AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His heart refused to slow down. This was getting close to a topic he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about. Mandy’s meddling was definitely a point of contention that he didn’t want to get in the middle of.
“So, how long have you and Randy been together?” he asked, hoping pivoting would be the best solution.
“Oh, we’re nearing thirty years,” she replied. “We married young.”
“Wow.”
“Everyone told us we wouldn’t last, even our parents, but we put in the work to make it stick, and here we are.”
Work. Had he put in enough work with Lucinda? The countless hours at the office had piled up, but he wasn’t so sure that he’d done any emotional work with her.
Not that she had either.
What would it have been like to be in Mandy’s shoes, where both parties were dedicated to making it last? His mind flashed to Amelia. Would she have been?
“I’m glad you were able to,” he said, pulling himself out of his thoughts.
“Now, if it’s a bad relationship, it’s just bad. Like Amelia’s last boyfriend. Horrible man.”
Daniel almost asked for more details, but he stopped himself. Why did he want to know?
Amelia brought out a different sort of curiosity from him. Never before did he want to know every detail of someone else’s life, but he took each one in with an unusual sense of fascination.
Their conversation died down as they walked. He was too far in his thoughts and didn’t notice until minutes of silence had passed. He tried to think of something to say to fill the void, but nothing came to mind.
Mandy beat him to it as they walked into the coffee shop.
“This place is amazing,” she said. “It always smells so heavenly.”
Daniel couldn’t help but agree, even though he wasn’t a fan of the drink itself. He scanned the menu, wondering what Amelia would even like. The shop had helpful descriptions explaining what drink was what, but it still didn’t give him an answer. He’d only seen her with office-brewed coffee.
Mandy stepped into line and ordered. Daniel followed suit, eyes landing on something random. A macchiato, where espresso was on the top and foamed cream was on the bottom.
“Huh,” Mandy said, “is that what Amelia likes these days?”
“I always like to surprise her,” he replied.
Mandy shrugged and got her finished drink. Daniel grabbed his, wondering if Amelia would even take a sip of it.
“I’m glad she’s trying new things. Sometimes, she has an idea of what’s best for her, and it’s not really what is.”
“Sometimes new things can be good.” Or he hoped.
They returned to the condo in silence, and Daniel still couldn’t think of a thing to say.
“You’re a quiet one, aren’t you?” Mandy asked.
“People say that, yes.”
“I hope it’s not us. I know our family can be a lot.”
“No, of course not. I’m honored you invited me. It just takes me some time to warm up to people. Some people say I can be a little businesslike at first.”
She nodded, and Daniel hoped it was enough.
They entered the condo as Amelia was coming out of their room with messy hair and a sleepy expression on her face.
“What’s this?” she asked.
