Sequel • Worth Fighting For
It is commonly known and spoken that time heals all wounds.
But what they don't tell you is that those wounds remain, leaving behind a plastic film of torment and affliction with those subconscious memories nudging you l...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
I had managed a short yet rather sweet nap once arriving home, having missed Josh's call with the very purpose of prioritising sleep over a conversation I was not quite ready to have.
However, I knew that ignoring his multiple calls would do much more harm than good. And with Riley returning home in a mere few minutes, I supposed it was best to get the call out of the way before explaining to her that I was talking to someone other than her father.
"I don't know what it is," he sounded more serious as the conversation went on, "I woke up this morning and I just realised that I really don't think I can wait much more. I really want to meet her."
Josh had just been explaining his reasoning for calling, mostly consisting of the very fact that he had read something in the news this morning about not saying goodbye to a loved one before they pass away or something along the lines of not wanting to regret anything before dying.
I struggled to find much correlation until Josh had spent the last twenty minutes explaining it to me with it slowly making sense. From his point of view, there was someone out there with the potential to be a person more important to his life than anyone ever has been before, and he has not yet even laid his eyes on her.
"I guess I could talk to Riley. She should be home in—"
"Can we meet this afternoon?—with Riley?"
"I guess," I tapped my foot as I stared back at my reflection in the mirror, witnessing how much needed to be done in order to feel at least decent enough to be seen around someone like Josh. "But I don't want anything to scare her, if things get tough or if Riley decides she wants to leave, that's it. I won't force her to do anything she doesn't want to do."
"I understand. I can be at the usual place this afternoon. Is three o'clock ok with you?"
I looked up at the clock on my microwave oven, reading just past noon. "I'll see you then," I confirmed to his hopeful voice, but I could tell he was just simply holding in the very excitement that would spur his thoughts until he met Riley.
Once off the phone, reality hit like a sharp stabbing pain to the chest. This was as serious as I could have possibly imagined and my mind had not yet acknowledged the fact that I hadn't spoken to Riley about the prospect of Josh becoming an important figure in her life, let alone the fact that she would be meeting him in less than three hours.
In providing myself a short amount of time alone, I hopped into the shower and managed to rid my body of the odour I could only possibly describe as the many sexual escapades Nathan and I managed to entangle ourselves into last night.
