Too Close

Chapter Thirty

Gianna waved her hand as Devin blew her horn and walked into the house. She held the plastic grocery bag on her wrist as her feet carried her to the kitchen where both her parents were.

She didn't say anything as she tossed the bag on the counter. She turned around but wasn't able to take a step before her dad called her name.

"What?" She turned to ask him.

"Sit down." There wasn't an ounce of questioning in his tone, and she didn't question it, she just sat on a barstool that was opposite them. "Your mom told me that you have some things going on right now and I won't force you to talk about it, but Gianna you are going to tell me why that man came to my house looking for you."

She wasn't expecting his attitude to be so firm, yet when he called her by her government name, she knew he wasn't anything short of serious.

"Calm down." Brandy told him.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Miles Delgado, Gianna. What was he doing here?" Brandy answered and asked before him.

"Miles was here? Today?" Her eyes widened as her heart started to pulse like it was getting ready to jump out of her chest.

"Yes. He wanted to see you."

"For what?" Gino asked again, frustrated that no one was answering his questions.

Brandy turned to him, frustration starting to cloud over her as well. "Let her talk."

"She's going too slow. Can you tell me why, then?"

"Because I broke up with him." Both of their heads snapped to her at the same time. "I asked him not to fight me on this but he always does what he wants anyway." She rolled her eyes.

"But for you to break up, you would have to have been in a relationship."

"Yeah...we were in a relationship. But as I said, we broke up. Today, actually, so I'd rather not talk about it right now." She swallowed the heavy lump in her throat and looked down at her fingers.

Brandy's eyes immediately went sympathetic but Gino's never strayed from the look of disappointment.

"I want you to explain to me what possessed you to go through with something like this. What if you'd gotten caught, Gianna? Throwing your education away for a boy—for your teacher?"

"I didn't get caught though, Dad. Nobody knows about us. You guys didn't even know."

"Is that supposed to make it alright? You're smarter than that Gianna."

"Okay, that's enough. I'm sure she understands that she made a mistake and is clearly upset, so we can continue this conversation another time." Brandy shooed him away and took Gianna to her bedroom.

She didn't say anything as they both sat at the edge of her bed, just tightly wrapped her arms around her. There was a conversation to be held but her baby was hurting, and that was the most important thing to her at the moment.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you, Ma. I've just been going through so much." Gianna sniffed while wiping her eyes.

"It's alright, baby. I completely understand. Breakups are tough." Brandy rubbed her arm as Gianna lay on her shoulder, wetting up her cotton sleeve. "It doesn't have to be right now, but whenever you're ready I'll be here. I'll even make sure to wear my t-shirt made out of tissues." She said, making Gianna chuckle. "And don't worry about your daddy, I'll talk to him. He still thinks you're Karter's age."

"Thank you." Gianna curled up her lips while turning to her blueprint, inhaling before deeply exhaling. She figured it was about time to lay everything out on the table and that it would be better to say it now before she had to relive it all later.