Page 127 of The Daddy’s Girl

“I want you.” He sounds exasperated as he blows out a breath.

Tears well in my eyes and I don’t speak. The car pulls up, and I stay on the silent call with Matis as I climb into the back seat. Quickly wiping my tears away, I stare down as I listen to him breathe.

“I don’t know what to do, Amelia,” he whispers. “You think I take this lightly? I’m a fifty-three-year-old man who has never wanted to settle down in my entire life, and now it’s all I want. With you. It’s like…I waited my entire life for you, and you think I’m going to give that up so easily for a fucking club?”

With a smile, I let out a shaky exhale, and a tear drops directly from my eye to my lap.

“I love you,” I whisper into the line.

“Mon trésor, mon coeur, mon amour. I love you too.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I let the tears flow, stinging painfully as I try to make sense of any of this. Is this really happening? He really does love me.

“I could have the driver change my destination,” I whisper.

“No. Get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow. And every day after that.”

Smiling tearfully, I say my goodbye and hang up. When the car pulls up to my house, I thank him and climb out.

When I walk through the front door, my mother is up waiting. I pause in the entryway and stare at her.

“Mom, you don’t have to wait up. I’m twenty-five.”

“You’ll know the feeling one day,” she replies sleepily from her chair with her book in her hand.

“No, Mom,” I say forcefully.

She pauses and looks at me with concern.

Standing my ground, I swallow down the discomfort. “I mean…you shouldn’t wait up for me anymore. You have to let me be an adult.”

Something like sadness and understanding washes over her features as she settles back down on the chair. My mother is a headstrong woman who was once a headstrong girl. I know she knows how I feel, but trying to get the woman to understand something the mother can’t is a challenge.

“You’re right,” she whispers. “You’re all grown up now. I keep forgetting.”

When her voice cracks, I’m slammed in the chest by guilt. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

“No.” She puts up a hand. “Don’t be sorry, Mel. Not for growing up.”

Clearing my throat, I ready myself for the part I really dread saying. “I think it’s probably time I think about moving out.”

Her spine straightens as if she’s bracing herself. “You don’t have to. I’ll give you space and let you be an adult.”

Twisting my mouth with worry, I walk over and take her hand in mine. “I know. But…it’s time.”

She nods, her eyes wet and her face growing blotchy with tears. “But I’ll miss you.”

“I’m not leaving tomorrow,” I say with a forced laugh. “And I won’t go far.”

My mom stands from the chair and tugs affectionately on my short hair. “I don’t know how Eden and Isabel do it. Living so far from their children.”

Without anything else to say, I pull my mom into my arms and hug her tight. I don’t say it, but I immediately think that I don’t know how she did it, losing her mom so young.

Because I don’t know how to tell her that I won’t go far now, but someday I see myself in another city. Perhaps even…London.

Rule #36: True love is selfless.

Matis