Needing is One Thing

Chapter 15. Cuz I still got a lot of fight left in me

Mika walked alongside her father, her mother following behind them as they made their way to the grave site. The afternoon sun was hot, especially being clothed in black. Mika was thankful she had opted for a skirt rather than slacks. She could only imagine how the men in their suits felt.

She awkwardly struggled to keep up. Walking in heels in the soft grass took a level of skill she was still working on. Her father ignored it, keeping to his usual quick pace and expecting them to keep up. It made her feel off balance. Then again, she always felt that way around her father.

People spoke around them in low whispers and Mika listened in. The conversations were about such ordinary things: going golfing, a recently submitted expense report, a sales rep dating one of the admins. It had been like that all day. Was that how it was at Grandfather's funeral? She had been too upset, too raw from his loss to notice. It made her feel embarrassed. Where is the sympathy, the empathy, the respect?

Mika frowned and kept her eyes forward, searching. She hadn't seen Andrew all day. Surely, he would be at his own father's funeral, no matter their relationship. He has to be here.

Finally, as they stepped up into the makeshift row of people on the grass around the casket, Mika saw Andrew. He was standing across from them, looking miserable and uncomfortable, standing near the head of the gathering. His mother was crying on his arm as he held her steady.

Mika blushed at how handsome he looked in his suit, for once, pressed and polished. His hair was neatly combed and she felt a weird compulsion to walk over and run her fingers through it. Tousle it so she could know that this time it was her doing. What are you thinking? Guilty, she couldn't believe she was having such thoughts on such an occasion.

Andrews' eyes shifted and he caught her looking at him, saw her in the crowd. For a second he seemed nervous, his eyes searching hers, then he gave a tentative sad smile. Mika answered with her own, trying to offer him some encouragement. It appeared to brighten him up a little. He looked relieved.

Her father cleared his throat and gripped her lower arm, pulled her attention away from Andrew. It startled Mika back to reality.

"Remember what I told you," David Anderson whispered sternly to his daughter. "I don't want to see you talking with him." Mika let her head drop, nodding. Her father's fingers dug in, making her flinch. It was a little warning before he released her. Nonchalant, he turned back to the businessmen he was talking with, pretending it had never happened and acting like Mika wasn't even there.

Carefully, slowly, she looked back up out of the corner of her eye but Andrew was looking away, speaking with his mother. Mika tried to discretely watch him as everyone stood, waiting for the burial to start.

Mika's father and his associates talked around them, David asserting his position to take over as interim CEO, his voice growing louder as he pushed for the advantage with those who supported him. They played with ideas of how they would replace Andrew's father. Mika saw his mother start to cry again. Andrew, himself, only clasped his hands and looked down at his shoes. Even as the priest arrived and spoke the words that started the eulogy, her father wouldn't shut up, barely lowering his voice.

Mika felt her anger rise. Why doesn't Andrew say something? She stared at him, willing him to look up. Do something! His mother was miserable, reacting to the harsh insensitive words around them.

Mika felt her dad's hand clamp back on her wrist. He had caught her staring at Andrew again. She felt his fingers dig in harder this time and struggled to hold in an exclamation of pain. Hearing the small hiss of breath that accidentally escaped her lips, David glared down at her out of the corner of his eye and twisted his hand, pulling her off balance. Mika stumbled in the grass as one of her heels sunk into the dirt.