Meant For You

forty-six.

She comes before me in my head so me finding my birth parents is on the back pedal for now. I know Nola is acting fine right now but it only just happened. It's all going to hit in the next couple of days even weeks and I'm going to make sure I don't have my own world crumbling down when that does happen.

We get into a small van that takes us all to our hotels. Turns out, we had been staying at the same one Nola's parents had been staying in. We all checked out of our rooms and then we went to the hotel where Nola stayed and picked up her stuff. I was about to offer to help her bring down her things but her father beat me to it.

The ride was a little less awkward than I thought it would be. Ember, Brooks, and even Nola's little sister, Kiersten who'd I just met talked to me. When we had gotten onto the private jet, neither of Nola's parents had spoken a word to me. As soon as we took off, they disappeared into the one bedroom the airplane had.

I sat next to Nola on one of the couches and Ember sat beside her. They talked about things that didn't have anything to do with figure skating. I figured Ember wanted to distract her which was a good idea. Since it was going to be a long flight, I rested my head back and closed my eyes.

***

Time had passed because when I woke up, the uncovered windows had shown darkness. Everything was quiet. Nola wasn't next to me anymore and Ember was asleep on the same couch as me. I looked around to find Nola's brothers, sharing another couch. They were all asleep. Kiersten and Mrs. Scott were missing as well.

"You're awake." The deep voice caught me off guard and my head turned toward the other side of the private jet where Mr. Scott sat. He had a laptop opened up on his lap. His light blue eyes pierced into mine with a hard-ass stare. I've only met him twice and he didn't seem to hate me the first time but this time around is different. Seeing his daughter in my arms earlier might have been the reason why.

"You and I are the only ones," he says when I don't respond. Mr. Scott shuts his laptop, setting it on the table in front of him before getting up and walking over to sit on the loveseat in front of me. I have a feeling I'm about to get interrogated. "How's Nola?" I ask, even though I think it's the wrong question to ask.

His eyes narrow slightly but he doesn't falter, keeping his cool. "She's asleep. She'll be alright." That's not what I asked. I nodded awkwardly, breaking eye contact. When I don't say anything though he speaks again. "So..." he starts, rubbing his lips. "How long have you and my daughter been...friends?" I can hear the uneasiness in his voice as he says the word friends.

That's what we are. Nothing uneasy about it.

"A couple of months," I reply. He lets out a chuckle. "The last time she talked about you months ago wasn't pretty. What changed?" he questions. My brows furrow slightly but I try not to show any reaction. I know she talked about me to her family months ago. Brooks already exposed her on that part a while back. "We just called a truce, I guess. Turns out we're more similar than I thought."

His brows raise slightly like my words are a surprise to him. "She told me you're John and Claire's nephew, is that right?" The mention of my aunt and uncle brings a slight smile to my lips. It's been a while since I've seen them because I'm always so busy but there's not a day my aunt doesn't text me. "Yessir."

"They've never mentioned you. Funny," he says, sipping a glass of wine I didn't even realize he had. His comment takes me aback a little. I don't think I would have been offended if he didn't add the 'funny' at the end. He's Nola's dad, I remind myself. If it were anyone else, I'd be a smart-ass right back.

I clear my throat. "I forgot to thank you for letting me come back with your family, so thank you." Mr. Scott smiles over at me but I'm a professional at distinguishing a fake smile from a real one. That one was fake. "You're welcome." Comes his short reply.