The Weekend - Completed

Chapter 55

Oh boy had James been right, in the two weeks since Chris and Katie's wedding Daniel had pretty much turned into a stalker. His relentless attempts at trying to get me to change my mind and reconsider my decision were beginning to freak me out; yesterday it'd gotten so bad I'd even googled 'restraining orders'.

Don't get me wrong I loved the daily deliveries of flowers but I could tell it was getting a bit out of hand when this morning even my dad had noticed the vases of beautiful blooms on every available surface.

"Erm, love?" He asked as he walked from the lounge to the kitchen and cast a disconcerting eye at the three arrangements adorning the kitchen. "So either you've changed careers and decided to become a florist or there's someone who is seriously trying to impress you..." He held my gaze waiting for me to elaborate.

"Hmm, well you love your job so it can't be that so that only leaves a young man, anything you'd like to talk about, I mean you've obviously made quite an impression." Then looking round again he added "Flowers don't come cheap these must have cost him a fortune...unless of course he's a florist." I had a feeling he was no longer talking to me, instead his internal thoughts had accidental become audible.

"No dad I don't need to talk to you about it because I'm not interested, even if he was the last man on earth I'd still not be interested." I explained, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible but my dad just looked bemused and waited for me to spell it out to him. "Daniel dad, the flowers are from Daniel."

"Oh I see" I could almost hear his mind ticking over as he tried to put into words what he wanted to say. "Well Alex love, I can't say I'm that surprised, he didn't exactly hide his feelings towards you at the wedding, did he?"He shrugged his shoulders showing he understood.

"Aren't you scandalised, if not horrified at all? I was kind of expecting a lecture from you warning me to stay away from the no good lout, reminding me of what happened last time." My incredulous stare and self righteous tone I hoped let my dad know I was a little disappointed in his lack of fury to my revelation.

"Weeellll" He started to counter much to my further annoyance, of all the people on the planet I thought my dad would have been the one person who cringed more than I did at the sound of Daniel's name.

"Firstly, you've got the whole never going to forgive and forget thing down... you definitely don't need any help with that. And..." He said holding his hands out, palms up; he looked like he was trying to impersonate a set of scales, as he moved his hands up and down. All the time his nose was scrunched up which emphasised the indecisive expression he wore, he sighed heavily before continuing.

"It's been a long time since I could tell you what to do, but Alex I just want you to be happy, if he makes you happy then it doesn't matter what I or anyone else thinks, does it?" I looked at him confused and for over a minute I stared at him in disbelief, rerunning our conversation just checking I had heard him right.

"Alex my advice, for what it's worth, is let it go, we can't change the past, and I'm not just talking about Daniel." He raised his eyebrows at me, giving me a knowing look. I suddenly had the feeling I was a child again and my dad was telling me off because of some misdemeanour I'd committed, clearly still in my regressed state I stuck my bottom lip out and frowned at him.

I could still hear him laughing as he put Evie in the car.

I arrived at the university car park a little before eight, then as was my Monday routine I nipped to the coffee shop across the road and purchased the 3 decaf lattes I bought every Monday morning. It was my back to work treat, and each week Jules, the campus receptionist, the student teacher working with me this year, Amanda, and I would sit in the office behind the main desk and catch up on any developments since this time last Monday. We chatted easily about Amanda's wild, booze fuelled weekend, and her stories of debauchery always made me laugh or blush, very often both. Happily married and mid thirties Jules and I lived vicariously through Amanda, needing her exploits to help us add a bit of sparkle to our own mundane lives.