A Second Chance at Love

Chapter 20 - " You're really gonna leave now ?"

~ Chapter 20 - " You're really gonna leave now ?" ~

The silence that stretched between the three seems endless when barely a minute passed. They were all seated in the quiet corner of the café, Dean had entered the restaurant a few minutes ago and barely murmured a "hello" to the them.

Dean was watching Amber intensely while the little girl took in the features of her father.

As for Ellie, she was watching the two silently, while anxiously chewing on her bottom lip. From where she was she could clearly see the similarities between father and daughter. They had the same tiny dimple on their chin and the curve of their noses were identical.

Finally, it was Amber that broke the silence. "So you're the one that ran away, huh?", the little girl retorted with every bit of seriousness that she possessed, one of her eyebrows raised questioningly.

Ellie's head whipped to her daughter, her jaw dropping at the words used by her child.

Dean chuckled lightly, "I can see that Angelica helped to raise you" he added with a grin.

"Yes, is that a problem?" Amber said raising her other eyebrow in question as she crossed her little arms. Her eyes challenging Dean to say anything bad against her beloved aunt.

"No, ma'am", Dean raised his arms in surrender, his lips stretching into a smile.

However, as Ellie observed him, she saw a flash of annoyance in his eyes. It was no secret that Dean liked Angie as much as she liked him.

She cleared her throat, drawing the attention to her. Two identical brown eyes looked at her expectantly, taking her aback.

"Why don't we order ?" she said forcing herself to be cheerful. She could no longer take in the tension. Her

"Oh, I won't be able to stay long," Dean said while glancing at his watch. "I need to be somewhere in 30 minutes." He looked at her nonchalantly.

Is he serious right now, Ellie thought, mentally facepalming.

"Well why don't you go now!" Amber said loudly before Ellie could speak.

"Amber !" she exclaimed, reaching out to touch her hand gently, she slightly frowned her eyebrows to show her unhappiness at the little girl.

"Sowwy Mommy," the little girl mumbled as she dropped her eyes to the table. The patterns on the table cloth looking suddenly fascinating.

Before Ellie could speak, the little girl murmured, " can we go to the park now?"

Ellie lifted the chin of her daughter to look into her eyes. The little girls eyes were glistening, tears were slowly pooling at the brim of her brown eyes.

Ellie felt her heart squeeze. She grabbed her things and gathered the small handbag of her daughter and replied " let's go baby."

Upon hearing these words, the little girl gave a wobbly smile and pushed back her chair.

Seeing the two girls stand up, Dean could not hide his surprise. " You're really gonna leave now ?"

It was Amber that replied, " Yes." as she took Ellie's outstretched hand.

Her usual cute voice seemed to have lost their innocence as she looked at her father with an expression that her mother has never seen before. Her small lips were pinched on the sides and her eyebrows were slightly frowned.

This is so not going as planned, Ellie thought to herself.

"When can we meet again?" Dean asked Ellie.

"We will meet when you grow up!" Ellie said over her shoulders as she took the direction of the door.

Once outside the cafe, Ellie turned to the right to an alley and crouched down to be level of her daughter and wrapped her arms arround her little body. Her heart broke as she felt the tears of the little girl seep through the material of her shirt.

"I'm sorry baby," she murmured to her as she slowly rubbed her back in comfort. "We don't need to see him again if you don't want to okay?" she pulled back to look at the tear streaked face of the little girl. She used her thumbs to dry her tears as she cupped the girls face gently to lift up her head.

Amber slowly lifted her eyes to her mother as she slowly nodded her approval.

Once the little girl calmed down, Ellie scooped her up and walked the small distance to her car. As she finished to clip Amber to her seat, the little girl grabbed her hand and asked gently, " can we go for pizza?"

Ellie smiled sadly, pizza was Amber's go-to food when she is sad. She nodded gently and kissed the girl lightly on the forehead before making her way to the driver's seat.