Forever and a Day. Sophie Love

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СКАЧАТЬ “I remember you drinking. All the time.”

      “I drank heavily,” Roy admitted. “We both did, your mom and I. It’s one of the reasons our relationship was so volatile. But I wasn’t an alcoholic.”

      “What about the eggnogs for breakfast on Christmas?” she asked, remembering how testy her father had been when she’d kicked his drink over.

      “That was just Christmas!” Roy exclaimed.

      Another piece of Emily’s past realigned itself. She’d fallen for Patricia’s bitter, skewed version of events, had allowed them to replace her own memories of her father. She felt a surge of fury at her mother for making Roy into the villain of their most traumatic experience.

      They went into the speakeasy and took seats at the bar. Daniel got to work on the cocktails.

      “We have a bartender in the evenings to do this,” he explained to Roy. “Alec. He’s fantastic. Better than me anyhow.”

      He poured them each a margarita. Roy took a sip.

      “That tastes fantastic,” he said. Then, a little coyly, he added, “I must say what a fine young gentleman you’ve turned out to be.”

      Emily felt her heart soar. She smiled, elated finally, feeling like everything was how it ought to be.

      “I have you to thank for that,” Daniel replied, shyly, not quite looking Roy in the eye. “For introducing me to things I cared about. Fishing. Sailing.”

      “You still sailing?” Roy asked.

      “I have a boat at the harbor. Restored thanks to Emily. We take it out as a family. Chantelle loves it too. She’s great at fishing.”

      “I still sail a lot as well,” Roy said. “When I’m not working on a clock I spend my time out on the boat. Or in the garden.”

      “Do you remember that day you taught me how to grow vegetables?” Daniel asked.

      “Of course,” Roy replied. He smiled, reminiscing. “I’d never seen such a scruffy punk of a kid work so hard with a trowel.”

      Daniel laughed. “I was eager to learn,” he said. “To take the opportunity. Even if on the outside it looked like I hated the world.”

      Emily found it strange to see them joking and laughing. There was so much less hurt between them. It was more like a camaraderie. Daniel had been forever thankful for the man who’d given him a chance when he needed it, even if that same man had disappeared on him as well. Maybe it was just a surprise to Emily to realize how close they had been once, knowing, also, that the summer they’d spent together had been a summer she and her father had spent apart.

      Her phone buzzed then and she saw a text from Amy about their scheduled arrival that afternoon. She and Jayne had some urgent business stuff to attend to and were making a stop so would be arriving later than planned. Emily realized, guiltily, that she’d completely forgotten they were on their way. She’d been so caught up with her father everything else had gone out of her mind.

      She quickly texted back and then returned her attention to her father and Daniel. They were laughing breezily again.

      “I’m so glad that the boat managed to hold,” Daniel was exclaiming. “Who’d have thought the weather would turn like that? A storm in the middle of summer.”

      “It was unfortunate timing,” Roy replied. “Considering it was your first ever boat ride.”

      “Well, I had the best teacher so I wasn’t that scared.” He smiled, his eyes far away in reminiscence. “Thank you for introducing me to boats, to the water and sailing. I can’t imagine my life without them now.”

      Emily watched on as Roy smiled along with Daniel. Now that she had released her anger she felt an overwhelming sense of peace, of rightness. This should always have been how it was. Her dad hanging out with her fiancé, enjoying one another’s company, looking forward to soon becoming part of the same family.

      It may have come a little late, but she was going to do everything she possibly could now to enjoy it.

*

      As the evening wore on, Daniel made another batch of cocktails. He set a glass down in front of Emily just as her phone buzzed with an incoming call.

      “It’s Amy,” she explained. “I’d better take it.”

      “Amy? From high school?” Roy asked, raising an eyebrow.

      Emily nodded. “We’re still friends,” she informed him. “She’s a bridesmaid. She’s helping with a lot of the wedding preparations.”

      Emily dashed out of the speakeasy and took the call.

      “Em, we’re so sorry,” Amy began. “The call took ages and now we’re both too exhausted to drive. We’re going to have to stop here over night. Don’t hate us.”

      “I won’t,” Emily told her, secretly relieved that her friends weren’t going to interrupt the reunion with her father.

      “We’ll leave first thing in the morning,” Amy added.

      “Honestly, Amy, it’s fine,” Emily said. “Some stuff’s come up here anyway.”

      “What stuff? Wedding stuff? Daniel? Sheila?” She sounded concerned.

      “It’s nothing like that,” Emily explained. Then she took a deep breath. “Amy, my dad is here.”

      There was a long silence. “What? How? Are you okay?”

      Emily didn’t know how to answer that, and she really didn’t want to go into it too much now. She hadn’t fully absorbed it yet. She needed time to untangle her emotions and make sense of it all.

      “I’m fine. Let’s talk about it when you get here.”

      Amy didn’t sound convinced. “Okay. But if you need someone to talk to, call me right away. See you tomorrow.”

      Emily ended the call and went back to the speakeasy, to the joyful laughter of Roy and Daniel. Old bosom buddies back together again.

      “Well,” Roy said, draining the last of the liquor from his glass. “I think it’s probably time for me to make myself scarce. Looks like you have guests to attend to.”

      Emily felt panicked at the thought of Roy leaving. “I have staff, they’re covering everything. It’s fine for us to spend time together. You don’t have to go.”

      Roy noticed her panic-stricken appearance. “I just meant that it might be time to retire. To sleep.”

      “You mean you’re staying?” Emily said, surprised. “Here?”

      “If you have space?” Roy said meekly. “I didn’t mean to be presumptuous.”

      “Of course you can stay!” Emily exclaimed. “How long are you planning to be here?”

      “Until the wedding if it’s not a problem. I could help out a bit with preparations if needed.”

      Emily was stunned. Not only was her father here, but he was planning on being here for СКАЧАТЬ