[1] Little Miss Luna. | ✔️

1.22

"So, you were with Delilah yesterday while I was with Mabel at the assisted living place?" Henry asked as he laid back in his recliner.

Sophie nodded, one hand scribbling notes into her notebook as the other rubbed Daisy's tummy. "Yeah." Sophie lied.

"You girls clicked pretty quickly. I'm surprised, I've never seen you make a friend so easily."

Sophie rolled her eyes to herself. If that didn't make me sound like the biggest loner on the planet. "She's really friendly. I enjoy hanging out with her."

"And where did she come from? She introduced herself but didn't say why she had visited." Henry continued, which Sophie really wished he didn't.

"She's... Cortez's employee. He introduced us."

"Oh, really?" Henry nodded as his thoughts took over. A moment later, his suspicion spilled over and his eyebrows furrowed. "Your relationship with Cortez must be pretty serious for him to introduce you to his employees."

Sophie instantly caught the suspicious tone in her grandfathers voice and her heart started to race. She didn't look at him, simply froze and let her eyes fall shut. The path of this conversation was predictable and even worse, inevitable. Sophie knew her grandfather would start asking questions one day since he was suspicious from the moment he laid eyes on Cortez.

That didn't mean she wanted to have this conversation. Her grandfather would ask the same questions she asked Cortez and Cortez never gave her a clear answer. She may have let it slide but she knew her grandfather wouldn't. It was all making her very nervous. She didn't know what to say to shut down his suspicion properly.

"It's not like that." Sophie turned only slightly, her eyes landing on Henry's slippers since she couldn't convince herself to look at much more of him.

"How old did you say that fella was?"

Henry's forced casual tone was making Sophie even more tense. She couldn't handle it.

"Twenty five."

Henry hummed as he nodded, the action slowly turning into a disapproving head-shake. "I don't know how I feel about that, Sophie. He's a grown man courting a high schooler. There is no way he has any good intentions."

Sophie shifted so she was facing her grandfather, fully bracing herself for this conversation. "Chief, it's not like... H-He's a nice man, I swear to you. He wouldn't ever.."

All of Sophie's stuttering caused Henry to cut her off. "I don't like it, Sophie. I don't like it even more that he sees you without my knowledge. And you're on the phone every night when I go to bed. You're talking to Cortez, aren't you, not Delilah?"

Sophie groaned as she started nibbling on her thumb nail. She was panicking. "Cortez isn't a bad guy. He would never do anything to hurt me. He.."

"So he's brainwashed you? It's nice to know that a grown man has manipulated my granddaughter into falling for him." Henry scoffed, his anger festering as he shook his head.

"No, Chief, he wouldn't.."

"You're not seeing him any longer, Sophie." Henry stated firmly. Sophie froze, feeling her heart clench. "I'm not allowing you anywhere near each other. If you want to see Delilah, she comes here. I don't know or trust either of them. I don't want Cortez talking to you, touching you, manipulating you."

"Cortez is not manipulating me!" Sophie cried as she frustratedly buried her fingers in her hair. "He wants the best for me. He's so supportive and caring. He's such a gentleman and.."

"I don't want to hear it, Sophie." Henry scolded angrily. "I'm your grandfather, I'm the one that wants what's best for you. Whatever he's told you is a lie. You're too young to understand, obviously, even though I thought you were smart enough to see through his lies."