Confessions Conundrum Part 2

"Hi!! Nana,! grandpa. ! Good to see you.!! Happy wedding anniversary.!!"

"Oh, thanks, darling. Oh, you look so beautiful, I cannot believe you have grown up so fast. "

"Oh, You always say that all the time."

"Okay, come on in, grab a drink, and tell me everything. I hear that you have a boyfriend."

Nana instigated me already typical, Nana. "Yeah, his name is Vincent, and he's a businessman. He's the CEO of his company, he is - he was my boss. I used to work for him, and now I don't. Obviously, I finished my contract. Yeah, and remember Nana told you? that I was working on this project for such a long time, And it's finally releasing the next week in Seattle. and I'm so excited about that. We both are. "

"Oh, That's wonderful, dear. Congratulations. Now, you're your dad already told me about his partner have, and I have met her already." Nana brushed aside her silver strands and wemboth sat down at the swing set at the front porch. The others are around the barbeque grill.

"I know he didn't tell you. I scolded him so much. I thought you knew. I think it's been difficult for him to navigate all of this you know what a math head He is always thinking about numbers. And now, these things don't exactly have a logic."

"I know. I'm excited to meet her, you know, I'm happy. Dad found someone and I was just a little upset that he didn't tell me for a whole year. But I understand."

"Yeah, and she is so nice. She's really delightful, and I, and I'm sure you will like her too."

"I hope so. Little nervous but I guess that's natural. "

"And if anything is a problem, your nana is here and I can smooth things over."

"Oh yeah? thanks Nana, you're a savior."

" Okay, so tell me more."

"Oh, Nana. Do you remember Ashley, she couldn't be here but she sent me. She asked me to wish you and give you a big hug and, yes, I invited her but she got a last-minute work thing so she had to, she has to fly off to Vancouver. And guess what, she's going to get married to one of my other best friends, Xavier."

"That's nice. I, I love that. Whatever you do, I mean with Vincent," Nana inquisited further.

"Vincent and I are pretty serious, Nana. And I actually invited him here but I can't reach his call. He's a very busy man, I'm sorry, but if I get in touch with him, I'm going to ask maybe he's coming over. Maybe he's on his flight. Okay, so I will make sure that you meet him."

"That's nice. Now, you You need some protein here.. Wait a minute. Nana goes to the table and brings up the bowl of Fruit custard/cake.

"Well, is this your secret recipe?"

"Yes, with raisins, and a little bit of Almonds, and lots of cake batter mix. I love that."

"Hey Grandpa, here's your present."

"Oh, wow this is so beautiful. Cassie you are so talented. How do you do this?"

I open the wrapping paper. I had painted a landscape of grandpa and grandma's first house. It was a small cottage, but I had seen many pictures of it.

I go around and say hi to my Uncle George and his wife Daphne I think their son his practicing law in Germany. I don't remember exactly but yeah, uncle and are super overbearing sometimes people but they mean well, and they have their own small business farm business.

" Cassiopeia. This is Julia."

"Julia. This is my daughter Cassiopeia." Dad introduced me. Julia is pretty brunette in her late 30's, she is wearing a pola dot blouse and plain blue skirt.

"Hello Cassie."

"Hi. Nice to meet you. Dad told me a lot about you."

"What are you doing Dad?"

"Sorry, Julia's son. Where is he dear?"

"Oh here he is! Cassiopeia meet my son Niklaus. I look at the boy aged around 12, I guess, he is hiding behind his mom.

"You can call him Nick. Nick Say hi."

"Hi," He waves his hand a bit.

"Hi Nick!, Wow, that's a very cool bow tie. I have just the same one."

"Thanks, I-I like my bow tie. I like science and scientists, too and they all wear bow ties."

"Oh yeah, me too. Who's your favorite scientist?"

"I like Einstein. Yes, funny hair and Bill Nye"

"I also love Bill Nye I have a box collection of DVDs"

"Wow, that's cool. "

So, Julia, my dad tells me that you're school teacher."

