Safe & Sound

22

"Cyfrin," Amena called, looking for him through the house.

"In my bedroom," he responded.

She found him in his closet putting away some laundry. She plopped onto his bed.

"What's up?" he asked, eyeing the bag in her hand.

"Emma brought this over when she came for lunch. I had completely forgotten that I had picked something up for you at one of the shops when we went on our trip."

She offered him the small gift bag, and he took a seat on the bed next to her.

He shook the bag curiously, giving her a cute smile that made her heart flip.

He pulled out the tissue paper, revealing the dark green baseball cap with a leather emblem that had mountains engraved on it. The back was mesh so it was breathable.

"Wow," he said. "This is pretty amazing. Thank you."

He pulled the tag off, placing it on his head.

"How does it look?"

"Good," she confirmed, unable to control the smile that always seemed to be around when Cyfrin was.

"Thank you for thinking of me," he whispered, reaching for a hug. She snuggled into his tight embrace.

"We should talk about next week," Cyfrin said, pressing his lips to her forehead before releasing her.

Amena sighed. "It's not going to be easy, but I'll be okay."

He had to go away on business for a few days with James, and it just so happened to be a major project deadline for Emma who was usually very flexible with her work. That meant Amena was pretty much going to be alone for the first time in a very long time.

"Are you sure you don't want to go with us?" He cupped her cheek, trailing his thumb along her skin.

"I have a few projects I'm wrapping up, so I can't."

Cyfrin leaned down, his nose brushing against hers and he hummed. "You're quite the busy lady now."

Amena pushed his hat out of the way so she could kiss him properly.

"I know you'll be fine, but I don't know if I will be," he said, giving an uncharacteristic pout.

She giggled. "I'll call every day."

"At least twice," he said, and she nodded. 

He pressed his lips back to hers before standing up. She followed him into his closet, taking a seat on the floor.

She took a few of the clothes from the laundry basket to help him fold and he told her all about this big presentation he had to give at the conference he was traveling to.

"Do you get nervous?" she asked curiously, handing him a neat stack of t-shirts.

Cyfrin shrugged. "For the presentation, yes. It's a bigger audience than I typically have, but normally I am okay."

He offered her his hand, helping her up off the floor.

"How about some dinner, baby?"

It wasn't until after they shared a meal that Cyfrin told her some unfortunate news.

"Your father has worked off his debt," he said, picking up her hand.

Amena tensed, squeezing his fingers. "Already?"

He nodded. "He had signed away his house and some other property in addition to what he paid us when working. He last shift for us on Monday. We always offer for them to stay employed with us until another job becomes available, but apparently he denied."

She glanced down at her bowl. It was weird. She was an entirely new person now, and she had worked so hard to move on from her painful past.

"Did you ever see him?" she asked curiously.

"Definitely not," Cyfrin said. "For his sake, I hope we never cross paths."

"He used to hit me," she whispered.

Cyfrin ran his thumb along the back of her hand. "I know."

"I just thought it was the way things were supposed to be," she admitted. "Until you showed me differently."

"He will never hurt you again, Amena," he said. "I will make sure of it."

Amena nodded. She knew her dad couldn't hurt her anymore. She was finally safe and happy. Most importantly, she was loved.