An Unlikely Love

Chapter 12

Alessio's POV

I'm sitting at the cafe I where I first met Benjamin. After nearly a summer of radio silence he finally reached out to me. I'm glad to finally have the opportunity to apologize to him.

I see him walk in and wave him down. He notices me and makes his way over and sits across from me

"Hey." I greet

"Hi."

There's an awkward silence until I fill it

"Before we start I wanna apologize for my behavior. I admit I didn't realize what I did wrong until it was explained to me but now that I know I won't be repeating my mistake. I found what my parents said appalling from the start but I was too much of a coward to intervene. I'll never let anyone speak to the father of my child like that again."

"Thank you for educating yourself. That's the greatest apology a person can give. It's still very fresh so I can't forgive you right away but it does make my heart swell how committed you are."

"Forgiveness is earn and I have yet to do that."

"Now that that's over with. Let's talk about how things are gonna be from now on. I think we'll benefit from establishing boundaries."

"Sure, I  wouldn't wanna cross anymore lines." I agreed

"I don't want Evie anywhere near your parents, aunt, and uncle. Your cousins and siblings are fine but this is the one hill I'm willing to die on."

"Forever?"

"I'm not sure. I may give them another chance but for right now and the foreseeable future absolutely not." He spoke firmly

"Okay, what else?"

"That was my biggest issue but in addition to that I think we should take things a little slower. It's a popular belief that we rushed into things. I think this time around we should ease into family time."

"She has school and equestrian during the week so what if you let me have her on Sundays? My siblings started alternating who hosts Sunday lunch so my parents aren't there. You can drop her off and I'll take her to you at the end of the day. Later on she can sleepover and I can drop her off at school." I suggested

"That works. Evie is still your daughter and you haven't given me a reason to think you'd harm her purposely. I also trust the moms in your family to make sure she's okay. I'll allow sleepovers once Evie feels comfortable. I think you should also try and come to her horse shows now that she's competing more. Even showing up to her lessons will mean a lot to her." He continued

"Maybe some days I can pick her up from school and take her to her lessons."

"As long as you let me know by the morning so I can tell her, I'm okay with that."

"So how have you been?"

"Good, I moved into a new house. Evie loves her new room. Not better than the one at your house but she's happy with it." I chuckled at his joke

"How's back to school going. She starts next week right?"

"I finished back to school shopping earlier this month. You can still be there to drop her off at her first day of Kindergarten so no need to frown."

I didn't even realize I was frowning

"Right thanks."

"What about you? What have you been up to?"

"I've been working a lot. I got a job as a chemistry professor at Cal Tech. I did very well in my interview and landed a really large salary. It came with an additional bonus since I'm assisting in research."