Lib Novel Page 26
My stunned brain somehow remembers the name of the woman in front of me who is still holding me and blinking rapidly. “Willa, right?” I ask with even more confusion than a few moments ago.
“Oh darling.” She smiles sincerely with tears in her eyes. “Please call me mama.”
That exact moment of dead silence is pierced with a loud spitting sound as Joy chokes on her coffee she just made and looks at me.
She hides her face behind the said coffee mug and mouths to me, “You fucked Matteo?”
My wild, one-night-stand-Matteo ended up being Willa’s only son who she loves dearly and desperately wants to see in love and married. And it only took us all an hour to console her when I broke the news that I’m leaving to go back to Chicago in a few days, and Matteo and I are most definitely not together.
“Don’t you worry, Willa,” Jenny—the other lady from Fantastic Four aka Joy, Hope and Grace’s mother—pats Willa’s back lovingly. “It will all work out, you’ll see.”
And it wasn’t just me who thought the tone of her voice was oddly suspicious because Joy zeroed in her gaze on her mom and said, “Mother, whatever it is you are planning, stop immediately!”
“I’m not planning a thing,” she says sweetly, batting her lashes at her daughter but none of us miss the smirk that passes between her, Nina Colson, and Fanny Lovesil.
God, what have I gotten myself into?
The next few days pass in harmony all the while I avoid Willa and her gang. Their watchful eyes are still giving me the creeps.
But I must admit, leaving LC was a lot harder than it should have been, especially knowing that Joy is not coming back with me no matter what she says. She belongs here.
And maybe so do I because I have been miserable ever since I got back to Chicago, to my apartment and the work routine I used to love so much yet now it felt wrong.
Everything feels wrong.
I also got reacquainted with my old friend, the toilet bowl. Is it something in this air here that makes my nausea so bad? Why didn’t I feel like that in Loverly? Or is it simply being in Justin’s vicinity that churns my stomach nowadays?
Two weeks later, I finally decide I’ve had enough and made an impulsive decision I hope I won’t come to regret.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, Zoe bug, how are you feeling?” I have been calling my dad religiously every day since I came back because for another odd reason, I’ve been missing him more than ever. Maybe it was seeing the easy relationships the Levine’s had with their parents. Maybe it was missing that feeling of belonging with them as well, to have someone care for me. And don’t get me wrong, Dad has always been there for me despite the distance. Always. But here in Chicago, I was too busy to be there for him as well.
“It’s the same old, unfortunately, but that’s not why I called.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah…so, I think I’m moving to Loverly Cave.”
“Thank God! Finally! I almost ran out of plastic plates and didn’t want to buy new ones.” My dad exhales with relief and sounds all too happy about this weird comment.
“Um…what? What are you talking about?”
“I’ve packed my dishes along with all other stuff three weeks ago and I was just waiting for you to finally give me the go-ahead, so I’ve been living off plastic plates.”
“The go-ahead for what?”
“To move to Loverly Cave with you, of course,” he says as if that was perfectly clear from the start, but I am standing here shocked and speechless.
“You mean to say you’re moving with me? And that you knew I’d be moving there this whole time?”
“Honey, I knew it after the first call you made when you just arrived there. I’ve never heard you sound so happy. So yes, I knew and was waiting for you to catch up. But I was also going to move to Chicago if you decided to stay there.”
Happy tears are gathering over my eyelashes, “I love you, Dad.”
“Love you more, Zoe bug, “What about your job? Are you going to be fine doing something else? I know how hard you worked to be at KePah.”
“You know, I thought I’d be a lot sadder about leaving it. I thought there would be tears and devastation. Yet the only emotion I feel is elation. I’m free, Dad.”