18

Susan's POV

"Anyway, how is Abby?" He shook his head, swiftly changing the subject.

"Do you want to meet her? Let me go check if she's up or not." I tried standing but he brought out a hand and held me down for the second time.

"It's okay, don't bother her. I came to see you," he spoke softly giving me a side smile.

Oh! "How is everyone at home?" I positioned myself comfortably on the chair and asked.

"They are good. Still waiting on you by the way," he lets out a chuckle.

"I know!", I groaned. "I promise I'll visit soon, how is Ella?" I asked and smiled at the thought of his little sister.

"She is doing great, she says Hi!", He hums.

"I miss that little munchkin, she is so grown up now," I stated with a smile and shook of my head.

Ella Watson has always been a cheery girl. There wasn't a time where you'd see her without a smile on her face. Where most members of her family carried black hair with blue eyes, she was the only one that carried grey with green eyes.

She always complained about how it made her look different but I was there to always reassure her that it just meant she was unique.

His eyes light up with my declaration and he exclaimed. "Exactly! Now I have to keep an eye for all the boys that she'll be attracting," he complained and rolled his eyes.

I laughed. "Don't be so overprotective," I teased giving him a smile.

"Easy for you to say," he scoffed. "You never had a younger sibling to worry about," he stated.

I grinned. "That's true, phew!" I said and wiped away imaginary sweat from my forehead.

He laughed for a second or two, his shoulders shaking slightly. Once he was done, he looked at me in concern. "In all seriousness, if there is anything you need, let me know okay? I am here for you." He smiled warmly.

I let my eyes linger on him for a while then speak up, "I know you are." He smiled as he held my own gaze and we stared into each other's eyes.

"And don't worry, you were born for this job," he said and placed a hand atop mine in reassurance. I returned the smile but at the back of mind a thought surfaced. Was he speaking metaphorically or literally?

"How so?" I questioned in regard to his earlier statement.

"Well, you are your father's daughter aren't you?" He teased. So literally, I guess.

I smiled but it quickly waned as my sight clouded and my eyes became watery. "Yes I am." I choked out. Everytime I think about my dad, it brings tears to my eyes.

"Please Susan, don't cry." Conner said pressing my knee softly with a kind expression.

"I miss him so much Conner, I wish he was here," I said with a ragged breath and sniffed, closing my eyes for a moment.

"I miss him too." He raised a hand and wiped a tear from my face. "He would be proud of you."

I hummed in response. Conner looked at me for a while then suggested that we go somewhere. I nodded in agreement and he asked where I'd want to go.

"For ice cream," I pushed my lower lips out in a pout.

"Good idea," he grinned. I looked down at my clothing, "but I have to change first," I said, " be back in five minutes," I held up my hand in a five and gave him a pleading look.

"Of course."

I nodded and headed into the house climbing the stairs towards my room. I opened the door and entered to change. I put on a red v-necked blouse that fitted me snuggly and a black leggings with my fancy slippers. And with my phone in hand, I walked out to where Conner was waiting.

***

"You still love ice cream?" He gave me a blanc look.

Did he really ask me that? I widen my eyes and gaped at him. "What's not to love?"

He chuckled quietly. "Thought so!"

I rolled my eyes. Then took the opportunity to look around the place. It was painted scarlet with little white strips. There were booths and blue armless chairs placed around them, a few tables in the corner, dangling lights they illuminated the place. The place felt oddly familiar— as though I had been here before.

I turned to Conner and said, "We have come here before, right?"

He nodded, "yes, they renovated."

"Nice, I like it." I smiled and he responded with a short hum.

I leaned back on my chair and sighed placing my knuckle on my left cheek. "Time is such a weird thing, no? I realized that I missed out on so much," I groaned.

"Yeah, but it's okay. . . You're back now."

Another sigh slips through my lips, "right!"

He gazed at me a bit and asked, "are you happy?" My hand slipped from my cheek as his question caught me off guard.

I rubbed my elbows and cleared my throat. "Uh. . . What do you mean?"

"I mean are you happy with all the decisions you made?", He asked. "I know you must have had a great life before and now everything here is fairly new," he said as he kept his unwavering gaze at me.

"I am. . . It's still my home. There are still many memories, and everything is still familiar even though most of it has changed." I lamented with a small smile.

"Hmm, absolutely."

"Shall we order?" I grinned with a brow raised.

"Sure, what will you have?"

I didn't waste time thinking about it. "Peanut butter 'n Chocolate," I said.

Conner laughed and shook his head. "I will have the same." We both placed our orders and after a while the ice cream was served.

"Do you remember the kitchen incident?" I asked as I took a spoon full of peanuty goodness.

"What kitchen incident?"  He asked as he blew out cold air from the ice cream in his mouth.

"When we were left unsupervised and we decided to cook," I recalled and grinned at him amusedly.

His eyes glazed in remembrance. "Oh yes, how can I forget! We screwed up badly," he grunted.

I laughed and put a spoon in my mouth. "We were supposed to switch off the baking oven but forgot since we were too busy making noodles, and the fire alarm turned on."

"As soon as we opened it, we ran out of the house, it was way too smoky," he continued.

"What a mess it was," I shook my spoon in the air.

"Thankfully we didn't get grounded for that," he said wistfully and I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! Our parents never left us alone together after that," I chuckled.

"Of course! How could they. . . They didn't want us to blow up the whole house next time," he remarked.

I giggled. "Remember when we used to keep diaries?" I propped both my elbows on the table.

"You were so obsessed with space, you even wrote it's your go-to place in the diary," he commented.

"Not anymore!" I exclaimed with a roll of my eyes. "I was a child back then."

"Yeah yeah," he scoffed in disbelief.

"And you wanted to become your favorite cartoon character," I pointed out and grinned at his flushed expression.

He laughed drily. "That was so silly," he retorted.

"Conner wanted to be a cartoon character," I sang teasingly but he immediately brought a hand out and shushed me, then we both started laughing.

We had finished half of our treat and we were still teasing each other.

"Umm. . . What's its name by the way?" I said in a teasing way still talking about the cartoon character.

"I am not telling you. Eat your ice cream," he nodded towards my cup, "it will melt."

"Please!" I begged and dropped my eyes and brought out my lower lip in a pout.

"Forget it."

I giggled and tucked my hair behind my ears. "It was. . ." I paused to intensify the tension a bit, "space ghost," I almost yelled. "Yes."

"Hey!" He protested.

"Got it," I said and laughed.

"Alright so?"

"Nothing," I said sweetly, giving him an innocent look.

"Drop it," he frowned.

"It's still very easy to get on your nerves," I remarked with a smirk and stretched out a hand and rubbed his hair.

He swatted my hands away and muttered, "Whatever."

He was looking at me and before it turned into a staring contest, I broke the eye contact and cleared my throat.

He smiled at me, "I am really having a nice time."

"Same here."

We both recalled some more childhood memories and laughed. After a while, Conner dropped me back at home and I was anticipating what was to come the next day as I went to bed.