Page 19 of The Casualty of Us (Philosophies of the Heart Duet #1)

Chapter Ten

My mom plays it cleverly.

From the minute she opens the red door of our two-story stone house with the black shutters in the Spring Valley area of DC, she’s nothing but warm hugs and admonishments to relax.

She practically smothers Ollie with kisses all over his face every morning with musical laughter that has me grinning as he makes little noises of disgust afterward.

He can’t fool either of us, though. We both know he loves the attention.

She has my favorite crepes catered the first morning for me as well.

Balking with horror when I tell her that the school only has pancakes and proceeding to have them delivered for me every day thereafter.

She insists we go on not one or two, but three different Christmas light tours, all bundled up in our winter wear while my dad and she get all sappy since their anniversary is right around the corner.

Leaving Ollie and me rolling our eyes back and forth with each other as they embarrass us, and we try to ignore the way security trails discreetly behind us in a way they never have before.

But all in all…it’s a good start to Christmas break.

As normal and relaxed as I could possibly imagine really.

The calm takes us all the way to Christmas Eve, when I’m wrapping the last presents in my old room with its buttery yellow walls that somehow feel too young now.

As if in the span of a single semester I’ve outgrown the place that’s always been mine and am left a little adrift anytime its pretty floral accents catch my eye.

All the books and knickknacks that are most important to me are tucked away in a dark green room a few hours away.

It’s not the room’s fault either.

It’s as beautiful as ever with its elegant design and matching white furniture but just…

not quite right. I sit on my bed and let my eyes trail across the vanity standing next to the door.

The bookshelves that are half empty beside my bed.

Trying to shake off the feeling and blowing out a breath before turning back to finish wrapping Ollie’s present.

A soft knock comes that has me calling out, “Who is it?”

“Just me, Princess.” My dad’s steady voice comes with a cracking of the door. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I fold the wrapping paper up over the edge of Ollie’s present and tape it down before looking up at him with a grin. “I already finished yours.”

He gives me an indulgent smile back, lines cutting deeply into a face that’s an older version of Ollie and dressed in his usual sweater and slacks. “What’d you get me?”

“Not telling.” I pull a face at him before quickly finishing up Ollie’s present as he walks over to sit on the side of my bed. “Ollie probably will, though.”

“About your present to me or his?”

“Both if you catch him at the right time,” I quip, setting the now finished gift to the side and looking back up to see the lines beside his eyes crinkle. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, nothing,” he sighs, happy lines fading from his face and clueing me in on that there is, in fact, something. “I just wanted to give you a heads-up that we hired you and Ollie your own security team for when you’re home over the summer.”

“What?” My brows fall in confusion. “Don’t we already have one?” I wave a hand toward my windows with a soft scoff. “Or have those guys who’ve been following us around all break just been sightseeing?”

“No, we do—they are,” he corrects before starting in what I like to call his lawyer voice. “But they’re more for the family as a whole. These ones will be specifically assigned to you and Ollie. You two will be their only priority.”

“That seems excessive.” I scowl, not liking the sound of it one bit. “I know you and Mom worry because they never caught them, but do we really need, like, individual—”

“Indulge your old man, yeah?” He gives me the same crooked grin that Ollie does. “It’ll make me worry less about my little girl if I know you’re safe and they can stay in the apartment above the garage if we ever need them to.”

“I am safe,” I argue, repeating the words inside my head a few times as well to really drive them home as his grin fades into what I think is him trying to look stern. Either way, it quickly has me sighing. “Fine, but I have conditions.”

“As mine and your mother’s daughter, I would expect nothing less.” He chuckles before gesturing at me. “Proceed.”

“One.” I hold up a hand and quickly start ticking off on my fingers. “They can’t get in the way of me being a normal person. I’m going to feel suffocated if they try to stop me from living.”

“Understandable.” He nods. “I’ll make sure they know to only step in if there’s international travel involved.”

“Funny.” I snort before pointing to my next finger. “Two, I need to have space, they don’t need to be in my room when I’m home or following me into the bathroom.”

“I give you full permission to fire them if they try to.”

