Thru Space & Time

Chapter Three

Calista

The alluring smell of bacon greeted me happily from my sleep. Waking up to breakfast being prepared was a small pleasantry that others might take for granted but meant the world to me. There was only one other person in the house that woke up to cook breakfast in the house besides myself and it was my father. I checked the time and snickered; it was 7 am sharp. It never failed, no matter how late his night was, he was up cooking breakfast early. It was his faithful ritual, and nobody complained, in truth we acknowledged that cooking was the last bit of normalcy he knew to enjoy. After a quick hygiene routine, I ran downstairs to greet him.

"Good morning Papa!" I tackled my father with a bear hug, the surprise knocking the air from his lungs.

"There's my daughter!" He smiled while twirling me around. "Good morning, Pet. How's my beautiful girl? I'm sorry I couldn't make it to you all's graduation in time." His face was somber as he freed me from his grasp.

"Ah don't worry about it. Ma took too many pictures, besides there wasn't much to miss." I shrugged and grabbed a piece of bacon from the cooling rack.

"Too many pictures?" Dad grimaced. "I'll probably have to clean out the cloud later, huh?"

I giggled. "Oh, most definitely." I licked the grease from my fingers.

My dad laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. "You are truly something else, you know that right?"

"Did Mom leave yet?" I changed the subject abruptly, downing my glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. I met my dad's gaze and we both exploded with laughter, he knew what I was doing. I hated talking about myself for long periods of time, especially about my lack of desire to take social pictures.

"Yes, my love. She left for Spain last night, just a little bit after I got in. I only got a few minutes with her before she left but hopefully, she'll be back later this week." Pops ran his fingers through his slick, black hair. I could see the bags sitting heavily under his eyes, my heart clenching with guilt. He had been working awfully long hours.

My dad continued after heaving a big sigh. "I shouldn't be called away anytime soon since I just closed a deal in Vietnam, so maybe I'll be home for a while. I missed my girls." I watched my dad's pained face and laughed.

I knew how much he missed the three of us, but I also knew how much he missed personal time with my Mom before business pulled them separate ways. Poor Dad, he probably has the worst case of blue balls in the world.

"Oh shit, Dad. Almost forgot," I carefully swallowed the rest of the food that was once piled on my plate, "Just a reminder I move into my condo next week." My father nodded and looked down; his emotion capitalized in bold across his face.

"Aw Pops. Don't get all gushy on me. That was part of our deal: I take over the business, I get my own space." My twinge of guilt immediately returning.

"You sure?" I watched my dad's eyes fill with tears. It was almost scary seeing a big guy like my dad getting emotional. A six-foot seven mafia leader covered in dragon tattoos was not your ideal softie. If you didn't know him personally, you'd cry because he cried.

I got up and wrapped my arms around father tightly, I already began to prepare myself mentally for his overwhelming emotions. He patted my hair and kissed my forehead, sniffing. "Dad, you know if I'm to take over I was going to need my own space. Besides, Liv will still be here. I don't think she's planning on leaving anytime soon anyway." I squeezed my father once more before returning to my food.

"Well maybe I can convince you to have a probationary period here at home?" He met my eyes and laughed, "I'm only kidding unless you say yes." He sniffed and wiped his eyes, stopping the tears before they could spill. "It seems like just yesterday you two were just learning how to walk, and here you are, about to become a Mafia leader."