Magnetic

Chapter Twenty-Two

My father never apologized to me, as if he didn't even recognize that I was upset.

I wasn't just upset, though. That only begun to describe my feelings.

I felt betrayed. Angry. Lied to. Unimportant.

He did tell me that when he would always be late coming home, he'd usually be going on dates with Ireland, who was his secretary. According to him, it was love at first sight, and they had to get to know each other better.

Gross.

She was definitely much younger than him; she was twenty-three, and he was borderline fifty. It was such a large age gap that it made me want to throw up.

Later that night, my father offered to take me and Ireland to dinner, so I could "bond" with her. The last thing I wanted to do was bond with her.

I told my father I would only go to dinner with them if Brady could come with me, so I could have someone who I knew would be on my side. Like he always was. That was probably my favorite traits about Brady: he was crazy loyal. He would always have your back. Ever since I met him, he had never let me down.

Of course, my father said he could join us for dinner.

The four of us went to Mickey's; Ireland chose where we were to eat. The more I talked to her, the more I disliked her. She was nothing like my mom.

"So, what grade are you in?" she asked me as we were served a basket of complementary breadsticks.

You'd think if you were trying to weasel yourself into someone's family, you'd try to learn a bit about their child.

"Eleventh."

"Wow, a junior! You're so close to college! Any ideas where you want to go?"

"No."

My father shot me the most evil of glances; I sent him back an eye roll. I wasn't going to, for a minute, pretend that I liked this woman. That would be fake of me, and I was anything but fake.

"Oh," Ireland responded, setting a hand on top of my father's, which were placed on the table. She finally seemed to get the message that she was the last person I wanted to talk to. "Well, you should probably decide soon."

"Yeah."

"Nicki," my father huffed. "Can we go talk for a minute?"

I exchanged a glance with Brady, as if to tell him I'd be right back, and I got up and pushed the chair back under the table. My father led me outside, by the front door, and leaned against the wall, sighing loudly.

"Can you please be nice to her?" he asked. "She's making an effort to bond, unlike you."

I fake-gasped. "Well, maybe, I don't want to bond."

"Nicki-"

"We are completely fine without another person in our family and you know it."

"I'm just dating her right now Nicki, it's not like we're serious."

"You're missing the point," I said. "You've been dating her, and you just now told me. You could've told me two months ago, like you should have. And the promise-"

He closed his eyes, obviously not knowing what to say. I was right, like I usually was against my father. "I should've told you, I know. But that doesn't give you any right to be so rude to her. Your mother would want me to move on, correct?"

Of course, he was correct. I shouldn't have been so hostile toward her, but what else was I supposed to do? Bond with a possible stepmother over a basket of breadsticks? Most definitely not; my house was plenty full enough with my father, Belle, and I. And I was still royally upset about how he broke his other promise. He had never dated anyone since my mother passed before. At least, that I had known of.