Guarding Her

Thirty-six

"Mother I love you, but I also love my dad. And I haven't been able to see him for many, many years. I want to spend time with him, I need to."

Mom jerks her hand from mine holding it to her chest, "I'm moving to England and you're coming with me."

******

"What?" Me and Oliver screech at the same time while dad chokes on his drink.

"That's right, after spending a couple weeks in England with Oliver, the people I was working for over there offered me a job. And I'm very inclined to take it." She stirs her drink casually with her straw like she just stated something as simple as what she was going to order.

"Lisa you can't expect Clarke to just up and move away from everything she knows just because of a job that you already do here." Dad tightens his grip on my waist. Mason is on my other side hugging my arm, I can feel he's extremely tense.

"No Roger! I'm done with you trying to swoop in and save the day. This is my daughter and I will do with her as I please. Me and Oliver will do a fine job at taking care of Clarke, without you. You know as well as I that the court usually finds favor with the mother." She smirks taking a sip of her drink. Dad is almost shaking in anger trying to hold back when Oliver speaks up.

"You need to stop and give this man a chance." Oliver scolds causing everyone's eyes to widen in shock. "The reason we are here is because we all have one thing in common, and that is the sweet little girl right here." He motions to me, "We need to remember what's really important and stick to that. All that matters is what is best for Clarke, If what's best for her is spending half her time with you and half her time with Roger, than so be it. And if it's staying here with Roger while you move to England, well... whatever is best for her." He finishes off while I just stare at him in surprise . He makes eye contact with me and I mouth a 'thank you'.

Mother gasps dramatically placing her hand on her chest. "Oliver do you know what you are saying?! How could you go against me!" I roll my eyes at my mothers behavior. "Obviously we have some discussing to do." She glares at Oliver.

The waiter walks over to our table ready to take our orders when mom abruptly stands up with her hands on the air. "I can't do this right now, I'm out." She walks away from the table but stops while the waiter has side stepped like he wasn't coming over here, obviously avoiding the current drama going down. She looks at me and Oliver,  "Come on, were leaving." She rudely states.

"No, you are leaving." He corrects. Mom just stomps out of the restaurant mumbling angrily.

Oliver leans across the table and whispers, "Can we ride with you? She was kind of our ride." He chuckles.

Dad nods while I motion that I need to get out. Dad moves out of the way allowing me to scoot in beside a confused looking Oliver. I wrap my arms around his neck in a tight hug and whisper in his ear, "thank you, so much." He finally hugs me back, tightly holding me to him as he places his face in my neck. I pull back and kiss his cheek causing him to blush and head back over to sit beside dad.

The waiter walks back over our table, "Are you all ready to order?" He nervously asks.

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We all three walk in our house laughing at something dad said. It turns out that dad and Oliver have a lot in common, they actually get along pretty well.