9. Sunny
9
SUNNY
I didn’t even make it to my bedroom. I went straight to the powder room down the hall before the vomit rose high enough to come out. Kneeling over the toilet, I sobbed and let my dinner go down it. My father was a piece of work sometimes, but this time took the cake.
When he told me he had invited someone for dinner, I knew what he meant. He was going to try to fix me up with a guy around here to make it more appealing for me to stick around. He wanted me under his thumb, and I wanted freedom. But a celebrity? Dad crossed the line this time. I didn’t even know he had connections in Hollywood.
“Baby?” Mom said. I could hear her on the other side of the door as I pushed myself to my feet and flushed the toilet.
“One sec,” I told her, reaching for the faucet to at least rinse my mouth. I blew my nose and took a few gulps of water, then opened the door to see her concerned face.
“Oh dear, I thought you were just trying to get away from that nightmare.” Mom reached up and pressed the back of her hand to my forehead then pulled me in for a hug. “I didn’t realize you are really sick.” Her strong arms guided me out of the bathroom and down the hall farther to my bedroom door.
“I don’t know what came over me. It wasn’t your cooking. I promise. I just didn’t have an appetite, I got upset, and then I had to throw up.” I felt a bit weak from the exertion of tossing my cookies, so I let her push me toward bed, climbing in, letting her cover me with the comforter.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You probably just picked something up at the clinic.” Mom fussed with the blanket and said, “I’m really sorry Dad is being a bit overbearing right now. I think he just really misses you and wants you to be closer to home.”
“Dad wants to ruin my life. He can’t let me just be myself.” I sniffled, tasted the bile still draining from my sinuses, and cringed. I had to brush my teeth and use mouthwash.
“He loves you and means well. He’s just concerned.” Mom pushed some hair off my face and asked, “Would you like me to get Dr. Price to check on you? He’s a trained physician. If you’re sick he could help.”
“God, no,” I groaned. I was mortified by rushing out like that. He didn’t need to know I’d gotten so emotional I threw up. How humiliating.
“Alright…” Mom sighed and paused as she stroked my hair. I curled into a ball, fighting the urge to hate my father. I was so angry, so embarrassed by how he tried to manhandle me into a future he imagined would be perfect. Couldn’t he see I was hurting? “He just thinks you’re lonely.”
“Well, he’s right,” I snapped, then felt bad for taking it out on her. “I mean, I am lonely after losing my best friend. Luna isn’t the same; we don’t have the same relationship. But dating a man isn’t going to replace what I lost. I’m missing someone who knew me inside out like a sister.” I huffed and forced myself to an upright position. “Besides, if I wanted to date someone I could. I already like a guy.”
I picked at my fingernails and then pinched a strand of hair, twirling it around my finger mindlessly. If Mom asked Carter to come back and check on me, I’d break down crying. He felt safe. After talking with him about Kira, we bonded a little. I knew he understood me deep down, and I knew if all of this emotion about my dad trying to set me up came out, I would ugly cry. We’d bond more. Mom would see right through it all and figure out I liked him.
“Oh?” she asked, her eyebrows perked. “Who is he? Anyone we know?” A half smile warmed her face, and I shook my head. No way I was opening that door right now. Dad would never approve; he’d hate Carter for even looking at me. And in the end, I’d be heartbroken when I moved to Tampa anyway, because with the way Dad was acting, there was no way I was staying here.
“Uh, it’s no one.” Sucking in a deep breath, I tried to think of a way to take back what I blurted out, but someone knocked on the door and I stiffened.
“Soleil?”
“Oh dear.” Mom patted my arm as she stood up. “I’ll take care of this. You rest. I’ll have Luna make you some bland soup; that will help with your belly. But if you’re not better in the morning, I’m calling Dr. Price.”
She placed a kiss on my forehead before she strolled to the door. I heard her talking quietly with Dad, assuring him I was fine. She told him I threw up and I wasn’t faking it, and he started to insist Carter come back to check on me, but she ushered him away.
I shoved a pillow behind my back and let my head drop to the carved wooden headboard behind me. I knew when I came home for the funeral with the intention to stay a few weeks that this would be torture. Now, more than six weeks later I was regretting that decision so much. I should’ve just jumped right back into my high-paying job in Tampa and started searching for a roommate.
After a few minutes, the soft knock on my door was followed by Luna waltzing in with a tray. I looked up to see her grinning like a mad idiot as she set the tray on my nightstand. It had a bowl of soup and some crackers and a glass of water.
“Hey, sicko, you’re seriously missing out. It’s freakin’ Liam Holmes.” Her snickering like a school girl matched the crimson blush on her cheeks. She was giddy with the attention of a celebrity way too old for her, but I figured every girl deserved to have a crush.
“Yeah, I’ll pass. I’m not interested in that.” I rubbed my face and breathed in a deep gulp of air.
“Yeah, I know what you’re interested in.” She smirked and wagged her eyebrows. “By the looks of it, he’s interested too. Dang, girl. He did nothing but check you out all night so far, and when you ran off like a dummy, he looked like he was gonna chase after you. A bit obvious, don’t you think?” Luna rolled her eyes at me as I cringed in more embarrassment.
“He really did that?” I asked. I felt like throwing up again already.
“He really did. Is this just a fling or what?” Luna hovered by my door, which stood open. We weren’t talking very loudly, but I couldn’t risk that Dad might hear so I whispered my reply.
“He asked me to dinner. And I told him yes…” Even though I was still feeling emotionally raw, my lips curled into a smile. I bit the bottom one to temper the reaction. I felt giddy.
“Oh God,” she hissed, snickering. “This is so bad.”
“I know, right?”
The flush of warmth I felt every time I thought of Carter was consuming me. After Chad, I was ready to just place a pause on my love life and let my heart do its thing for a while. But Carter had gotten to me so quickly, I never saw it coming. He was sweet and funny and kind, and I’d never once seen him lose his temper about anything. Total green-flag energy.
“So, what if you don’t stay?” Luna asked, but in the background we heard Mom calling for her. “Crap,” she hissed. “Later, you tell me everything.” She darted out of my bedroom and shut the door behind her while I sat there feeling so mixed up emotionally.
If I stuck around for any length of time, I was going to get too hung up on a man I could never have. I had already told him I’d have dinner with him, but at that dinner I had to make it clear to him—and myself—that a relationship probably wasn’t a good idea. I didn’t want to date someone in LA when my desire was to live as far away from my father as possible.
And I hoped when I told my heart that, it obeyed me.