out to dad. Blake gave up on him way long ago but I tried to contact him until I finished grad school so yeah, it's all fucked up.

My phone goes off making me groan and I pick it up without checking who it is, "Hey, Sugar," my eyes jerk open as I hear Zach's voice and I force myself to sound as normal as I could cause he already has enough on his plate. He'd definitely find out about it tonight cause Blake would tell him if I don't, and that is because he thinks Zach is the only person who can handle me better. He's not wrong.

"Hey! How's your day going?" I try sounding happy despite the thoughts of my dad hurting me, "Surprisingly good. Why didn't you call or text me all day?"

"Sorry, I've just been busy," that wasn't entirely a lie but I also left my phone aside the whole day to avoid dad's call occupying my mind, "I know that but you always leave a message at least. Is everything alright?"

"Yup, stop worrying so much. I was just occupied with work," I say in an attempt to convince him. But that's my best friend, he may just pretend to buy my explanation right now and find out what's wrong once he's done with work, "Fine but give me a call if you need to talk something out,"

"You don't have to spell it out for me, I know that," I bite my lower lip, debating if I should just tell him about the phone call but stop myself from doing so, "I love you,"

A smile spreads across my face ignoring the brimming tears, "Love you too," saying it back, I feel myself calm down a bit, "Also, don't cook or order in once you're back home. I'll be getting food from the restaurant and I'll save some empanadas too,"

"That sounds amazing!" I squeal trying to match my usual excitement but not getting even close, gaining a sigh from him. He knows that something's wrong when I don't check on him throughout the day and I didn't even do it on purpose.

"Take care and message me once you're back home. I've got to get back to work,"

"Okay take care," with that I hang up and let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding. I turn to my laptop and open the mailbox to check for any new emails and sigh in relief when there's none.

Saving the progress of some photo-edits, I close my laptop before grabbing the charger and placing it in the bag. I put on the laptop sleeve onto my laptop and zip it up before strapping it up in place inside my laptop bag.

Turning off the lights, I grab my bag and phone and walk out of my office before shutting out the lights in the rest of the studio. Looking around one last time, I walk out and lock the door while the cold wind hits my skin. Note to self, stop wearing linen shirts when it's still freezing cold!

Blowing out into my freezing hands, I rub them together in an attempt to avoid the cramps the chilly wind would cause, "You're so stupid, Chloe." I mumble to myself in annoyance before searching for my car keys in my bag.

I sigh, once my fingers hit the cold metal and pull it out while simultaneously unlocking the car, "Chloe! Hold on a second!"

~•~•~•