Page 131 of Lilly

"I'm talking to Conner. He's been telling me all about the game." I put the phone on speaker. "Conner, my dad's here. You're on speaker."

"Hello, Mr. Kensington."

My dad smiles. "Conner, we've gone over this several times now. It's Pearce. You don't need to call me Mr. Kensington."

"Thank you again for taking me to the baseball game."

"You're very welcome. I'm glad you had a good time."

"Conner wondered if he could call you sometime to talk sports," I say.

My dad chuckles. "Certainly. Whenever you'd like."

"It's okay," Conner says, sounding nervous. "I don't want to bother you. I was just kidding."

"You weren't kidding," I say. "And you're not bothering him."

"You should really talk to Garret," my dad says. "He can talk sports for hours."

I laugh. "I told him the same thing."

"I should let you get to your dinner," Conner says. "Goodbye, Mr. Kensington. Goodbye, Lilly."

"Bye," I tell him, then end the call.

"So Conner called you?" my dad asks. "Or did you call him?"

"He called me. He couldn't wait to tell me about the game. He said it was the best day ever."

"It's a shame his father has never taken him to one before. Do you know if they do much together?"

"They don't do anything together, unless it's some charity event Mom forces them to go to."

"That's too bad. For some reason, I thought they had a better relationship. I knew Katherine paid little attention to Conner but I thought his father was more involved in his life."

"He was when he was younger, but only when he had to be, like if the nanny was sick and couldn't come over. But now, Conner can take care of himself so his dad just does his own thing."

"Connor's not that old. He still needs his father."

I shrug. "His dad's not going to change. That's just the way he is. So we're ready to eat?"

"Yes. Your mother's waiting for us."

As we leave my room, he stops me. "Have you spoken to Reed?"

"I've texted him, but not talked to him on the phone."

"Lilly, you can't keep avoiding him."

"I know." I sigh. "Can we not talk about this? I'm not ready to."

He nods. "Let's go have dinner."

As we eat, my dad and Rachel talk about some event they have to go to tomorrow. It's a luncheon and then there's something in the afternoon. I'm not really listening. My mind is on Reed and what I'm going to tell him.

My dad is right. I can't keep avoiding Reed. This past week, I've texted him that I'm too busy to talk but he's not buying my excuse. He keeps calling me, leaving messages, asking what's wrong. He wants answers and I owe him that.

I've had a week to think about this and I know that for the safety of myself and my family, I need to break up with Reed, but I just can't make myself do it. I love him, and want to be with him, so how do I do this? He can't know about the organization until he's a member, so he won't understand why I'm breaking up with him. I've considered waiting until he's part of it, but then I'd have to pretend this isn't ending and lie to him every day, and I can't do that either.

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