Never the Same

Chapter 10

After dropping my dad off back home, I send a quick text to Allison to let her know that I'm back home and drive back to Luca's house. The main thing I wanted to do today was to see my family and see how my dad was doing. So spending some time with him has put my mind at ease over his health even though he's still got a long way to go before he's back to his usual self.

I just park the car up near the garages and get out when I see Allison's name appear on my phone.

I smile and answer the phone. "Hello."

"And why am I only just hearing that you're back? I should have been one of the first people to hear that you were coming home," she half-shouts at me.

I roll my eyes and walk into the house, smiling at Lyla as she closes the door behind me and hands me a cup of coffee. I give her the car keys and my jacket and walk to the kitchen while sipping the coffee.

"It was more of a spur of the moment thing," I admit.

Yes, I was planning on coming home at some point but not really this soon.

"Did something happen you want to talk about?"

I settle on one of the stools at the island.

"What has everything been about since I went to New York with Luca?" I sigh.

"I can get this in one go. Don't tell me." She goes quiet for a moment. "It starts with an N and ends with an A."

"You got it in one."

"Is she still at it?" She groans loudly. "When you go back to New York, can I come so I can beat the shit out of her? I bet you any money she has got the face you'd never get tired of hitting."

I laugh. "Trust me, I'd like nothing more than for someone to do that and for you to be the one to do it."

"But?" She draws out.

"But Nadia is looking for any piece of information and any incident up to now to use against Luca in court."

"Oh, I got it. In that case, I shall restrain myself for the time being."

"Thank you even though I know it'll be very hard of you to do that." I drink more of my coffee. "So, how's the job and the flat?"

"Both are great," she answers contently. "I'm on a small break so I thought I'd give you a call rather than just text you back."

"That's good. I'm happy for you. I'm glad you're happy and in a good place."

"That's because I've got a lot of good people around me who care for me. One of which is my best friend who is also in a good place and who is happy."

"Happy may be an understatement right now," I comment.

"Kaylee, I love you. I class you as my sister. We all go through rough patches but they are the things that make us stronger. This will all blow over and your happy ending will come."

"I know that. Everyone keeps telling me that but you know as well as I do that happy endings don't last long when it comes to-"

"And I am going to stop you right there!" Allison quickly interjects. I sigh and wait for her to correct me. "Don't think like that. Between you and I, we're long overdue our happy endings. Listen, I need to go but we can meet up tomorrow and talk some more."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you, too, baby girl. And don't think too much about negative things. Only think of positive things."

"I know. I know. I will."

I end the phone call and run my free hand down my face.

It's easier said than done when it comes to trying to think of only positive things when there are so many negative things going on in your life. It doesn't matter what is said or what is done right now because you can't do right for doing wrong. There's always someone waiting in the wings to turn good things into bad.