Page 87 of Love Unwritten
Her gaze falls to her feet. “Just dumb teenage stuff.”
Her lie is obvious, but I don’t call her out on it.
She looks up. “The point is that I understand your anger more than you think, which is why I know you need to start channeling your feelings into something healthy before your negative emotions consume you.”
“What if it’s too late for that?”
“Do you feel sorry for how you reacted yesterday?” Her question comes out of nowhere.
“Yes. Of course I do.”
“Then it’s not too late for you.” She pauses. “Yet.”
“What do you suggest I do?”
She shrugs. “That’s up to you to figure out.”
“Okay. What did you do?”
A smile, small but so damn beautiful, appears on her face. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Would I be asking if it was?”
“Music.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Ellie
I wake up the next day with a better understanding of my boss. In some ways, I was like Rafael. Closed off. Unbearably irritable. Silently suffering while my mom helplessly watched her only daughter take her anger and sadness out on her body.
It took therapy, a music tutor who wouldn’t give up on me, and a judge ruling in favor of my mother receiving full custody for me to finally start healing, both physically and mentally. So while I may not understand everything Rafael is going through, I know enough about anger issues to understand how everyone needs an outlet.
We just need to find his.
Spoiler alert: It’s not building sandcastles.
Rafael looks so damn sad building a pathetic excuse for a castle all by himself while sparing longing glances at his son, and I can’t help feeling sorry for him.
Nico is still keeping an uncomfortable distance from him. I tried to validate Nico’s feelings while also making it clear that Rafael wouldn’t skip out unless it was extremely important, but Nico wasn’t receptive. He is still disappointed in his dad for not joining us to see big wave surfing, and he is afraid he will ditch him for work again.
When I told Rafael that, he seemed more motivated to prove Nico wrong. So while Nico befriended a couple of other kids and volunteered to help them with their sandcastle, Rafael stayed where Nico left him.
I’ve been stuck on the same page of my book for the last ten minutes, no thanks to the lonely father sitting ten feet in front of my beach chair, looking completely lost in his head. He didn’t bother removing his shirt and going into the water like I expected once Nico left, instead choosing to linger nearby in hopes of his son returning.
“Screw this.” I toss my book on the chair and head over to him. My crochet top and pants swish in the wind, providing me with ample coverage while still keeping my skin cool.
He shields his eyes from the sun as he looks up at me. “What?”
“You look like you could use some help.” I kneel in the sand beside him and push a bucket out of the way.
“I’m fine.” He brushes grains of sand off his shirt.
“I’m not sure you’ll be saying that in a few minutes when this whole thing falls apart.” Somehow, he used both too little water on one side and too much water on the other, which will cause both sides to crumble for opposite reasons.
On cue, one tower collapses in on itself while another completely breaks in half.
Rafael unleashes a deep sigh that rattles something in my chest. “You don’t need to try to make me feel better.”