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“Why are we here?”
Armand frowned at the sound of the annoyed voice from his right. He listened carefully as the whispered voice spoke again.
“Seriously, why did he invite us here?”
“I don’t know,” The woman next to her replied. “Maybe we’re in this one, too,”
Armand blinked at the realisation. By complete accident, Armand had taken the seat next to Samantha and Harrison Malloy.
Daniel’s daughters were beautiful, of course, and clearly as strong-minded as their father. One had a pale complexion covered in freckles with straight brown hair that stopped at her collarbone. The other had warm brown skin like Armand and Alice, the only difference being a small patch of acne scars on her make-up-free skin. She wore her curled hair in a messy bun at the base of her head. Neither woman had made much effort for their father’s event and neither seemed particularly interested in being there.
Curious.
“We could just leave,” The blonde offered.
“Sam,” Harrison said with a glare. “This is the first time he’s talked to us in months, we have to stay and see what it is that he wants,”
“Or needs,”
“Or needs,”
Samantha sighed, slumping in her seat, and tucked her feet onto the chair before her. She looked around the small bookshop, taking in the cosy décor and surprising crowd that had gathered for her father’s newest release. All she knew was that it was about cybercrime, but she had no idea about anything else to do with the book.
Armand was fascinated. Today was meant to be a simple act of self-indulgence. He would visit the bookstore and see Daniel, give in to his little vice, and collect some new books for Louis as a gift, but here he was, sitting next to the two people who knew his boy best, other than himself. Armand continued to listen as Harrison checked her watch.
“You don’t think it’s to do with mum, do you?” Harrison asked suddenly.
“Why would it be about Alice?” Samantha asked, purposefully ignoring the nagging voice at the back of her head that asked the same question. “She’s been gone for two years now,” She said, pausing to squeeze Harrison’s knee sympathetically.
“I don’t know,” Harrison shrugged. “It’s the only thing I can think of. I know he paid for the funeral, but he wasn’t there, you know. Maybe it’s about that,”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t allowed to go to the funeral,”
Armand saw a flash of a memory. It was Harrison’s grandmother demanding that Daniel stay away from the funeral, calling him a no-good screw-up who wasted years of her daughter’s life. He saw another memory, someone peeking through the bars of the bannister, as Daniel dropped a check onto a side table and walked away.
“I know,” Harrison muttered, pulling her sleeves over her hands and shifting in her seat. “But – But it’s the only thing I can think of,”
Samantha, clearly the more confidant of the two, throws her arm around Harrison’s shoulder and rubs her hand over her arm.
“I’m sure it will be fine,” She said, despite not believing it herself.
Just as they finished speaking, Daniel was led into the room. He followed his agent and a member of staff, sparing a few glances to the crowd as he walked to the chair waiting for him at the front of the group. His eyes went to the back row, where Armand sat with Samantha and Harrison, and widened in surprise as he saw the two girls sitting there, looking at their father with the same surprised look.
Daniel raised his hand and waved awkwardly, a soft smile pulling at his lips, only growing wider when the two women waved back.
Very curious.