Chapter 143 Invitation (One)

• The weeks after Taylor came back from summer camp passed in quick succession. Taylor spent most of her time with Ryan, and to her annoyance, his girlfriend, who had now become a permanent fixture of sorts in the house. The lady was almost always there, so much so that Taylor had had no choice but to grudgingly accept her, much to Ryan’s delight. Taylor still kept in touch with Emma and Alex, her friends from summer camp, and talked with them every day, both on video calls and on voice calls, and had even spoken with Emma’s mother and Dan once before. They sounded so nice.
• Ryan was thankful that she was now getting along well, at least to an extent, with Tracy, whom he actually felt a little sorry for. The poor lady was going out of her way to be nice to Taylor. Ryan knew that Tracy wanted them to work out by all means, and he wasn’t averse to the idea at all. She was a good woman, he knew this deep down, and he knew that she was not just pretending to be good. Things were going just fine, and then school resumed, and everything changed with Taylor.
• On the first day school resumed, she was sullen and withdrawn on the way home, and no matter how hard Ryan tried to get her to talk, she remained mute throughout the ride, and even for hours after they got home. She gradually loosened up, but he noticed that when it was time to go to school the next morning, she became quiet again, and the same thing that happened the previous day on their way back repeated itself. For a child who was as talkative as his daughter, this new development was very worrying. However, Taylor was a very clever child, and when she saw how her mood was affecting her father, whom she loved dearly, she tried to put on a brave front for him, but it was very clear that she was forcing it. On the fourth day after school resumed, she was crying profusely when she got in the car, and her cloth was a mess.