The Perfect Shot (Book 3) ✓

19 - Ultimatum

Hannah

I was really happy with the way Cleo was recovering from the bullet wounds. His leg was getting stronger, and luckily, after a lot of arguments, I managed to persuade him to use the crutches around the house. It was strange how quickly our relationship evolved after the shooting. I knew the bigger change was because I was finally stopping to care about other's opinions and trying to live how I wanted to do it. When we were walking around town, there were a lot of strange and shocked looks, a lot of whispers around us, but luckily no one spoke directly at our faces. I think with more time I was seen with Cleo, the town started to accept that this really was happening. Unlike my father, who wasn't happy at all. Every evening when I was coming home, he would comment something against Cleo, and my mother would just stay quiet and out of our dispute. And every morning, when I was preparing to leave the house, he would again try to persuade me to leave Cleo and not ruin my life by being associated with him. It was getting harder and harder to deal with all this negativity, and I guess today was the end of my father's patience with me and my choices.

We were all gathered around the table and eating our breakfast in silence. I was trying to eat slow, to give my family more of my time, to let them start a conversation... even a stupid one, like 'what's the weather'... but the silence surrounding us was a death giveaway that it wasn't working. We had nothing left to talk about, not when we were disagreeing on such an important part of my life. Once I finished my meal and was cleaning my plate at the sink, my father decided to talk, just not what was expected from him.

"Are you going to leave to house now?"

"Yeah. Just like I was doing it every day for the last week."

"Meeting with Jones?"

"Yeah... Just like I was doing it every day for the last week." There was a long pause, and then my life tilted on its axis in a way I didn't expect.

"If you leave this house now, or any other time from now on, to go and meet with that man, you don't need to come back anymore." I stopped the water at the sink and turned around, giving my father my whole attention in trying to figure out what he meant.

"What do you mean not coming back?"

"Just like you heard me, Hannah. If you go and meet with Jones one more time, then you are no longer welcome in this house..."

"Robert..." For the first time, my mother tried to intervene, but my father quickly stopped her.

"No, no 'Robert.' Like I said, if you continue to meet with that man, then you don't have a place in this house. If you stop all that charade, you can come home."

"You are not serious?!" I can't believe my own father was giving me this kind of ultimatum about my love life.

"You know I am, Hannah. I can't accept my daughter to waste her life with a man like him. He'll soon get bored or something like that, but it will be too late for you. You must know, I'm doing this thing for you and your future. Someone has to think about it, and it looks like you are not doing it."

"You can't be serious! This is my life, dad. I am a grown-up woman who can have her own choices who to meet or not, who to love or not. You can't believe that you have any say in that. That's ridiculous!"

"Call it whatever you want, Hannah. But it is what it is. If you leave this house to meet with him, you can leave your key on your way out." With that, he stood up from his place and left the room.

"Mom, you can't possibly believe that this is a normal behavior."

"He's your father, sweetie. He's trying to think of you and what's good for you..."

"And for me, is it good to be left without a home!? Are you hearing yourself? Just because I am dating someone he doesn't approve? Did the last few centuries not count? When did we get back to the time when the father decided his daughter's love life, who she sees, who she dates, and who she marries. Should I expect soon to be engaged to a man I don't even know? You know, to be authentic and all..."

"Don't be ridiculous, Hannah..."

"I am the ridiculous one?! Did you not hear your husband?"

"Hannah. You know your father loves you very much..."

"And that's why he wants to destroy my life and take away my choices from me, too."

"He doesn't want to take away your choices, sweetie..."

"Then what the hell are you calling that demand of not seeing Cleo?"

"Hannah..." Right, even my mother couldn't find a proper explanation of what happened.

"Just forget it..." I quickly left the room and went to gather my stuff. I wasn't sure where I was going to stay, but for sure not here, not with this ridiculous requirement from my father. As quickly as possible, I filled my car with everything I owned and was ready to leave. Just when I was going to get in my car, I remembered my father's word, so once again I went to the front door of the house. My mother was staying on the front porch, looking at me with eyes filled with sorrow.

"Hannah, what are you doing?"

"What he asked me to do, mom." I gave her my keys for their house, the same keys they gave me on my first day at school, and turned around without waiting for any more questions. Once in my car, I drove away, unsure to my destination.

Somehow, I ended up in front of Cleo's house. I guess the fact that I was supposed to come here after breakfast was burned into my mind, and I was taking the turns to his place without even thinking I was coming here. I stayed in my car for a few minutes, unsure of what I was supposed to do from now on. I knew we were getting closer with Cleo, but I wasn't sure we were at that place where living together was on the map. But at the same time, I had no job, I almost had no money, and honestly, I was almost out of hope at this point. My life as a grown-up didn't start like I imagine it will.

I guess I was staying inside my car longer than expected, because soon I saw Cleo at his front door looking questioning at me. He moved in my direction, and that was my signal to get out of it.

"What's up, Goldie?" Since he left the hospital, he's been using this nickname almost constantly. It was really funny when he was using it around people who didn't know us, because they instantly looked at my reddish hair and wondered why he was calling me 'Goldie'.

"Hi, Cleo."

"Uh-uh. What's wrong?" I guess I didn't hide the confused emotions brewing inside of me because in an instant, he was in front of me, his hands engulfing me in a tight hug. "Why 's your car full of stuff?"

"Umm... because I left my father's house."

"Wait, what? Why? Did something happen?"

"You can say that..." I wasn't sure how much I wanted to share with him, but after a moment he moved back a little bit, so that he'll have a better view of my face and I knew I couldn't try to lie.

"My father kicked me out of the house."

"What the fuck?!" My words, exactly...  

***Looks like her father is ready to do anything to separate Hannah and Cleo. Do you think he'll do something else in a search for a success?