The Darkest Eternities

XVI.Something like that

Cara

Not even the loud sound of the knife hitting against the chopping block could faze me as my mind focussed on one thought alone. Why did Ivan just leave like that?

"Careful with that, sweetheart , "warned Dad, staring at the way my hands were speedily chopping the carrots." Show a little mercy on those carrots, this is not the French Revolution ."

"Haha. Kevin Hart, everybody," I mocked but the joke was on me because he then went on and on about his college days and how he had done a bit of stand up comedy.

"They had stand up in the sixteen hundreds?" I asked. Of course my father was not that old, no one is, I only liked to make jokes about how aged he was. The jokes did not matter to him, in his opinion he aged like fine wine.

My fun with Dad had not ; however, gotten my head off my worries. I had many, one of which was my car but the one that I was thinking about at the moment was Ivan's leaving.

He had been angry before he left. He was angry at Connor and for reasons I did not know. Then without a single word to me, he just left. From the expressions on his face I had noted that aside from his anger, something troubled him.

I wondered whether I had something to do with his behaviour, after all, we kissed just the previous evening.

Maybe the kiss was bad....horrible...disgusting and now he is repulsed by me. But my ex told me I was a fine kisser...a good kisser actually.

Then why did he come to see me again. My thoughts were spiralling.

I was undecided on whether I should call him. He always picked my calls, at least the few that I had made to him in the past.

No, I'll wait.

I settled on waiting till the next morning before calling him. I did not want to be clingy, I wasn't even his girlfriend. Girlfriend? There was another question, where did we stand?

This was all sorts of complicated. It was giving me a headache.

I was now sitting alone in my room. Dinner was over and my father was either working -he always does after dinner- or sleeping. I stared out the window into the dark forest. The gibbous moon was high in the sky and the wolves were howling loudly.

It was funny how according to Wikipedia and Google, wolves were scarce in California yet I had come face to face with a few and I could hear them right outside my window. The internet knows nothing.

Attempting to push aside my thoughts, I grabbed my laptop and my headphones. It was 'QI' time. 'QI' was one of my favourite shows. It had exactly what I looked for in a show: humour and knowledge.

As expected, Alan Davis' humour and Sandy's fun facts were not a big enough distraction.

In despair, I powered out the laptop and set it aside. I could not wait any longer.

I was just picking up my phone when someone knocked on my bedroom door.

"I am coming in now." One of the things I loved about my father was that he always announced his entry into my room. He respected my privacy.

He entered and took a seat on my bed. That was when I noticed the sealed envelope in his hand.

"This arrived yesterday. I wanted to wait before telling you. It's yours... from your mom," his words made my breath catch. Hesitantly, I took the envelope from him. "I can go if you want some privacy." I nodded and my father left.

If I read the letter it would be the first I had heard from her to me since she left. I wasn't sure I was ready for that. Sure I had confronted my father about it but this was way different.