Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
“It’s close,” Finlay says, with that same kind of small, modest smile he gave me when he first explained it to me. “I’m more of a business manager these days. Running my family’s estate. It’s a bit less feudal than it used to be out here.”
“Right,” Dad says. “And what does this have to do with Alana?”
“Rod,” Mom scolds him quietly, nudging him as she always does when she thinks he is being rude. I know my dad has a habit of being very direct – too direct, sometimes.
“No, that’s a fair question,” Finlay replies. He looks at me and smiles. “Well, we happened to meet on Alana’s first day here, and we’ve spent a lot of time together since. It seems as though fate had something of a hand in our meeting.”
“Right,” Dad grunts, still unconvinced about what is happening.
“The thing is, we did more than just meet,” I say. “Actually, we’ve grown very close in the time I’ve been here.”
“How can you be close?” Dad grumbles. “You’ve only been there a week.”
“In your position, sir, I would be skeptical, too,” Finlay responds. He takes my breath away. He recognizes the directness in my dad’s words and responds to it in kind, which is clever in some ways, in others, maybe not so much.
I’m so tense that it might backfire.
“The thing is, to cut a long story short, I’ve fallen in love with your daughter.”
Dad blinks, shocked.
“What?” he demands a moment later, as though he isn’t sure he heard him right.
“That’s right, Dad,” I jump in. “And the feeling is mutual. I’m in love with Finlay…And I’ve decided not to come home tomorrow.”
There is another tense moment.
Mom simply sits with her mouth open.
“Well,” she says, after a long pause. “He’s a very handsome man, too.”
I’ve never loved my mother as much as I do in this moment.
I know her enough to know that while she isn’t convinced about what is going on, her first instinct is to be supportive.
She knows I’m an adult now and ready to make my own decisions about my life. As much as mom might be here to advise, she will do so supportively, not try to control my decisions.
On the other hand, dad has a thunderous look on his face.
“Is this some kind of joke?” he explodes. “You thought you’d prank your old dad into having a heart attack with some random Scots guy?”
“Not at all,” I say quickly. I had a feeling the conversation might go somewhat like this, though I hadn’t really thought of any way to stop it. “It’s the truth. I know it seems fast, but we really do feel this way.”
“Fast?” Dad splutters. “You’ve been there six days, Alana! Fast doesn’t even begin to cover it! How could you possibly know anything about each other?”
“Well, we’ve spent a lot of time together,” I tell him.
I look at Finlay, trying to give him a cue. We talked about this eventuality right before the call. We have a response to this that just might calm my parents.
“It seems fast to us,” Finlay says, calm and sensible. “The depth of feelings we have for one another took us both by surprise too. We agree that there are many things we still have to learn about one another, but we’d like the chance to learn those things and see where this goes.”
“You’re going to just up-end your whole life for this?” Dad asked me.
I have to bite back a smile that I don’t think would impress dad very much. We thought of this, too. “My life right now is at the perfect point to explore this,” I tell him. “I don’t have a job waiting for me back home, and my studies are finished. Dad, if I do this now, my life won’t be ruined. Even if it turns out that we aren’t meant to be together, after all, all I have to do is fly home. I’m not taking a huge risk.”
“In fact, if anything, I’m the one taking the risk,” Finlay says. He sounds a little hesitant about introducing the point, but I insisted beforehand that he use it. It’s a good one and will convince my parents his intentions are good.
“I’m actually, well, I suppose you would say fairly wealthy. As the owner of the estate, I’m also in a pretty public position here in the community. If this goes badly, then it will reflect badly on me, and I’m also trusting Alana not to relieve me of my fortune. She could quite easily because, to be honest with you, there are not many things I wouldn’t strive to give her if she asked.”
“You’re old enough to be her father,” Dad says, brushing his comments off and offering his next complaint.
This, to me, is a good sign. It means he doesn’t have anything to argue against Finlay’s points.