Page 105 of My Infatuation with Isabella

April 02, 2027

Dana hands me a largecardboard box, then takes out the other one before closing the trunk. She drove here today. She picked me up from the office all by herself, and she seems pretty damn proud of this small achievement. Every week, she pushes herself to do one more thing independently. This started way before I came into the picture, but I’m glad I played a small role in getting her to this point.

The people who have made the biggest impact on her are the little kids we’re here to see. Dana has become so attached to them that she actually started volunteering at the shelter, coming to see them every day and helping wherever she can. These kids are the reason she forced herself to start driving on her own. I told Lorraine that I see this becoming something Dana pursues as a full-time job. I recognize all the signs because I also used to float around aimlessly without a purpose until I found that one thing I was passionate about, and I can see that same passion coming through in Dana every time we come here. Whatever journey she’s on, I’m loving every minute of it.

“Oh, Tommy’s already here,” I say as we walk past his car to the entrance of the house. “That means Damon is here, too. He wanted to see the fruits of our labor.”

“Or maybe he’s just here to take pictures to post on the website,” she argues, a hint of irritation in her voice. “Isn’t the publicity from this drive more important to him?”

“I wouldn’t saymoreimportant, but it plays a significant role.”

She rings the bell, and we wait for them to open the gate for us. “People should help because they want to help, not because there’s some ulterior motive.”

I smile. “You get so upset sometimes. It’s?”

“These children are very important to me. Some of them have been through so much. Some of them have been hurt and abused. Others have just been abandoned by their parents. They’ve been through enough without anyone exploiting them for publicity.”

A buzzing sound goes off and the gate opens for us to enter. We walk down the long pathway that leads to the house.

“I know it upsets you,” I say calmly. “But the publicity is what’s getting them the help they need.” I lift the box an inch higher to make my point. “Just look at all the stuff people donated this week.”

“You’re right.” A small shrug confirms that she is reluctant in accepting defeat. “We collected so much this week. Dylan is bringing another box later.”

This surprises me because Dylan has only come here once and since then, he has made every excuse under the sun to not come back. “I can’t believe he’s actually coming here.”

“He was very reluctant and only agreed because he has to pick you up.” She stops, placing the box on the floor before she looks at me. “So, you finally agreed to date five? When you called him yesterday, he thought it might’ve been an April fool’s joke...because it’sAprilalready. Sure took you long enough.”

There’s quite a bit of sass in her tone, but I had my reasons for making him wait three weeks. I woke up next to Dylan the morning after date four. On Christmas morning he just disappeared, so that was the first time I had ever woken up in his arms, and it was...magical, just perfect. Before he left, he told me to take some time and really think about whether I wanted to give him another chance. He said I should take as much time as I needed because this is a big decision, and he wants me to be sure. I asked him not to contact me until I had made up my mind. He agreed, then he left, and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.

I realized in the first week how much I missed him, how much I want him to be a part of my life, but I still left him hanging for another two weeks. It was childish, and he knew exactly why I did it. I made him feel every second of that three-week wait without a text or phone call and the first words out of his mouth when I called him yesterday was a sincere, heartfelt apology. And now I feel like I’m ready to put the past and all our erratic behaviors behind us. We were kids. We did stupid things. It’s time to move on, but I want some answers first.

The fact that Dana stopped to put the box down shows that she wants to discuss this before we go inside, so I set my box down too. “I didn’t agree to date five. Your brother asked me to think about it. I did...and there are a few things I want to clear up before we take this further.”

“Dylan is head over heels in love with you, so if you decide to give him another chance, just be sure because...I don’t want him to get hurt again.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I don’t want to get hurt again either. This feels like such a huge gamble because your brother has a tendency of leading my heart astray. He deceives it with hisoh, this is so magical, let’s follow the rainbows to our happily ever afterfaçade, but instead, he leads my heart into a dark alley where he robs it of all its essence and beats it to a pulp. Then he just leaves it for dead and fucks off.”

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