Aqua - Christmas in New York City (Aqua Romance Travel Series) Read Online Free PDF

door.
    “Don’t go, Cassandra.”
    “Now you’re telling me what to do?”
    “I’m asking.”
    “You’re no different than my father. Than all men.” Her fingers shook as she yanked her coat from the closet. “You all just want what you want.”
    She stepped into the front vestibule. It was cold and she wiped the window to get a better view of her father but the windows were steamed up in his car.
    “Cassandra, you can’t always fix everything.”
    She sighed.
    “He’ll change when we have children. It always happens with grandparents.”
    “I don’t want children, Harry. We won’t be better parents than ours were.”
    “Our mothers were great.”
    “It doesn’t mean we should be parents.”
    “I want a child with you.”
    “I don’t want a child with you.”
    He was shocked.  
    “Is that a problem, Harry?”
    “Stay and let’s talk about this.”
    “There’s nothing to talk about. If you want children, you should find someone else.”
    “Just like that?”  
    In that moment, she felt all the loose ends of her life drift together in one big knot. Her mother’s death. The cancer gene that ran through her family. She knew then that seeking her father’s approval was a desperate need for the girl in her to have her mother back. She wanted to tell Harry at that moment, but as much as she tried to untangle her thoughts, the knot tightened around her. She felt a pressure in her chest and instead she grew distant and simply nodded.
    “And what did you just say this afternoon when we were making the salad?”
    Casey shot him a look.
    “You talked about how wonderful your life has become now that I’m in it. That it was like a dream. And now you want to toss it all away?”
    Casey looked down toward her feet.
    “Cassandra, remember when I first found out about your gene mutation and you wanted to end it then? I couldn’t risk losing you. Not for anything.” He held both of her hands between his and kissed them. “I love you too much.”
    Casey pulled her hands away, as if she hadn’t heard the last five words. “You couldn’t risk it. It’s always about you. Tonight you couldn’t take the high road with my father. It was about you. You’re just like Roger!”
    The both looked at each other, surprised, then turned toward the window in embarrassment. Harry was the first to speak. “We’re better than this, Cassandra.”
    “Maybe we’re no different than any other couple. It always comes down to this. Some petty issue that no one can see past, then all the ugly issues come out. You blame me, I blame you.”
    “Having a child isn’t a petty issue.”
    “We’re making it that way.” She pulled out her gloves.
    “So this is how we end our twelfth day of Christmas?”
    “Don’t be melodramatic now.”
    “Don’t go, Cassandra. We have to make our own life.”
    “And forget about everyone else?”
    “No, just focus on us first.”
    She was in a frenzy. “Our life involves my family, right or wrong. You can dismiss your parents, but I won’t.”
    It was a sharp blow and he spun away from her and into the hallway. Rather than follow him, Casey buttoned up her coat to guard against the falling snow and opened the door. “Then leave, Harry.” She slammed the door shut, muttering, ‘Everyone always does’.

    CASEY DREW up her collar against the biting wind. Her father hadn’t been in the car and she walked a few blocks looking for him. When she finally decided to return to the brownstone, the bobble hat was draped over the door handle. She looked around without a sign of her father.
    When she entered the vestibule, Harry’s boots were gone. She walked to the door and called out his name but there was no answer. Inside, the dining table had been cleared and the kitchen was clean. She saw a note on the counter and crossed the floor slowly to pick it up.  

    Cassandra,  

    I went home to give you a chance to spend time with your father as you wish. We need to