I looked at a man who just walked in with a woman. He looked familiar. Zach started talking to me but I couldn't help looking at the couple. They sat next to us and the man looked a me. I ignored him and continued to talk to Zach. "It just makes logical sense that--"
"Excuse me, could I ask you something?" The man quizzed, cutting off Zach. "Um sure," I replied.
"Is your name Rylie by any chance?" He asked me. "Yeah. Why?" I answered. "What about you last name?" He questioned.
"It's Cox," I responded.
"I knew it was you! Rylie, it's me, your dad," The man smiled. I stared at him in shock. "What?" I stuttered.
"I know I left a while ago but I had to leave," He justified. I looked at Zach who was also in shock. "That's no excuse though. Leaving two 9 year olds in a house all day. What kind of dad are you?" I told him.
"I'm sorry. It's hard to explain. Are you two free for dinner?" My dad apologized. "Give us a moment," I glared at my dad. He went up to the bar with the woman and I looked at Zach. "We're not doing it. I don't want to be around him," I demanded.
"I know Rylie. We don't have to if you don't want to. What's our excuse though?" Zach asked me.
"Well we do need to get back to Leigh but we can just say we have work in the morning," I suggested.
"If that's what you wanna do. I don't want to force you to do anything," He smiled.
My dad came back and smiled at both of us. "So are you joining us?" He questioned. "Sorry we can't. We both have work in the morning," I lied.
"How about just a drink then?" He queried. "We can't. We work very early in the morning," I fibbed.
"Please Rylie. I just want to sort everything out and talk to your mum," He pleaded.
"You think you have a right to speak to mum? She had to look after two kids by herself for years!" I argued.
"I want to apologize to her," He told me. "At least she's a good enough mother to support me and stay around," I responded.
"I can support you and Harry too. I want to be in your lives again," My dad commented. "Your not talking to me or mum anymore. Zach we need to go," I replied.
"What job do you have to do that's so important anyway?" My dad questioned. I looked at Zach and he smiled at me. "Taking care of a baby. Now we're leaving," I answered, grabbing my coat. "A baby? Did your mum have another baby?" He asked. I shook my head. "I did," I replied. I grabbed Zach's and stormed out of the restaurant.
"Are you ok now?" Zach asked me. Instead of answering, I pulled him into a hug and burst into tears. Zach rubbed my bag to soothe me. "I only just noticed as well, you held my hand," He smiled.
"Oh yeah. Sorry about that," I sniffed. He held my hand again. "Its fine. It's a step in our relationship," He beamed. I laughed at him and hugged him. "Can I kiss you then?" He quizzed. I pulled away from the hug and wiped my eyes. "Not until the other date remember," I reminded him.
"You already broke one of your rules, I think, so if we kiss it won't change anything," He justified. We looked at each other till we both leaned in and our lips connected. We both pulled away and smiled at each other. "I didn't think you'd actually do it," Zach chuckled. "I guess the rules don't matter," I smiled.
"Can we prank the boys?" He begged.
"How?"
"Pretend we had sex. Put a fake hickey on your neck and stuff like that," He explained.
I shrugged my shoulders," Sure why not."
We got back and Zach dragged me to his room. "So first we need to make the noises just in case," He ordered.
"No. And why are we doing this?" I asked him. "For a laugh!" Zach smiled. I rolled my eyes and sat on the bed. I looked to where Leigh's travel crib would be but it wasn't there. "The boys are asleep. Look," I said, pointing to the empty space. "They probably are. Ok then, we can just go to sleep and when we wake up sort everything out," He told me. I smiled and went to get changed. When I came back, Zach was setting up his head on the floor. "You can sleep in the bed you know," I smiled. He smiled at me and put all his stuff back. "That floor was uncomfortable so thanks," He replied. I laid down in bed and Zach kissed my cheek. "We can actually kiss now, right?" Zach quizzed. "Yeah," I responded. The room was quiet until Zach made the first move.
