AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re not on the first date anymore, are you?”
She didn’t have an answer for him because he was right. Maybe if she hadn’t seen how Andrew reacted, she would have given it a shot. Maybe if she had any faith left in people, she would have been honest.
“Amelia, I love your mother despite her mental health,” he said. “I loved her before she was on medication for it, and I love her now. Having any kind of diagnosis doesn’t doom a couple.”
“It did with Andrew.”
Her dad sighed. “Andrew had his own problems that ruined that relationship. I don’t know him all that well, but I can already tell Daniel is different than Andrew.”
“I don’t know that for sure yet.”
Her dad looked at her, eyes slightly narrowed. “You’ll have to find out eventually if this is going to go anywhere.”
Amelia gritted her teeth, trying to keep from admitting the fact that she knew this wasn’t going to go anywhere, that this was all a sham and set up to get her mom off of her back.
He could sense her frustration, just like he always did. “I’m not going to push you on it. I just hope that one day you will feel comfortable enough to tell him and that he doesn’t let you down. Not everyone is Andrew.”
Amelia shrugged. “Sometimes it feels like it. Most doctors don’t even know that women show different symptoms than men, who usually get diagnosed far earlier than women. I still hear people at work call themselves bipolar when their mood slightly changes. I don’t trust people not to think I’m . . . crazy . . . when they find out. Or think I’m faking it.”
He nodded. “And you’re right. The world isn’t ready, and they have some extremely uneducated opinions on what bipolar disorder and ADHD are, but it doesn’t mean Daniel is one of those people.”
“I guess.” Amelia gave a shrug as she looked out over the ocean.
“I’m not saying you need to tell him before you’re ready,” he continued. “But don’t just assume he’s going to act like Andrew.”
She nodded. If this had been real, her dad’s advice would have been good. But this wasn’t. Daniel was her coworker, and he had no reason to be kind about her ADHD. He had no reason to even care.
“Your mom’s going to be okay,” he said after a moment. “She just needs a little time.”
She knew that he could take care of her mom. He had always been the calm one of the family. He didn’t have knee-jerk reactions, nor did he ignore issues that he needed to address. He was almost the opposite of her mom. They balanced each other out.
It was what Amelia had hoped she would have with Andrew.
“Thanks for letting me know,” she said. “I better get back to Daniel.”
“Any time, kiddo.”
Amelia went back inside, still feeling nervous about Daniel seeing all of this, but when she closed the door, she took a deep breath, trying to channel her dad’s easygoing attitude.
Daniel was reading. He looked up, worry still etched on his face.
“My mom is fine,” Amelia said. “Just tired. We all get like this on vacation. It’s like the sun saps all of our energy.”
He nodded and put down his book. “I’m glad to hear that. Maybe we should let her rest, though. I’d hate to accidentally wake her up.”
“We could go swimming again,” she offered, glad Daniel seemed okay with letting her mom have time to rest.
“Maybe the kids went in for lunch,” he said. “So we won’t get splashed this time.”
Chapter Twelve
Daniel
The kids were not gone. In fact, it was worse than the day before. The pool was completely taken over by Marco Polo.
“There are a few spots left in the hot tub,” Amelia said. “We could go there.”
Even though the hot tub was more crowded than he wanted, Daniel would rather face that any day.
