Page 10 of Love Unwritten
She stands to her full height. While she is taller than most women in town, she still only reaches my chin without shoes. “We were practicing his braille.”
“Surprised you could get much done with all that laughing.”
Her eyes narrow. “I’m sure humor is a foreign concept to you, but people tend to laugh when they read something funny.”
“You don’t say,” I reply with a dry voice.
Whatever she was about to say is cut off by her yawn. “That’s my cue to go to bed.” She attempts to walk past me.
Without thinking, I latch on to her elbow before she has a chance to walk around me. The warmth of her skin seeps through the thin barrier of mine, sending a wave of heat up my arm.
I want to shake her off and run from the sensation, yet my hold remains strong as I ask, “How’s it going?”
“What?” She stares at the goose bumps forming on her skin.
I release her and take a long step backward. “How is he doing with the braille practice?”
“Oh.” She shakes her head. “Good, although he unfortunately inherited his impatience from you.”
I give her a look. “Is he struggling?”
“A bit, but we’re working on it. You know, if you have some time to spare, it wouldn’t hurt to practice with him too.”
Ever-present dread makes my stomach sink until I’m drowning in negative thoughts. I’ve tried so damn hard to practice with Nico, but my son has slowly closed himself off from me over the last few months, and I can’t figure out why. Something shifted after the holiday season, and no amount of probing has helped me uncover the reason.
You could ask Ellie what she thinks. I shut that thought down. She wouldn’t understand, seeing as she and Nico have a different kind of relationship that I love and hate at the same time.
I’m jealous of the carefree, easygoing connection Ellie has with my son. While I know it’s not fair to hold their bond against her, I can’t help myself.
Ellie has what I want and crave. Nico enjoys spending all his free time with her while he pushes me away without an afterthought, making me feel useless and dejected—two emotions I’ve spent decades trying to avoid.
“Why don’t you join us for story time tomorrow?” she asks in that delicate voice of hers that threatens to slip past my defenses.
“No.” I sound like more of an asshole than usual.
“Why not?” The way she stares at me makes me feel uneasy, not because of how she does it but rather because of what she may see if she looks hard enough.
A coward who would rather hide his shame behind a lie.
“I’m not very good,” I say.
The muscles beside Ellie’s eyes soften until she is no longer glaring. “I’m by no means an expert either. Whenever I struggle with a word or sentence, I say something ridiculous instead, and it never fails to make Nico laugh.”
“Must be nice.” I can barely get my son to talk to me for more than a few minutes, but here Ellie is, making him laugh without trying.
Her icy gaze returns with a vengeance. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. I’d join you, but I already made plans for tomorrow night with Julian.”
Her nose scrunches like usual whenever I piss her off. “Since when?”
About ten seconds ago. “Today.”
“Thanks for the last-minute notice.”
“Do you have something better to do?” The question comes out all wrong.
“It’s a mystery why you have no real friends.”