"Yes, that's right. I teach a bunch of sixth graders. I did a couple of classes in high school. If they run out of substitutes sometimes. "

"I hated school. When I was young"

"Oh really? but Matthew told me that you've always excelled in school"

"That I did but along with that came bullying . I had one or two friends but it was always confusing." " Nick here also has a hard time adjusting, but if you give him enough time he will Warm up to you." Julia tries to smooth things but she seems nice so that's unnecessary.

" I'll get you a drink Julia "

"Thank you and I'm really glad you understand I really want to know more about you Cassiopeia. Matthew is so proud of you And I can see why And believe me, When he told me about you, I just did not believe that you can be as brilliant As he explains to everyone But he showed me some of your high school work and your papers at MIT and I've never been more impressed."

"Really? Oh, that's, that's very kind of you, but I've had good teachers, I suppose at MIT. They really look back for me there."

" I'm really glad I came. I was nervous, especially with Nick. He has a hard time adjusting, you know, but Matthew has been so warm and kind to both of us that I thought this is the least I can do to you know, join in the celebration. "

"Well, for all that I am also glad that you both came. Dad is a great guy, and I'm sure we can get to know each other better. go out for lunch sometime soon. When I get free."

"Oh, I would love that. Yes. Anytime. I would love to get to know you. "

I go back to the kitchen and make lemonade for Nick.

My heart is pounding. Those faded memories came rushing back. Like storm.

...

"Cece Come on!! You're missing the fun."

"Coming!!"

"What are you doing?"

"I am creating a puzzle. "

"Oh, I love puzzles. Let's see what you can do."

"Yeah, I'm but this is no ordinary puzzle. Obviously. You're going to have to work on every piece to get the pieces first with the clue that I've given. And once you get that you will get to complete your puzzle. Grandpa is also playing so you better watch out. "

"Well, aren't you a little genius? Well, the genius devil."

"Hey!! I learnt all of this from you remember? So you are the devil not me!"

"Fine then you are a little monster that I created. Little evil scientist."

"Little? I am 11 years old! I am a big guy"

"Okay, big guy then explain to me why you need a ladder to get books from the top of the cupboard?"

...

We were always having fun. And I never really realized that we were making memories at that time. And now I will do anything to relive those memories over and over again. How can I move past that? How can dad replace those memories like that? He's doing fine, but I don't think I'm doing fine. For God's sake, Julia has her own kid. I never thought of that equation. I don't like that equation. yet. And I could already see the little boy looking at Dad as a father figure. I never thought I was going to share my dad. Again. Like this. And I feel strangely jealous and possessive. Wow. Now I know exactly how Vincent feels about me. Speaking of him, why is he not picking up my phone? Something's wrong. I tried to call him

Hello ?. Vincent.

"Hi, Cassie. I'm sorry, I cannot visit you this weekend. I have to miss out. I need to fly to New York. Because of the negotiations, there have been some hiccups and I might have to postpone I'll call you later."

"Okay babe. Take care Love-"

"-I have to go now. Bye."

He cuts my call abruptly.

What just happened? Did he just blow me off? . Something's wrong. Maybe it's the deal that's troubling him but that's not him. What is it? Well, I cannot force him to come here. To Duxbury shit. I have to explain every one. Especially dad that Vincent is not coming.

"Here you go. "

"Thank you." Nick eagerly finishes his lemonade and shoves a cookie into his mouth.

"So Nick. what is your hobby?"

"I like to paint actually."

"Oh, yeah, me too. And do you like to paint outdoors?"

"Yeah, I like painting my garden. In our house. But mom is so busy that we don't go anywhere.I mean, we moved in. Last year. I don't have a lot of friends."

"you know what? I never had a lot of friends. I just have one or two friends. But what matters is that the friends that you make should be nice. And they should stick by you. Like glue. "

"You're funny."

"Oh, thanks. I'm glad I am. So what else do you like to do?"

"I like to skateboard. I Oh, I like to read comic books very much."

"We have a good collection of comic books by the way. In my house, maybe it's stored somewhere in the garage. I used to read some of it when I was younger, but if you want I can give them to you."

"Really? Do you have Spider-Man?"

"I do have amazing Spider-Man collection.My favorite was Spider-Man and Captain America. But I also like Iron Man. So you know, I get some of it. "

"Whoa, that's cool. I just read some of it on the internet, but I still try to buy one. But my pocket allowance is quite small."

