"Was it real? Was it just as real for you as it was for me?"
"I've never once lied about my feelings for you."
★✩★✩★
Two weeks, two teens, and one conversation was all it took for these teens to develop a connection. It grew until it was broken by s...
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21 years old
"Dad!"
"Bella! Oh, I've missed you," my dad said as he wrapped his hands around my body tightly.
"You saw me a few months ago, I'm lucky to even have this time to be with you."
I hadn't realized how beautiful St. Isla was while living in it. The streets had no potholes and the decorations were as beautiful as ever. Flags hung from every other house, building, and structure. Securing our love for the tiny town we all knew harbored the worst of secrets.
How had I managed three years away from it already? Soon I'd move back and manage the hotel and building alongside my father. I'd be back in the business. A place that felt like home every time I thought of it.
"I know but I miss my favorite daughter!"
"Dad, I'm your only daughter," I said as I pulled away from his hug to see his smug face.
"Ah, uh caught me. Let's go inside."
I grabbed my bags from the floor and walked inside the hotel. Although the space was mainly for a few nights' stay, my father and I had decided to create an official apartment on the top floor that was more of a penthouse than anything. It was only for the family and friends who would visit.
It wasn't as if it was strange as the original model of the hotel was an apartment. My grandparents loved to be quirky and so they made an old apartment building into a hotel for families to be comfortable in. Each room with a small kitchen, bathroom, and two to five rooms, depending on which floor and side the visitor wanted.
"So, how has the management gone? Is the financial situation good now or?" I asked as we walked to the elevator.
"Slowly but surely."
"Just a few more years and then I'll be ready to help out dad."
"Actually," he said before holding the door open, "I already got an offer on the hotel. Don't worry, I'm not selling but I don't mind sharing the building. Do you mind?"
"Have you contacted Brads about this? I think that he has just as much power into this discussion as I do."
Guilt started to pour into me as I realized that I had taken something from Brads. I'd never thought to let him guide the hotel in another way, it'd always been my thing from our grandfather. Why hadn't I noticed that before?
"Hey, Dad, do you think that Brads should take the hotel? That he should be allowed to run it instead of me?"
"Why would you say that? Do you not want it anymore?"
"No, I do but I just...I just thought about how I never thought to allow Brads the hotel. Do you think he wants it?"
Brads never once hinted at it but maybe it was because I always claimed it. Was I being silly? I probably was but I'd learned since being friends with Josh and Lilith that speaking my thoughts was better than letting myself dwell on them.
