Pushing Forward (Sequel to An Unlikely Duo)

Chapter 28: Resolutions

Kayla's POV

"Mom where's Charlotte?" I shouted through the house a few days later. After the camping trip I spent most of my time working at the hospital or at summer camp trying to save up as much money as possible with the handful of summer days we had left.

"Your father took her to get ice cream" she called down from the laundry room.

"You mean Andrew took her to get ice cream" I mumbled. I don't care how much time he and Charlotte spent together or how often she told me how nice he was, I was not about to start calling him "daddy".

"I heard that. I don't like him either, but you at least have to be respectful" her voice followed me into the kitchen.

"Right because he was so respectful to us that I'm required to be respectful to that—" I shoved a piece of bread into my mouth as Andrew and Charlotte walked through the door. Having to censor what I say around Charlotte was a lot harder when Andrew was around.

"Kayla guess what!?" Charlotte's eyes were wide as she waved her hands excitedly in the air.

"OMG what!?" I gushed in a dramatic voice, which earned me a small glare from my little sister before the excitement returned. I couldn't help the smile on my face when she was so excited.

"Andrew said he's coming to my play at the end of the summer" Charlotte watched expectantly for my reaction. It became harder and harder to hold the smile in place as it became forced.

"That's great Charlotte" I tried to sound enthusiastic, but the thought of sitting through a two hour production with my walk-out-haven't-seen-you-in-ten-years-sort-of-father did not sound remotely appealing.

"Why don't you run upstairs and tell your mom" Andrew suggested. Once Charlotte disappeared around the corner he turned to me, "Kayla can I speak to you outside for a moment?"

I gave him a curt nod before following him out onto the patio. For a minute I wondered how he knew his way around our house so well, but then I remembered the fact that he lived here for eleven years.

"I'm sorry if you feel ambushed here. Charlotte was so excited, I didn't want to disappoint her like I disappointed you" he explained. I wanted to point out that not going to a play was on a bit of a different level of disappointment than disappearing for ten years, but I held my tongue.

"If it makes Charlotte happy I'll deal with it, but don't make promises you can't keep" I didn't intend for it to come out as a threat, but it did. What can I say? I'm protective.

"I won't. I promise. I'm trying to make up for the mistake I made ten years ago, with both of you" he sounded so optimistic as if he was fixing all the world's problems just by being here.

"That's the thing. It wasn't just that day ten years ago. You walking away like a coward changed everything, aside from all the expected changes. When you left you made me terrified of losing people. No matter how much they cared or how fine things seemed, I couldn't trust that they would stick around. I was so terrified that it was easier not to get close to people because then it was easier when they left. But I've realized recently that people come in and out of your life for a reason. You came back into our lives so you better make me believe that it was for a good reason because I promise you if you leave again with no warning or explanation then you won't have the chance to come back in" I finally got that off my chest. I had been trying to figure out how to have this conversation with Andrew ever since my talk with Jake around the bonfire, but when it came time the words just kind of rushed out of me.

"I understand. I hope one day you can see how much it hurts me knowing that those things were my fault. Trust me, that wasn't what I wanted to pass down to you at all. I'm going to make up for this and I'm going to stick around this time. One day maybe, just maybe, you and I can be friends on some level" Andrew looked at me hopefully and no matter how hard I wanted to deny it, there was sincerity in his eyes.