" So what's your favorite subject?"

"Oh, definitely science. I like to do stuff in the lab. In fact, my whole career is to work in labs. I'm going to be a scientist."

" Wow, that is cool. Do you have those laser guns?"

"I don't think we have laser guns. We do have lasers beams."

"Whoa, cool. Like Darth Vader and stuff. I love that."

"Kind of. Yeah, we're like Star Wars, I guess"

I don't know why. But I always find it easier to talk to kids than adults.

"So Cassiopeia, I hear that you're going back to Seattle? The Tuesday?" Julia asks me as we sit around the table.

"Yeah, I have to. I have a product launch next week. So I have to go a little earlier to prepare for it. We have it the next Friday. So I have to be back for that."

"Yes. Matthew told me so much about that. You're really brilliant. It's amazing. I wish you all the best for that. I'm sure it's going to be just sensational."

"I hope so too. I hope that we've put a lot of effort into the project and I hope we get a successful launch and soon everyone can get access it. "

"Your idea was so unique to help with the disabled lady and install such software in phones, I mean, now that we have got to the phones, I have a couple of hearing impaired kids and this software can help them with their online learning and lessons and communications. I'm just mumbling."

"No, I'm interested. What do you have to say?"

We get on to talking and turns out Julia is not so bad. And I hate the fact that she's nice. She's kind of young. But she's also weirdly funny and optimistic. Something that our household definitely needs especially dad, who's a logic head. But he was acting like a goofball the whole day.

We then cut the cake for grandma and grandfather. We celebrated, we danced and sing some songs in crappy voices. I played the piano, the other sang songs. Nana and grandpa asked Julia a lot of questions and she was happy to answer and every one seemed to get along just fine. And the butt of the joke of everyone was Dad and his embarrassing school year pictures which was fun to watch.

In the evening, we went to the beach and lit some fireworks and enjoyed the breeze.

I have to say it was a day to remember. Too bad Vincent was not here with me. I did miss him. Watching, dad and Julia. I can see that dad loves Julia. And she also loves him and I don't want Dad to wait around any more. So I pull him to the corner, After Julia leaves.

"Dad, I think you should propose to her soon. I like her. And I think you should go ahead.,propose as fast as possible. You deserve to be together. I can see that she is nice. And you know I'm very perceptive."

"that you are Thank you, sweetheart. You Don't know how much it means to me to have you on board. But it doesn't change the fact that I still love your mother. I always have and I always will you know she will always be a part of me. No matter what. And that is not going to change. And thank you so much for understanding. You make me so proud."

"Me too, dad. You deserve all the happiness You should have given me a heads up about Nick, though. I mean, at first, I felt like you were replacing him.. I know I shouldn't think like that. But I did. I'm sorry. But watching Nick was a little painful. But I'll get over it dad. Don't worry."

"Hey, sweetie I'm so sorry. I have been so insensitive to you. It's totally natural to feel that way. I get it. No, it was actually Nick who brought me to Julia. he started visiting my house and asking me all these questions. He asked me to help with his homework at first. He hated maths, but I started to help him with his homework and then he told his mom about me. And then me and Julia got to talking and we just hit it off. Nick is a sweet boy. And no, I cannot replace him. Nick is just another part of our family now. Right? I'm sure you want that too."

"I want that too dad. Nick is very sweet, Indeed. So have you picked out a ring yet?"

"No, I was going to ask you for your help." He sighed and relaxed against the lounge chair.

"You know what that I think I have a good design in my head. Let's go to Tiffany's tomorrow. And let's get you a ring and talk you through your proposal because you suck at talking and you get super nervous. You will just beat around the bush and you should be direct and straightforward. And kind of romantic as well."

"Okay, you are the boss."

The rest of the day went and planning. We stayed back in Duxbury and the wound is starting to heal. I have a good feeling about this. But I'm also anxious about Vincent. I don't know what is wrong.

Dad asked me about him but I just said that he was busy with the negotiations. But if I know Vincent, I think he's keeping something from me. I just don't know what that is yet.