Cold Cold Hearts

Chapter 8: Coming to Terms

Grace's POV

The next morning I woke up pretty early. For some reason I couldn't sleep in peace. My mind was replaying the conversations I had with Emma and Casey, and Camila and Lara. They are all right, there is no use in staying in a relationship with Joel if I am only with him because I don't want to hurt his feelings, even though he is a nice guy he deserves to be with someone who is crazy about him like he is about me. 

I heard slight movement upstairs indicating that my dad must be up. I got up from my mattress and made my way upstairs. I checked his bedroom first, but he wasn't there so I went to his study and noticed he was there sitting near his table. 

"Good morning dad." 

"Hey hon, morning."

"Slept well?"

"No..."

"Why?" he turned towards me, "What's wrong?"

I sighed, "Dad when you and mom decided to end the marriage were both of you on the same page or one of you wanted to stay and make it work?"

He looked at me as if he was searching for answers as to why I was asking such questions in the first place. 

"Don't worry dad I am not still traumatized by what happened,  I am asking because I might be in a similar situation in my relationship with Joel."

A look of relief washed over his face, "Oh, well in our marriage we both were pretty much done with it towards the end." 

"Oh. The thing with my relationship is Joel is in love with me whereas I am not in love with him, if I suggest we split it will hurt him so much and I can't bring myself to do that."

"Grace love is really important in a relationship for it to work, and it's not fair for him to be with someone who doesn't love him, you staying with him because you care about him won't be enough. You both will be very miserable in the long run." 

I sighed. "But he is a really great guy dad, I am scared I won't find anyone like him again." 

"You will. You have to have a little faith."

I hesitated but asked, "Then why didn't you?"

He chuckled, "Well, I never really had the time to maintain a relationship with someone after I started working here. But you see your mom did. So there is anyways hope." 

"Did it ever bother you that she did?"

My dad thought about it for a bit and said, "Honestly... no. I was happy she found someone who would cherish her like she truly deserves."

I smiled.

"Look Grace, I understand it will hurt in the beginning but trust me it's not the end of the world, you will be fine."

I nodded and took a deep breath.

"Is there anything else you need to say?"

I shook my head no.

"Then let's go start making breakfast for everybody kido."

We went downstairs and everyone seemed to have gotten up. Dusk and I locked eyes for a good few seconds before I looked away.

"Okay boys kindly put away the mattresses as we found them yesterday. And ladies kindly follow me to the kitchen for breakfast duty."

"So sexist with your chore assignment dad." I said for fun.

"Call me old fashioned."

The boys did as they were told and the girls and I helped dad make sandwiches. Once the boys were done, dad asked them to prepare the table for breakfast. Once all was complete, we sat down to eat.