“Up the stairs, first door on the left.”
“Thanks.” She pecks me on the cheek and hops off the counter, disappearing out of the room.
Suddenly, all the anger I felt just a few minutes ago is washed away, all because of Quinn.
I’m staring out the window into the back yard, watching as dark grey clouds roll in, threatening rain, when I hear movement behind me.
“I’m sorry.” I glance over my shoulder to find my sister standing in the doorway, shifting awkwardly on her feet.
I turn back to staring out of the window, not in the mood to fight anymore. “Tori, you were out of line back there.”
“I know and I’m sorry,” she says, coming to a stop beside me.
“Then why say all that shit in there?”
She stares down at the ground, picking at the skin around her fingernails. “Because I don’t want to lose you again,” she mutters.
“Lose me?”
“If things end badly with her and you get hurt, I can’t stand the thought of you leaving again.” Her voice cracks, tears welling in her eyes. “I know that sounds really selfish of me, but I can’t lose my brother again, I just can’t...”
It’s then that I realise the true depths of the pain I caused my sister when I left three years ago, I underestimated what it would do to her to suddenly find herself without her brother, I thought she would understand why I had to leave, and I guess in some respects she did, but it still hurt her all the same.
I tug her towards me, pulling her into me as she sobs silently into my chest, her arms tightening around me. “You won’t lose me. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve already missed out on so much since I’ve been gone. I want to get to know my sister again, I want to be there for you and Lissy.”
I can see the uncertainty in her eyes, and I get it. She’s scared I’m going to up and leave at a moment’s notice just like the last time. It’s going to take some time before she can fully trust me, but time I have.
“I really am sorry.”
“It’s not just me you have to apologise to.”
Chapter 32
Quinn
This is one of the reasons I was so reluctant to come here today. I knew all along it was a bad idea. I mean, how are you going to react when your thirty-one year-old son brings home his teenage girlfriend?
I stare back at myself in the mirror above the sink, at the red rims that line my eyes. I didn’t by any means expect things to go smoothly once the truth of how we met came out, but what I didn’t anticipate is how much it would hurt.
My stomach churns with the thought of having to go back down there, having to face them all again. I knew as soon as the words ‘she’s my student'fell from Dwight’s lips, that it wasn’t going to end well, but what I didn’t expect was his sister to react the worst out of everyone.
Who the hell does she think she is?
Dwight is a grown man and doesn’t have to answer to his sister of all people.
I’m not naïve enough to not see how this looks to people from the outside, a professor dating his student... well he’s either a perv pursuing young girls or she’s a little slut with daddy issues seducing an older man, but neither of those things are true when it comes to me and Dwight.
The truth of it is, we both found something in each other, an understanding of sorts, both of us experiencing the pain of losing loved ones and being able to take a little of each other’s pain away.
In reality, people only see what they want to, they assume and judge without knowing the truth.
I splash some cold water onto my eyes to try and hide the fact that I’ve been crying, before opening the bathroom door, only to find Tori standing on the other side, smiling gingerly at me. “Can we talk?” she asks.
After a moment, I nod and I follow her into what I presume is a spare room, and sit down on the edge of the bed beside her. She stays silent for a moment before beginning to speak.
“Quinn, I’m really sorry for how I acted earlier. I don’t want you to think I’m like some heinous bitch or anything, because I promise you, I’m not. It was just a shock, not only to see my brother with a living, breathing woman, but because you’re his student.”
“I know how it looks, trust me, I’ve thought the exact same things you have.”
