Chapter 28

"You just moved in the area?" asked the lady from the coffee shop. This being the second time we had breakfast there, she must have wondered who we were, especially because Bellevue was a small town and everyone knows each other.

"No, we're just passing by." I answered her with a smile.

"A romantic vacation?" she asked again and I looked at Greg who was super embarrassed.

"No, we are visiting my father who is sick."

"Ooh" The waitress must have been in her middle fifties, and she seemed to be a nice person. "Does your dad live around here?"

"Yes, his name is Bayron. I don't know if you know him."

"Oh, you're Meggie? But I know your daddy very well, Bayron was really nice to me when I moved here two years ago, He comes here every morning to buy bread, besides, I have been wondering why he wasn't coming this last few days, I didn't know he was sick. How is he doing?"

"He's doing better now."

"I would have come to see him if I had known. Say hello to him for me. I'll try to come see him if I have time."

"Thank you ma'am, I'll tell him." then she left. It was there that I understood that I was going to take away from my father the life he had built for himself here.

"What are you thinking about ?!" Greg asked staring at me.

"I was thinking about my dad, he's going to give up his life here, and it's kind of my fault."

"Stop flogging yourself with those ideas. Tell yourself that this is a very good opportunity for him to make a fresh start, yes he had a life here but that doesn't mean that he won't built himself up there too." He tried to reassure me. I took a deep breath.

"I'm scared of losing him. What if the kidney donation doesn't arrive at time."

"Listen, take care of one thing at a time, first the move, then we'll think about the rest later." I smiled at what he had just said.

"We?" he grinned at me and continued to eat.

"Thank you so much again for supporting me, I really don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here." he reached out and took my hand, lifted it and placed a kiss on it. And whispered "you're welcome".

We finished eating and got up to go out, Greg went to pay while I beat him to the exit. I had just walked through the door when someone called out to me.

"Meghan." I turned to see who it was.

"Corinna." it was Drew's mother, I hadn't seen him for years now. I greeted her.

"Drew told me about your dad. I'm so sorry."

"Thanks." I responded with a smirk.

"You know we're here if you need anything." I nodded and she continued. "Are you going to stay around to take care of him? It would be nice for you and Drew to pick up your relationship where it was." I was shocked by what she was saying, my dad was sick but all she was thinking about was the opportunity for her son and I to get back together. She had always been the kind of mother who wanted to control her son's life. When she said that, Greg had just come out and walking up to us, which put me in an awkward position.

"But Cori, you know that neither your son nor I are considering that. Besides, I'm only staying a few days." I turned back to Greg. "Greg, meet Corinne, she's my friend Drew's mum. You know the doctor at the hospital." Greg held out his hand even though I could tell he was angry at what she was fooling around with. Corinna greeted him without really being interested. She turned to me again.

"Listen to me Meghan. Don't trust Drew's behavior, I know he wants to look good in front of you but it's obvious that he still loves you so much. Me personally I thought it was a serious nonsense for you and him to break up." what a crazy situation, I was embarrassed and I didn't know what to say with Greg who was moaning right behind me. I was going to answer but he beat me to it.

"Listen madam, she was clear in telling you that the relationship between her and your son is in the past. So the best thing to do would be to encourage your son to move on." Then he looked at me. "Honey, I'm waiting for you in the car." then he was gone. I was surprised by the "honey" but I refrained from showing it to Corinne who had remained speechless.

"It's an honor to have seen you again, Corinna." I kissed her, and left her with an angry face.

Greg was already inside the car, when I entered, he drove off. He looked angry at the way he was gripping the steering wheel.

"I'm sorry, that woman is just crazy, she's someone who always wants to control everyone's life."

"But maybe she's right." I frowned in confusion.

"What." he exhaled loudly and kept his eyes on the road.

"Maybe his son is still in love with you." I rolled my eyes.

"Please don't consider anything that woman says, it is just nonsense." He seemed hesitant to saying what he was thinking about.

" I clearly saw how that guy looks at you. And I heard it the other day when he warned you against me."

"What do you mean how he looks at me? And he warned because despite the fact that we broke up we're still in good terms."

"Come on, I'm a man and I know how to recognize the look of a guy who's in love with my girlfriend." I smiled at what he just said, he looked away from the road to look at me for a second.

"What, why are you grinning?"

"You just said 'girlfriend.'" he smirked and looked back on the road.

"That's not the point." I became serious again.

"Look, Drew knows well that I was clear it was over between us. And in four years he's never tried to arrange the things between us."

"But that doesn't mean he doesn't love you anymore." he parked the car in the hospital parking lot.

"So, what do you want me to do. Come on you're not going to let that woman get into your head." he loosened his belt and looked at me, I did the same.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm behaving like this." he said to me and I stroked his growing beard on his cheek with my hands smiling at him. He pulled me towards him to kiss me before exiting the car.

We spent the day at the hospital, the doctor said that my father should be discharged tomorrow without a problem. He was going to do another dialysis session this night. I couldn't wait to get out of here. I'll book tickets for the day after tomorrow. It was all great, but I felt a tiny bit of sadness, once I left here I wondered what was going to happen between me and Greg. What was happening was great but everything was going to change, he was going to have to go back to New York, see his ex, and who knows if he might change his mind?

"What are you thinking about ?"

I looked away from the window and turned to see my father who had just woken up.

"Nothing special. How are you feeling?"

"Ready to get out of here." I approached him to sit on the armchair but he motioned me to sit next to him on the bed and I sat down.

"Are you okay? You look worried." he asked me, scrutinizing me with his gaze.

"No it's nothing I was just mentally planning our trip."

"Meggie I'm your dad, which means I know you better than anyone. So stop kidding me and tell me what's bothering you. Is it about your friend? Where is he by the way? ." I looked away from him, I felt like he was reading inside of me and it was embarrassing.

"He had things to do. He'll come back later." Sean had come to see him and they had gone somewhere together.

"What's going on between you two?"

I opened my mouth to answer him but he cut me off. "And don't tell it is nothing, because I know there is something." I rolled my eyes at him.

"We're just getting to know each other."

"You don't accompany a girl that you're just getting to know, halfway around the world to watch over her sick father." it looked like he didn't believe me. "I've seen how you look at each other, your eyes light up when he's around Meggie. So I know there's a lot more to it than that, whether you admit it or not. However, what I would like to know, is the reason why you're hiding it from me. Or perhaps you want to hide it from yourself." I had forgotten how my father was able to smell that I had a problem even when I didn't tell him. When I was still living here, we told each other everything. But since I had moved, I thought we would lose this great bond, but seems like we didn't.

I took a deep breath and decided to tell him everything.

"The thing is, I'm afraid to get attached to him. Because what you don't know is that he lives in New York, he has his whole life there and, he only comes to Miami occasionally. I'm afraid that getting attached to him will end up hurting me."

"I'm going to tell you something sweetie, you're not afraid to get attached to him because you're already attached to him. And being afraid of suffering is normal, it happens to everyone, I'm sure he's afraid too. Any relationship is a risk of pain. It's up to you whether you want to take the risk or not. You should talk to him about it and you'll make a decision later."