Contracts

Chapter Five: Changes

"Andrea" Dad calls as he pulls me into a hug, I smile as I return the hug "You do not have any idea of how many times I died when I received a phone call saying you died and then your husband couldn't tell me where you were" Dad says and I sigh "I'm fine, nothing to worry about, how are you?" I ask "I am fine, on the other hand, you worry me a lot" he answers "I am fine, Dad" I say "You are talking to your father, Andrea, do not lie to me" he says "Is nothing, Dad" I say "He doesn't love you" he says and I look down "Am I that obvious?" I ask "Your eyes and your significant weight loss gave you away" he answers and I sigh "Sweetie..." "You can not always win at love, specially when he did what everybody has been doing, taking advantage of me, so I am glad he doesn't feel the same way, that way when this ends, we just take our separate paths and never see each other again" I say and he grabs my hand.

"I do not want to bore you with my marriage problems, I just came by to see how were you, I am going home to rest, I will come see you later" I say as I kiss his head "Love you, but you are not going to evade this subject so easy" he says, I sigh "Love you too and I know" I say as I head to the exit.

"We are leaving to the Hamptons in a few minutes, so get ready" Alexander says as I enter to the apartment "I am not going" I say as I head to my room "Actually, you are, Mother planned this trip for you, so get ready, we are living in a few minutes" he says "I just came out of the hospital, after I was shot and kicked out of a running van, I am not in the condition to travel anywhere, so I am not going, end of discussion" I say as I go on with my path.

"Love was out of the equation since the beginning, Andrea, you can not be mad with me just because I did not fell in love with you" he says as he follows me to the room "I am not with you and my feelings towards you, have nothing to do with this, Alexander, I just do not want to go anywhere, we just came back, I am injured, but must important, my Dad is on the verge of death,  he can die at any moment, I want to be here, I want to spend as much as I can with him, and I just want to recover, a trip to the Hamptons is not going to do that" I say "Good, you have many valid points, but we are still going" he says and I roll my eyes to the heavens as I head to our bedroom.

That conversation was senseless, I lost 4 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

Great, I have to play the madly in love wife for only God knows for how long, I just pray that my father can hold on until I return.

"Andrea, I am so happy you decided to join us" Mrs. Woods says as she carefully hugs me "Is not like Alexander gave another option" I say and Mrs. Woods laughs "I am happy to see that your sense of humor hasn't been affected by all this mess" Mrs. Woods adds "Me too" Alexander says and I pull a smile up as we enter to the house.

I dial my father's phone number "Mrs. Woods" Rose answers "I had to travel out of the city for a few days and I wanted to know how is he? I am pretty aware that I saw him just a few hours ago, but I simply worry" I answer back "He is fine, Mrs. Woods, he is resting at the moment, but as soon as he wakes up, I am going to get him to call you" she says "Thank you, just keep me updated" I say "I will, have a nice trip, Mrs. Woods" she says and I hang up.

**SIGH** I shouldn't have agreed to come to this trip, I was in an induced coma for 3 weeks, after that I spend another week in recovery, before I was cleared to travel back home, I have spent over a month away from my Dad, the only information I got was the one that Alexander gave me, and it was not very encouraging, neither gives me a lot of hope, so all I want to be with him as much as I can before he joins my mother, but Alexander is determined to not make that happen.