FATHER ALWAYS SMILING

Chapter 56 ~~~~~

Gina Miller stretched her arms above her head, for the past three days she had been diligently packing her things. With all hell breaking loose still, she figured now was a better time than ever to just pack up and go.

She paused to look at her wrist, the guard now gone, but the memory of what happened remained, the truth about Nick, and all that came after. It felt almost unbelievable, almost.

As she continued putting things in boxes, a knock on her front door drew her attention.

Looking through the peephole she saw Layla standing on the other door. Similar gothic-styled outfit with pants, black boots and a long black trench coat, only now had light lavender hair in a fluffy type of bobbed haircut. It looked good on her.

"Hey," Layla said when Gina opened the door. "Been a bit, wanted to see how you're doing with packing. Mind if I come in?"

"Sure, just watch where you step, it's a bit of a mess at the moment."

Layla looked around seeing the clutter of mess and open boxes. "Dang, it's like a bomb's gone off in here." She let out a whistle as Gina went back to kneeling on the floor while packing up her clothes. "What about your job at the school?"

"Don't really have a job anymore with the school closed indefinitely." She said as she continued packing. "No one wants to work in a place like that after what that monster did to the children. It might become condemned or bulldozed and turned into a community lot. But I'm just guessing that."

Layla took a seat on the armrest of the couch as Gina continued to pack her clothes. "What about the other teachers? The ones who tried to get all of that to stop?"

"Mr. McCrae and Madam Andrews found work at another school, they're both working at the same privet school in the richer area of Toronto, and it's a far cry from what our school is. Lucas, a boy with special needs, and Mr. McCrae's soon-to-be stepson will be attending there too. Overall, it's good for them."

"You sound happy."

"I am happy," Gina said with a smile. "The only time I think I can even recall something close to this is when I was with you, and Darcy..." She glanced at the painting on the walls, still needing to be put away, but would be the last thing to do so. "It makes me wonder how he's doing and if he was here what he'd have to say about this."

Layla didn't respond.

Gina gave an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry, I make it sound so depressing—" but her words trailed off when Layla closed the distance and wrapped her arms around Gina's shoulders and hugged her tightly.

"He'd be proud." She told her, her face buried in Gina's nape. "He'd be so, so, so proud of you and how far you've come."

Her hold tightened when she said that last part, and the moment it had, tears brimmed in Gina's eyes as she grasped her friend's arms. It might have sounded silly, but not once had she ever heard anyone praise her like this. That someone was proud of her for what she was able to do, no matter the size of that accomplishment.

"Thanks, Layla... really, thank you."

After a silent moment, Layla pulled away, her back facing Gina when she went to look at her friend. "Man, what the hell..." she let out a breath. "I know that was probably out of character for me but... I felt like I had to, in Darcy's place, you know?" but before Gina had the chance to say anything Layla whirled around and declared. "But enough of this mopey nonsense! We have an apartment to pack! So let's get packin'!"

* * *

Layla helped Gina continue packing her things and labelling the boxes to know what's what while making jokes and playing music with non-alcoholic drinks.