Say No To This

10

Lin's POV

When Scarlett called me, I had no idea what to expect. But seeing Pippa in the hospital bed, really gave me a sense of where I wanted to be in this relationship. She was my everything.

"And then we made volcanoes!" Scarlett giggled while showing me her papers from school.

"Very nice." I smiled at her.

"Thank you." She smiled. She put her 'diagrams' away back in her folder while we waited for Pip to be discharged. Once she came back from the bathroom I gave her a small smile and looked down at Scarlett.

"Even thought she had a half day, she still was excited to be at school." I smiled at Pip.

"She likes school. Loves learning." Pip shrugged.

It took a few days for Pip to get back to normal, her entire body was still recovering from it all. I stayed with her, making sure she didn't hurt herself. At night, it took her forever to fall asleep. Once she did, it was never long.

When I woke up early one morning, I noticed she wasn't even in bed. I got up and walked out towards the living room, seeing her balled up on the couch with the tv on. It was muted, but still on. I peered over the other couch, seeing her finally asleep. I had no idea when she had actually fallen asleep, so I let her lay there for a bit.

Waking Scarlett up of course, was another story. She complained about getting up, but once she was up and bathed, she was ready to go.

"Why is mommy on the couch?" Scarlett asked while we waited for her bus.

"She fell asleep there." I answered.

"Oh." She mumbled.

Our lives had eventually gotten better, I toyed around the subject of us moving in together, but Pippa usually changed the subject. Rather quickly too.

I get why. She had so many memories of this place, it was always going to be hard to get rid of it.

Pippa's POV

Weeks had gone by and I was secretly wishing time would stop flying by. Scarlett was getting older, and loved her school, her everything. Lin kept dropping hints about getting a place for ourselves so he wouldn't have to keep coming here at night. I didn't want to have to put Scarlett through a transfer...

"Maybe it is time. She needs more than just public school Pip. You can enroll her into a private school and call it a day. She'll have so much more fun, dress code, everything!" He boasted.

"Lin... That's ten grand a year alone. And that's just for religion based private school. I've looked into it. Trust me." I sighed.

"But you have me now... I can help pay for her tuition." He whispered.

"Lin. No. We aren't married. We're just dating." I frowned. "Scarlett is doing fine in Public school anyway. She doesn't need private school." I shrugged him off, really not wanting to talk about it anymore. My daughter didn't need some fancy prep school just because she was smart.

More time had passed, and we were already at our three month anniversary. I watched Scarlett breeze through her homework and let out a small sigh when she finished reading her chapter for school.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I want to read more. But the teacher said if we get ahead, we'll be in trouble." She frowned while bringing her book to me. It was a small chapter book. Five at the most.

"Well, you have to do what the teacher says." I frowned. "Do you like the book?" I asked her. She nodded her head quickly with a smile on her face. I let out a little laugh and reached for my tablet. "Here. I know I don't let you play on this, but I have so many books you can read on here." I smiled while pulling up one of my favorites. The first Harry Potter.

She sat there for a while, paging through the story. Her face changing as she read through the chapters.

"Why is she on your tablet?" Lin frowned as he walked in.

"She's reading Harry Potter." I answered him.

"Gasp." Lin laughed. "Already getting her addicted?" He smirked.

"She was bored with her homework. Thought it could be fun for her." I smiled at him.