Chapter 0236

Daniel stares at me, then, his whole face going red as he clenches his teeth. I freeze in my surprise, my eyes going wide. Never-

ever have I seen Daniel lose his temper like this. He’s usually so even controlled, in his own way, like his dad. But as he glares at

me, shaking his head a little bit, his hands splayed wide and tense on the table. I can see that he’s about to burst.

I open my mouth, desperate to say something, to break the tension, looking around a little frantically, wnen I suddenly see Kent

striding over to us.

Daniel looks up at his father, transferring his rage to him now, but Kent just looks evenly down at his son. Not angry, not

responding to his son’s temper, just perfectly calm.

“Get it together, Daniel,” Kent says, his tone unwavering but also not unkind. “Don’t air your dirty laundry at the breakfast table.”

And, to my shock, it works. I watch Daniel reel himself back in, almost physically, tucking his emotions away somewhere deep

inside of myself, his face turning back to its normal color and becoming again passive. And while I’m glad that he’s not going to

flip out on me, the therapist within me wails, a little, to see how practiced Daniel is at tucking those emotions away.

Because it looks like it’s something he does on the daily. And one

Chapter 236

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day, all of those emotions are going to come out. I reach forward, then, taking his hand, looking at him with a great deal of

empathy in my eyes. And Daniel leans back in his chair, staring down at himself, looking...just, so defeated.

“Good,” Kent says, patting him on the shoulder and turning back to the galley. “I'll get you two some breakfast.” And then he

walks away.

“Daniel,” I begin, as soon as he’s out of carshot. “I never meant to —”

“But you did, Fay,” Daniel says, looking up at me, and my heart breaks to see that his eyes are lined with tears. “Like everyone

else — you took his side.”

“I'm still on your side,” I try to assure him, shaking my head earnestly. “I can do both —”

“No,” he sighs, slipping his hand from beneath mine. “You can’t. Because his side is not my side.”

I sigh, nodding, wanting to listen rather than correct. But Daniel doesn’t say anything else, just stares down at himself while we

wait in silence for Kent to bring our food. When Kent does bring our food, I smile up at him, eager to break the tension at the

table, but he just looks impassively at us as he slides the plates onto the table.

“All right?” he asks, slipping his hands into his pockets and looking between us.

Daniel just nods, not moving or saying anything otherwise, and I nod too, still looking up at Kent.

“Okay then,” Kent says, turning swiftly away from us. I blink at him a little in shock and then call his name out after him. Kent

pauses

for a second and then comes back to stand at the table, looking down at me, his face blank.

“Um,” I say, suddenly awkward under his stare. Where was the man I was laughing with this morning? Who held me tight in his

arms all night? “What am I supposed to do today?”

“What?” he asks, apparently confused.

“You sent this dress,” I say, gesturing towards it. “I mean if you don’t have anything planned, you usually send riding clothes so I

can go to the stables. So, am I going somewhere today...?”