“Even if she knows I may not stay here?” I ask.
He nods. “Yes, even then. She wants to get to know you because she knows that even if you leave, you two can still be friends and that you’ll visit because you know two people here. I think she’s also secretly hoping that you’ll come and visit her if you do decide to leave.”
Everything depends so much on whether I am leaving or not. How am I going to make a decision when there are so many people and reasons to stay here?
What if I want to leave to go back to my apartment and live a miserable life from now on? It’s what I deserve because I wasasleep in the car when the crash happened. I should have been awake so that I could warn them or died along with them.
But I had to survive.
“What are you thinking?” Daddy asks.
“Nothing,” I mutter.
He doesn’t need to know about my thoughts. He wouldn’t like them anyway.
“No, we aren’t doing that,” he says in a stern voice. “I don’t like the look that went across your face.”
Sighing, I look up at him. “Just thinking about the crash and living a miserable life after. If it’s something I deserve,” I can’t help but say.
Daddy cups my face in his hands. “You don’t deserve to live a miserable life because you were asleep when the crash happened.”
“But I do. I really do. What if I had been awake?”
“But you weren’t. You can’t go back in time and change what happened. What would your mother and older brother say if they saw how you were treating yourself right now?” He asks. “Would they be happy that you are making your life miserable, or would they be sad because they would want you to live your life in the most foolish way?”
“I don’t know,” I mumble.
“I think you do, and I want you to really think about it. What would they say to you?”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
“You don’t have to say it out loud, but I want you to be honest with yourself about what they would say,” he murmurs.
“They would be sad that I am treating myself like this. They would be telling me to get myself together and enjoy life,” I say, my voice cracking toward the end.
“Then that’s what you need to do. It’s not going to happen right away, but you are going to get better slowly and start toenjoy life.” He kisses the side of my head. “I’m going to help you through it.”
CHAPTER 14
MILA
Daddy got me in trouble for still not talking to Aiden about what happened three years ago. It had slipped my mind because of how much fun we’ve been having.
Well… more like I wanted to forget about it so I didn’t have to tell him anything.
“You’re going to be okay,” Daddy says as he kisses the top of my head. “Just go there and explain yourself.”
Sighing, I nod and walk out the door. My legs feel like lead the more I walk, as if they know the doom we are about to walk into.
It was supposed to be a relaxing time at the lodge, and while it has been, there have been several moments where it’s been anything but relaxing.
Almost getting lost when I was trying to run away from them the other day and the conversation we had after was stressful.
And now this.
I walk into Aiden’s cabin to see him sitting in his recliner, watching TV.
“Hey, Mila. What brings you here?” he asks as he sits upright.
