A Light in the Dark

Chapter 84

A/N: PLEASE DON'T KILL ME. I am so, so sorry for the long wait again. I know what I said last time and I have really no idea where the time went... but anyway, those of you who are still reading this and are interested, here's another chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it. :)

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"I must say, Miss Jauregui surprised me last night," her father commented. "She was a delight to the guests; she even managed to impress Judge Davies! That is a near impossible feat. She is an intelligent, passionate young lady and charmed every guest last night. The party could not have gone any better!"

Camila did not bother with a reply. Her eyes remained on the big Christmas tree and the massive pile of colorful presents underneath. Ever since her parents had come back into the house after their argument yesterday, her father had been acting as if the tense conversation with her had never happened. It was downright scary, up to the point where she had asked herself, if everything might have been a hallucination, courtesy of mixing her painkillers with alcohol.

Her father had not stopped praising Lauren ever since she had left the house last night. A part of her was proud - after making sure he was not being a sarcastic asshole. It was great that her girlfriend had left such an amazing impression on so many important people, even though many of them were bigots. They were influential figures in the law enforcement. If Lauren received the internship at the state attorney's office, she would already have some connections for the future. That was not a bad thing to have. She could overlook her own dislike, if it meant Lauren received something far greater in return; a respectable career.

Another part of her, however, was extremely annoyed by his ongoing and seemingly never ending praises of Lauren. Aside from the obvious hypocrisy how different he treated each of them regarding their sexual orientations, the main thing that irked her now was his complete disregard of his own daughter's achievements.

When was the last time he had been this impressed by anything she had done? But no, the only thing she had ever received was the grudging admission that she could not be all that stupid, if Harvard accepted her. It was freaking Harvard! And not only had Harvard accepted her, she had made it into NYU all on her own without help from anyone. But it meant nothing to him since she had no plans of going to law school or becoming a doctor. She was always the disappointment. She could not even pretend to be normal for her father's sake, after all.

Camila took a deep breath to calm down. It shouldn't bother her anymore. Not after the lovely conversation they had yesterday in the garden. He did not love her. Not the real her, at least. He loved a certain idea of who she was or could be. She was not sure if he ever would be able to love the real her. Or if he ever wanted to. His most precious thing in his life was his reputation anyway. And his career.

Gritting her teeth, she glared at the tree in front of her. It was always only about his stupid job. It had never been about anything else. Having a lesbian daughter as a victim and a witness in the probably biggest trial of the city this year had forced him to openly change his position towards the LGBT community. But that didn't mean his personal beliefs would change anytime soon. Their talk in the garden had certainly opened her eyes to that.

But today was not the day for self-pity. Who cared what he thought of her anyway? It didn't matter. She was living her own life, far away from his influences. She had not agreed to spend the night and sit through this awkward Christmas morning for him. She had done it for Sofi. And her mom. Although her actions were confusing.

Sighing, Camila glanced from the big Christmas tree to the presents underneath it and finally settled on her parents, who were sitting on the couch, arm in arm, in jeans and shirts. After last night, she would not have expected them to be this close. Not only because they had never truly shown much affection towards each other when they were not alone, but also because she had thought her mother would not have forgiven him as easily as she apparently had. Last night she had seemed livid at him. How could that change so fast?