Falling for Two - A Dad's Best Friends Age Gap Forbidden Novel

34

Riley

What had gotten into me?

I didn't want to go to Shep's place to break things off, but that's how it ended.

I knew that was the only way Dad would talk to me again.

Only that way he would pick up all the broken pieces and put them back together and be able to forgive me.

After leaving Shep's house, I called Tig and told him to meet me by the park near my house.

As I arrived, he was already sitting on a bench with a bottle of water and an empty sandwich wrapper next to him.

"Shit, what happened?" he asked as he saw my face.

"We broke up." I sat down next to him, and he quickly pulled me into a hug.

"Why? Wasn't there another option?"

"No, Tig. If Dad's not happy, I don't think I can just keep seeing Shep without feeling like shit the whole time. If he's not happy, my relationship with Shep won't be happy either."

But then, whatever I chose to do didn't seem to satisfy all three of us.

"I hate seeing you like this. What if I talk to Britton?"

I shook my head and looked up at him. "He won't listen. Let's just...forget about it. It's done."

My head was all over the place.

My heart was beating fast, and for some reason, I felt some type of relief inside of me.

All because I was doing Dad a favor.

I was fixing him, and even if I was still broken inside, he was all that mattered.

I put Dad first.

"Something you wanna do today to get your mind off things? I saw there's a museum close by. Wanna go look at some art?"

Tig made me smile and I slowly nodded. "That sounds good. I haven't been there in a while."

"Perfect. Now, I gotta warn you. I know all about art. Don't mind if I tell you everything about it," he grinned.

I laughed softly and got up from the bench. "Can't wait."

*

Days passed, and I tried my best to get out of Dad's way after telling him that Shep and I were not seeing each other anymore.

Carly was home a few times throughout the week, but luckily, she was gone early in the morning because of work.

I spent most my days with Tig, but after more than a week staying with Shep, he decided to head back to the lake to enjoy the rest of his summer break with his other friends.

I insisted that he went back because I was feeling better already, and we had done just about everything that there was to do in Lewiston.

We had a great time, and I would miss him, but he promised to call every day, or at least text.

I said goodbye to him this morning, and now I was lying in my bed with my headphones on, blasting my favorite music as loud as possible to escape the world.

Staring at the ceiling and listening to the words of the songs was a good distraction.

Shep was on my mind a lot, and I wondered what he was up to.

Tig once told me that he went to the airport to fly one of his planes to clear his head, and I wished I was there with him.

That was another way to get away from everything.