I lift a brow at that, but he just smiles back as I round out number three. “And this last one might sound familiar, but it bears repeating: I need space to breathe. No locked doors or shutting me up in the name of safety.”

His face falls with a solemn look. “I know, Princess.” He reaches out, taking my hand in his. “I know that, and they do too. I’ve made that very clear. It’s just an extra precaution and really, you won’t even know they’re there unless you need them.”

I stare at him for a couple of seconds, something about it all niggling at me before giving a reluctant nod. “Okay.”

“Okay then.” He gives my hand a squeeze. “Now hurry up in here, your mom—”

“Hey, Dad,” I start suddenly, something, maybe the black present staring at me from under the tree every day makes me ask. “How did you know you liked Mom? Like when you met, how did you know that it was worth it?”

His brows pop up in surprise, another crooked grin appearing on his face a second later. “Does this have anything to do with the stray present under the tree that Ollie scowls at every time he sees it?”

“Maybe.” I purse my lips to hide a smile. “It could.”

“Well,” he sighs, looking up into the air thoughtfully. “You know the story by now. I was spending a semester abroad in France. Your mother was traveling through Europe, and we met one day while drinking wine at a café with mutual friends.”

“And?” I push.

“And.” His gaze comes back to mine with a shrug.

“She was incandescent. I’d never met anyone like her.

Who lived so freely. I was sitting there with all my carefully laid plans, and she was hopping from town to town just embracing whatever life threw at her.

” He chuckles softly. “Except when she didn’t like whatever that was, then I’m pretty sure she made the world weep. ”

My lips start to curl up at his nostalgic portrayal. “That sounds like her.”

“It is.” He nods, sappiness practically brimming.

“I told her about both my five- and ten-year plans that day, and she just…laughed, telling me that man plans and God laughs.” Another shrug leaves him.

“I just knew at that moment that there should be more people like her in the world. That she was special. And that somehow everything would be all right as long as I could have her by my side. That it was the kind of love I wanted.”

I look down as he finishes, picking up a stray piece of ribbon and running it through my fingers before peeking back up. “Thanks, Daddy.”

“Of course, Princess.” He leans in with a smile, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Anytime.”

I watch as he stands up and walks to my door before pausing, looking back over his shoulder with his hand on the doorknob. “Fair warning though, your mother has been planning her inquisition over the stray present ever since you walked through the door.”

I roll my eyes with a quiet laugh. “Of course she has.”

“Best of luck, kiddo.” He grins back, quickly stepping through the door and exiting my room.

I blow out a breath and look around the room once more, something deep pulling tight and unsettled.

That sense of offness stretching beyond the room and reaching right out to twist inside of me.

It has me quickly scooting off the bed and walking over to where I left my phone on the seat underneath the bay window that overlooks the front of our house.

I pick it up and immediately scroll through the group chat we all started at the beginning of the year to see if there’s anything new there.

Finding nothing except everyone’s most recent messages that they’ve made it home before the chat devolves into Marley and Holden’s play-by-play of the season of the Vampire Diaries they’re watching from their respective homes.

I scroll back up to the messages about making it home, seeing Marley’s picture of her house with the words send help attached to it that came first. Quickly moving past it to the one of Hayes, dimples fully on display as he grins at us while floating in a pool.

I stare at it for all of two seconds before pulling up a private message to him and quickly sending one before I can chicken out.

Hey, Dimples. You okay?

Lame. So lame, Ophelia. Out of all the words in your vocabulary, that’s the best you could piece together?

I stare at the phone for another minute or so before some bubbles start up that have my heart beating faster.

Fine. See you in the new year, Freckles.

My brows continue to fall the longer I stare at his message, everything about it adding to the offness instead of assuaging it like it was supposed to.

I purse my lips and play around with a few replies, trying to figure out what to say back before quickly realizing there’s nothing to add. He essentially shut the door on that.

I still continue to stare at the phone, though, practically willing it to give me something that it remains stubbornly silent on.

Right up until a message from Ollie comes in.

Will you please hurry up? Mom won’t let me open the eggnog until you’re here and I’m dying.