Secrets In The Garden / l.h ✔️

56

~Ophelia's POV~

"Mom?" I called, frowning as I turned off my phone. She came popping out of the kitchen and smiled at me. "Yeah?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. I scratched my head. "I'm nervous." I admitted, biting my lip.

Mom smiled softly and walked over to pull me up off of the couch. "It's just graduation, baby. Granny and I will be there, and Luke will be up there with you." She said optimistically, but that wasn't what I was concerned with. "What about dad?" I asked hesitantly, almost not wanting her to know that I was secretly hoping that he'd be there like he said he would be. He'd texted me two days ago that he'd evidently flown in yesterday, but he hadn't said anything to me since then. And I was graduating today, so I was wondering why he hadn't texted me.

Yes, Luke and I were both graduating today. Many months had passed since him and I began dating, officially, and everything was wonderful. Of course, he still had an out of this world libido, but it was nothing I couldn't keep up with. When Saniya heard about it after we returned from Christmas break, she hadn't seemed very sure of our relationship. I'm pretty sure she'd been sort of waiting for him to fuck it up or just dump me and move on to the next girl, which I couldn't blame her for. That was something he'd done for a long time, and quite often at that, so it was hard for everyone to believe he'd just settled down with me. However, after months kept going and we never broke up even once, I think she and everyone else realized it was for real.

"Your dad will be here, don't stress it." Mom smiled, ushering me towards the front door. "Now get going, baby. You don't wanna be late. Just gotta get through this and then you're done!" She chirped enthusiastically, practically shoving me out the door when she got it open. I stumbled a little, shooting her a look that she ignored as she beamed at me. "I'll see you later!" She exclaimed.

And then she slammed the door in my face.

**

I stood on the stage with Luke behind me, having already walked across to receive my diploma. We all had. I searched the crowd of people, absentmindedly looking for my father's face, but I couldn't find him and it was making me a little bit anxious.

"Gorgeous," Luke murmured softly, gently placing his hand on my lower back. Frowning, I looked up at him over my shoulder and saw the concern in his face. One thing I loved was how much he'd progressed during the time I'd known him. When we met, he almost never showed emotion, especially in front of other people, but here he was, letting me see how concerned he was for me in front of everyone. He was so sweet. "It's okay. I'm sure he'll be here soon. He's probably just running late." He said, trying to be as optimistic as possible.

But I shook my head. "I don't think he's coming." I admitted softly, sending him a little smile. I had no problem admitting that, but I didn't want to admit to anyone that I'd been stupid enough to actually hope he'd keep his promise this one time. Expecting something like that from him had been nothing but a dream from the beginning.

Luke frowned and looked like he wanted to say something to cheer me up, but I don't think he knew what to say. The ceremony was already nearing the end now. He knew the truth just as well as I now did—my dad wasn't coming. My dad wasn't going to change and I was done giving him the chances to when he just wasted them all anyways. I hated how easy it was for him to get back inside my heart, and how he always hurt me again when he did.

From behind me, Luke slipped both his arms around my waist and held me to his chest. I could feel him kiss me on the top of my head. "I love you." He said softly. I knew that it was his way of telling me he'd be there if I wanted to talk about it or  maybe cry later. But I didn't want to. I'd never waste another tear on a father who couldn't even show up. "I love you too." I smiled, my heart swelling as I looked at him.

When the graduation ceremony was over and Luke and I walked over to my mom and granny, mom sent me a sad smile. "I'm sorry, honey." She sighed, but I just shrugged it off. "If he calls you, tell him I'm done. I'm blocking his number and I don't plan to unblock it." I said simply, making my granny smile pridefully from by my mom. "That's my girl!" She piped in, giving me a thumbs up. I smiled a little and hugged mom and then granny, deciding that these two were the only family that I really wanted. They'd both been in my life for as long as I could remember, and even with how much she worked, my mom made time for me. There was no doubt that they loved me and I didn't want anyone who made me doubt their love for me, anyways.

"Let's just go home." I sighed, breaking away from them to grab Luke's hand in mine. He walked with me and mom pouted. "You're not even gonna surrender my daughter for a single car ride?" She whined, watching as he dragged me off to his car instead of letting me ride in my mom's car with them.

Luke grinned mischievously and his car beeped when he unlocked it. "Of course not. What kind of idiot would I be if I did that?" He chuckled, discreetly squeezing my butt when I climbed into the passenger's seat.

Mom pouted but let it go and got in her car with granny, starting it up before they left. He and I followed shortly after, tailing them as we drove to his house. When we pulled into his driveway, we walked across the street to my house and I glanced at the garden as we walked up the driveway. "I need to garden again. The weeds are growing back already." I pouted, making him glance down at me and then to the garden I still kept. "It looks fine." He frowned in confusion, evidently not seeing what I was talking about. I'd known this by now, but he hadn't the first clue about gardening.

"You only think it looks fine because you don't know what it's supposed to look like." I huffed, making him laugh and wrap me up in his arms. "Oh, yeah?" He grinned. "Mhm." I nodded, holding onto his biceps as I gazed up at him. His lips brushed mine when he leaned down towards me. "Well, you haven't exactly offered to teach me about any of it." He said playfully, pretending to be upset.

I perked up a little. "You'd want me to?" I asked, excited at the idea of being able to garden with him. It was something that I'd wanted to do for a while but had never asked for, just because I thought he'd say no. Gardening didn't exactly seem like his thing, which was fine. To each their own. "Mm. You know by now I'll do whatever if you're there for it." He muttered, making me giggle. "I might have to do that, then." I whispered.

As I looked up at him, aware of the way that he looked at me, I thought about the words that Saniya had told me many months ago now. There isn't much to him beyond sex. But I was able to see now how wrong she had been.

Truly, it wasn't that he had no depth. No, it was that so many people had wanted to get inside just to be able to say that they had seen the gardens, not to learn about them. But me? I was in now, and I had seen it all. I knew the gardens, each of his flowers and all of their secrets. And I loved it all, endlessly.