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I can only groan in reply.
* * *
The next day,Roman drives me to my family’s home, where I’m sure my father is. He parks the car outside of the house before turning to me.
“You sure you don’t want me to go with you?”
I shake my head. “No, I have to talk to him alone.”
“They’ll come around,” he says firmly.
“Roman, my brother practically disowned me. My dad refuses to talk to me. And I have no idea what I’m supposed to do.”
“Tony will get over it,” Roman says, but his words don’t really carry any weight.
After we left his house yesterday, he dropped me off at home before heading back to his place. Right now, he looks exhausted. He said he was going over the contract with the Zanettis, trying to find a loophole or anything that would assist him in breaking it.
It’s all an enormous mess and I’m drowning in guilt because I can’t help but feel like this is all my fault.
“Stop looking like that. Everything will be fine.”
I give him a look, “Really? Because right now, I’m pretty sure everyone hates me.”
“I don’t,” he says, looking forward.
“I distinctly remember you saying the words,” I mutter dryly.
He sighs. “Unfortunately, I don’t possess to ability to actively hate you, Elena.”
That makes me smile. “So, what? We’re friends now?”
His gaze cuts to mine, piercingly. “You kiss all your friends?”
My eyes widen and my mouth drops open. I flounder for a way to reply to that question.
“It’s alright, trouble.” Roman chuckles. “We’ll have to have that conversation. But not now.”
My heart speeds up. “I’m going to go now,” I announce, opening the car door.
“I’ll come pick you up. Just let me know when you’re done.”
I nod and step out of the car. He’s gone in a matter of seconds. I shake my head, trying to focus on the task at hand. First things first, I need to talk to my father.
Unsurprisingly, I find him in the observatory. It’s daytime and there aren’t any stars in the sky, and yet this is the place my father comes to for comfort.
After taking a deep breath, I walk over to him. My heart clenches when I catch sight of the bottle of bourbon on the table. My dad only drinks on the rare occasion that he’s incredibly upset.
“Elena,” he says without looking at me. His eyes are fixed on the large telescope in the middle of the room. “Do you know why we named you Andromeda?”
“Because Mom liked Greek mythology and constellations.”
“Yes.” He nods. “But also because in the Greek myths, Andromeda’s one of the few women who had a happy ending. After she was rescued by Perseus, she fell in love and got married. And when she died, she was immortalized as a constellation in the sky. Your mother and I wished the same for you. We wanted you to have a long, happy life. We wanted you to get married, start a family. She wanted more than anything for you have to have a happy ending.”
My hands clench into fists. “My life’s not over yet, Daddy.”
“No,” he states, “but it’s a pretty big mess right now, isn’t it?”
Ranking the list of things a person has said that hurt me, my dad telling me that my life is a mess would be at the top.
