My Life In Ruins

26. Daddy, Can I Have A Castle? I Want A Castle!

I didn’t even look back at him before I walked out of the room, shutting the door behind me. 

When I got out to the sitting room, Dad was on his laptop like I usually found him.  He looked up when I walked in, raising an eyebrow.

“Good morning,” he said.  “Did you sleep well?”

I nodded, moving close to him.  “Where’s Brielle?  I’ve got to talk to her about something.”

He looked confused then.  “Are you okay?  Is it something I can help you with?”

Did I really want to talk to my dad about being in love with Max?  Heck no!  I needed another girl in this situation. 

“No, I kind of need her for this,” I said.

Dad probably thought it was a girl problem.  “She’s in the room,” he said, nodding toward their bedroom. 

I went without another word to him.  I could feel his eyes on me as I did, though.

Brielle was stretched out on the bed, reading, when I walked in and shut the door behind me.  When I did, she immediately looked up. 

“Good morning, Callie,” she said, and then got a good look at my freaked out face.  She looked confused.  “What’s wrong?”

I hesitated a moment before going over to stretch out on the bed beside her. 

“I’ve got a question,” I said. 

She looked even more confused.  “Okay,” she said.

I took a breath, puffing out my cheeks, before finally just spitting it out.  “When did you first realize that you were in love with Dad?” I asked in a rush.

She looked confused for another moment before realization lit up her eyes.

“Oh, Callie…” she started.

I bit the inside of my lip.  “When?” I asked.  “Was it soon after you met him or did it take a while for it to happen?”

Her expression softened.  “It was a few weeks after we met and the three of us had gone out to dinner for the first time all together.  Do you remember?”

I nodded.  I did remember.  Brielle had been unusually quiet that night, just watching me and Dad and how we were joking around with each other.  She’d had a slight smile on her face the entire time. 

“It was just how you two were together.  I don’t really think it was a sudden thing.  It just took me a little while to realize it.  It was always there, though,” she said.

She put her hand on the top of my head, brushing my hair back from my face.

“Tell me,” she said. 

I groaned, burying my face in the pillow.  “I think I’m in love with Max,” I grumbled. 

“I couldn’t hear what you said.  Could you try to talk with your face not in the pillow?” she asked.  I could hear the smile in her voice.

I sighed, looking up at her.  “I think I’m in love with Max,” I said quietly. 

She raised an eyebrow.  “Think, or know?”

“Alright, I know I’m in love with him.  But I don’t know how I can be after the short time we’ve known each other!  It’s just the way he looks at me, the way he is.  I mean, he’s just so sweet and funny and handsome and cares about me and doesn’t want to see me hurt and…”