Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“Am I free to wander the shops and the rest of the city?” I was curious whether I was on house arrest or anything.
“Dude….” The man I hadn’t been properly introduced to laughed, causing me to turn and stare at him. “We aren’t holding you hostage. You can do whatever you want. We will check in on you tomorrow to make sure you’re okay and then next week. After that, it will be once a month just to make sure you’re alive.”
David nodded in agreement with the man as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Unless you need us, of course. I left a paper on the counter with our numbers on it in case you need to get in touch with us.”
“Thanks.”
Silence filled the space between us, and as it did, they turned towards the doorway. “Well, we will leave you to it.”
As soon as they were gone, I glanced around the small apartment, and let a heavy breath escape me. This was going to be my life for the future, and I wasn’t pleased with it, but I didn’t really have a choice.
Pulling my suitcase and duffle bag up, I walked towards the bedroom and sat them down upon the bed. My fingers fiddled over the zipper of my suitcase as I pushed myself forward and opened it to reveal the contents.
Some of the items included small things from my past life.
Family heirlooms… my ring.
My casket had been closed, of course, so people didn’t know I wasn’t inside it, and because they didn’t… I was able to get some of my things from the house.
It was one thing Greg did for me that I was grateful for. I had been allowed one last trip to my house where I took a few photos, some things from my office, and a few personal possessions.
Within those possessions was a photo of Becca and I that we took in the Bahamas. My fingers brushed over the photo, and as they did, I felt something new within me. A drive that pushed me to wanting to get back to her.
Even though I knew that I couldn’t… I had to know she was okay.
Laying the photo back down I turned towards the backpack I had carried on the plane with me and pulled out the brown envelope full of money and other documents. I couldn’t be in this apartment right now, so taking some of the money, I shoved it into my wallet then stashed the envelope into a hiding place within the room for safe keeping.
I didn’t know these parts, and I didn’t know these people.
The last thing I needed was to get robbed by someone desperate for a quick buck.
Fifteen minutes later, I found myself wandering the shopping center near the apartment. Everyone around these parts was foreign to me, and if I thought about it long enough, I remembered that I was actually foreign to them.
“Excuse me, do you speak english?” I asked one woman who smiled at me and nodded.
“Yes.”
“Perfect. Can you tell me where I can find an electronics store?” I asked, watching her brows furrow.
“You go up the street and take a left. Do you want some food? You are very skinny.”
The womans’ comment made me smirk, and not wanting to offend her, I nodded. “Sure.”
She didn’t hesitate to grab a container with noodles in it, and a pair of chopsticks, to which I quickly paid her, watching as she bowed her head.
I turned and walked off. The food was surprisingly delicious, and as I made my way up the street like she told me, I smiled.
No matter how much I had been dreading the way I was going to have to be living, this place wasn’t actually that bad. At least, from what I could see. For the time being, it was possible to make this place somewhat of a home, at least until I figured out what I was going to do.
As the store I was searching for came into sight, I discarded my food container and stepped inside. The dim yellow lighting of the store flickered, and behind the towering boxes of random electronics, I found an older graying man wearing black glasses.
His eyes raised slowly to meet mine, and as they did, he frowned. “What do you want?”
“I have a list of things,” I replied pulling the handwritten list I’d made from my pocket sliding it across the counter. I couldn’t be sure if someone was listening to me, and because of this, I didn’t want anyone to know what I was doing.
“This last one is expensive.”
“I figured it would be,” I replied, pulling out some cash and handing it to the man. “I can pay you, though.”
With slight hesitation, the man flipped through the money and looked up at me nodding. “Okay, give me a moment, and I will get it for you.”
I didn’t care if the man took a year to get me the things as long as I got them. They were going to be crucial for what I was looking to do, and if I wasn’t careful, it could ruin everything for me here.
However, that was a risk I was willing to take.
.
Becca.
After tons of planning and purchasing tickets, I found myself standing in the bedroom packing my suitcases, going through everything that I was going to need while we were away in New Zealand.
Initially, when I told Neal and Allegra about what I wanted to do, I was almost certain that they would disagree. Yet again, they surprised me, as they always did, and agreed that the trip would be a wonderful idea.
Of course, considering the fact that the doctor had cleared me for travel, that is.
Slowly going through all the clothing I had placed on top of the bed, I packed it into the suitcase with careful precision and then proceeded to grab all of my toiletries that were in their individual bags and place them in as well.
It wasn’t until I had placed some documents that I needed just in case something were to happen over there that the small letter that Mr. Shavers had given me that had been left by James fell out onto the floor.
With how hectic everything had been over the past weeks, I had completely forgotten about the letter, having shoved it away after meeting Mr. Shavers because reading something from him then had been too painful. I had forced myself to put it out of my mind.
Slowly bending down, I picked up the white envelope that had my name perfectly written on the front of it. My fingers brushed over the smooth curves of the letters that James had written. There was an ache in my chest that grew. As it did, I took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to push myself through it.
Every part of me wanted to open the letter and read it right then and there, but I couldn’t. Not yet. If I were to do that, then I would never finish accomplishing anything that I had to do today before the plane was to leave.
Not to mention it still hurt too much, and I was afraid of what the letter said. I was afraid that what was entailed in it would completely rip me open again, and I would never be able to make it through.
I turned back to my suitcase, placing the letter inside, and as I did, a soft knock at my open bedroom door sounded, causing me to look over my shoulder to spot Allegra, with her hands clasped in front of her, smiling at me.
“Have you still not opened that letter?” she asked with a curious glance as her eyes darted to the envelope and then back to mine.
“Uh, no. I just don’t have it in me to read it right now. Did you read yours?”
She nodded her head slowly as she stepped forward, picking up the blouse that I had carefully laid over the edge of the bed and folding it to help me put it in the suitcase.
“I actually read it the same day we received it, and I believe Neal has read his. It was sweet and touching, what he wrote, but I think that you should read yours.” Her soft words were comforting, and knowing that what he wrote to her was sweet, and yet, of course, also personally made me curious to know what he had said.
It was no secret that Allegra and James had a strained relationship, even though they were friends and had participated in many things together. She was very quick to put him in his place when he had messed up, which she had done on multiple occasions on my account.
“Do you mind me asking what it said?” I hesitated, watching a smirk cross her lips as she shrugged her shoulders.
“Sentimental, you know, just the same old James kind of stuff. He told me not to mess up anything, to find someone that made me happy, to cherish every moment I spent with you, and to look out for you for eternity. Or he would come back to haunt me.”
My mouth dropped open as my lips parted. My eyes went wide. “He did not say that…”