Page 60 of Fierce-Ivan

“Please tell me you aren’t going to say you see his side of things or that I’m imagining this. Because once I got my license, he packed up and said, now that there was someone else in the house that could drive, he didn’t feel the need to stay.”

She’d never forget that day. It was branded in her head like a horrible tattoo that no amount of laser work would ever get rid of.

The scar would be there even if the ink wasn’t. That was how she saw it.

“No, I wasn’t going to agree with anything he said or did. I was only asking a question and you answered it. I’m so sorry for you both.”

“Don’t be,” she said. “It was a long time ago. He lives in Charlotte, but we don’t talk. I’ll never forgive what he did to my mother. I get it. They didn’t have the best of marriages, but I didn’t think it was horrible. Looking back, they didn’t do a lot together. He had his friends and she had hers, but we spent holidays together. We laughed and had a good time. I have good memories too.”

“It all changed when your mother started to lose her sight?” he asked.

“Yes. He said it wasn’t that bad. She was making it up. He made her feel like it was nothing and she was trying to deal with the loss of a major sense in her life. A freedom she’d never get back. Joys she’d never experience again. She had to slowly remember things that one day she’d never see.”

“I can’t imagine,” he said.

“That’s right. No one can. My father didn’t get it. He said she was dramatic. So add that life-altering event and then their marriage started to crack. I got my license and it shattered. As I said, luckily she was able to keep her job, but there were times we had no clue how that would work.”

Ivan was eating and shaking his head. “Sorry I brought it up.”

“Don’t be. We got through. We’re in a good place now.”

“Remember that,” he said. “Your mother is tough. So are you.”

Sometimes she did need the reminder. That her mother was the one living this.

Her mother’s world changed along with Kendra’s.

But as her mother had said so often, Kendra had her whole life in front of her.

One her mother had been reminding her of lately too.

She looked up at Ivan, he caught her eyes on his, looked back and smiled.

“We are tough,” she said.

“I bet you were before your father did what he did too. You just didn’t realize it.”

She wasn’t so sure of that. “I don’t know. Could be. I don’t think of it often. I just know that what he did was unforgivable. You don’t leave those you love. Not like he did. Not so cruelly. I get it, not everyone has the strength or mental ability to care for another person, but then you make sure they are cared for. And not by a kid. Not a kid still in school that should have someone else taking care of them.”

That might be the crux of it for her. That she was sixteen. Almost seventeen.

She never shied away from doing what was right.

She wouldn’t now either.

“You’re a great person, Kendra. I’m honored to know you and more so to have you as my girlfriend.”

She felt her eyes start to well up with tears. “That might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

Her heart was racing. She knew she was slowly falling in love with Ivan, but she had to keep it to herself.

She’d been hurt too much in her life and she wasn’t ready to open herself up for more.

20

Out In The Open

The following week, Ivan got out of work a few hours early and went to see his cousin Ella. He had to meet with her to go over a few more things that she’d asked him to look into.