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with the Phillip ordeal. I wanted to tell her the truth that I wasn’t doing that great, but I felt that it wasn’t the right time. She just got married and I had already caused problems, so I blew off her question, instead choosing to lift her hand, whistling through my teeth as I glanced at her ring. A large marquis diamond, five carats at least, sat upon a silver setting, tiny diamonds surrounding it.
    “That’s a rock.”
    “I know, isn’t it beautiful? David had it personally made for me, there’s not another one like it.”
    “It is very beautiful.”
    After admiring her ring, we ate dinner and sat around talking about their trip to Vegas. I couldn’t help but think about Callie’s words, ‘life is too short.’ For the last three months, I had lived in a bubble, feeling sorry for myself because of what happened. Life was short and I needed to start living it, and the only way I could do that was to move on past Phillip.
    As Chain and I drove back to my house, I called my father up and informed him I would be returning to work first thing in the morning.
    ***
    To say I was behind at work was an understatement. I had been off for only three months and couldn’t believe the mounds of paperwork on my desk. It made me rethink my decision to return—maybe I should have taken a little more time off—but then again if I did that I would only be more behind. I couldn’t win for losing if my life depended on it.
    I was rummaging through a stack of paperwork when my father walked into the office. He sat down on the chair in front of my desk and I placed the paperwork down, giving him my full attention.
    “So how are you doing?” he queried.
    I smiled. “I’m fine, Daddy, just trying to catch up, that’s all.”
    “The therapist helping you?”
    “Yeah, she helps me a lot.”
    He leaned back on the chair, folding his hands. “So now that things are beginning to settle down, are you going to come to dinner tonight with that new boyfriend of yours? What’s his name, Shane?”
    I let out a laugh. “Chain, Daddy, his name is Chain. I don’t really know if he is up to it. With everything that has happened, I really don’t want to pressure him into meeting my parents.” Chain was going through enough having to deal with me and my mound of problems with the Phillip ordeal; the last thing I wanted to do was add parents onto the heap.
    He shrugged. “Your mother really wants to meet this boy.” I knew my parents were anxious to meet Chain, but I wasn’t too sure how Chain would feel about meeting them. “The family dinners are not the same without you, honey,” my father continued. I knew I had been failing as a daughter lately and I felt bad about that. The family dinners were very important to my parents, it was a way of having all of their children together in one place, something they enjoyed tremendously.
    I leaned forward slightly. “Let me talk to Chain first, Daddy, and I’ll let you know.”
    He stood up and walked around my desk, bending over and kissing me on the cheek. “I hope you can come, it will make your mother very happy.”
    He mussed my hair a little with his hand as he stood straight up. “Love you, little girl.”
    “Love you too, Daddy.” He smiled then strolled out of my office. I sat thinking about dinner, about Chain. It had been three months since we had become a couple and still he had not met my parents. It wasn’t like he didn’t have plenty of opportunities, but he chose to avoid them instead. This was definitely a strange turnaround. I remember the morning I had been released from jail and avoided Chain meeting my father. He was seriously hurt, stating that he felt I only used him for sex, and now that he had the perfect opportunity to meet them, he acted like they were a plague getting ready to infect him! Men! I was positive the death of his mother and sister contributed to this greatly and being estranged from his father probably didn’t help any either. I still