Red_Roses_and_Black_Dahlias_-_Macy_T

the mayor’s wife.”
Suddenly angry but not wanting to take it out on Maddox because it
wasn’t his fault, I took the box and stood up. Walking to where my bag was
laying on my bed, I stuffed it in there and zipped it close, ready to get the fuck
away from here.
“I’m sorry if I offended you. That was never my intention, Sofia.”
“It’s okay, you did not offend me. I— it’s hard talking about her, about
them.” I couldn’t meet his eyes, focusing on wrapping up instead.
“I understand. I’ll be there if you ever need to, though.” At that I looked
up, our eyes locking, but words wouldn’t come out so I only nodded.
We made our way downstairs, me holding a small bag as he carried my
and Valentina’s suitcases. As we arrived in the foyer, I couldn’t help but stop
and stare at the small pictures that were arranged on the small dresser right in
front of the door. It was the first thing you saw when you entered the house
and had several picture frames laying on top.
Some of mom and dad together, some with all of us as a family, even a
couple of only me and Valentina. In all of them we looked happy, smiling for
the camera. Mom had insisted we had family pictures to hang in our house
and dad had agreed because it looked good on paper too, especially during
campaigns, he hated pictures otherwise.
“You should probably take some of that too. For Valentina, I’m sure she’d
like to see them.”
“No.” I looked away from the frames and into Maddox’s eyes. “I don’t
want her to see pictures of them yet, she’s not ready.” He frowned so I sighed
and explained, “Valentina has anxiety, Maddox, she’s just coming around to
the idea of them being gone forever, I know seeing their pictures will just
trigger her. Hell, it’s this close to sending me into a crying fit. I’d rather just
speak of them for now, and work our way up as we go.” I bit my lip, looking
away.