Every String Attached | GirlxGirl

Chapter Twenty Five

Shawn's fingers tightened around one of her father's black coffee mugs, holding black coffee, upon the black sofa. The colour seemed fitting in this current situation. Everything was black, and even the room was dim from the curtains being half closed.

Shawn had not stopped shaking since entering her father's home. It was neat, which surprised her. Cecil had always been a messy, unorganized, and overall: a careless man. The home in which Shawn and Thomas grew up in was always littered with empty beer bottles and smashed glass, as well as her father's work papers scattered around the floor.

But this was entirely different. Her father was entirely different. Just like his home, he dressed neatly. Despite his hair greying and disappearing, it was pushed off of his forehead and behind his ears with care. His white dress shirt was buttoned to his neck, and tucked into his suit pants.

As Shawn's eyes roamed over the man that now felt like a stranger, his knuckles tightened as he braced himself against the back of a wooden chair, staring directly at Shawn. He couldn't believe his twenty four year old daughter was sat in the living room of his home.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Shawn whispered, her eyes lowering towards her coffee.

Cecil sighed. "How would we? Shawn, when you left, that was it. We didn't reach out to you, and you didn't reach out to us."

"Why, though?" She asked, head lifting, eyebrows creasing. "Thomas told me you were different. He said you changed. If you straightened yourself out, why didn't you straighten me—my relationship with you and mom—out?"

He shook his head. "Shawn, surely you can understand this. After both you and Thomas moved out, your mother and I were empty. We lived for you—although we did a horrible job at it—and now you both were gone. We didn't live for each other. Separating helped us individually. Thomas was correct when he told you it's different nowadays. But your mother and I decided it was best to leave you alone. How could you forgive us for the way we acted when you were children?"

"What about Thomas?"

"What about him?"

Shawn frowned. "Why do you both speak with him now? Mom visited him. You did, too, at Nash's birthday party. How did that happen?"

"Thomas reached out to us." Cecil paused, and then, with a sigh, said, "Just like you are now."

"This... This isn't reaching out to you. This is fixing... Whatever it is that this is. I still don't believe that me leaving was a mistake."

Cecil rounded the chair, sinking into it, his eyes never leaving Shawn. "So why have you come, Shawn? Really—if you don't believe that this is a mistake you're fixing—why are you here?"

Shawn did not mention York. Not once. Her father was not worthy of hearing about her, and about how she was aiding her in healing her past.

Instead, she said, "I guess I had to see for myself if Thomas was telling the truth. Though he neglected to mention the part about you two divorcing."

"Perhaps he thought it might upset you," Cecil suggested.

"It doesn't upset me," Shawn snapped. "It's just surprising, that's all. All of this is surprising."

"Yes, I agree," Cecil chuckled.

Shawn's expression did not lift at the sound of his laughter. It was a sound that she'd never grown used to, because she'd only heard it a handful of times in her life.

"Shawn, you leaving completely destroyed your mother." After a moment of silence, in which Cecil couldn't meet Shawn's eyes, he added, "It's the reason why she became sober. And then that led to the divorce. And we are both, very much, happier and healthier."