This Kiss

Chapter 53

It had been four days since Natalia had made breakfast for Olivia on the roof top of the Beacon. She had taken a step back. As hard as it was, she knew that as much as her persistence would pay off in the end, too much at once would send Olivia running. She planned on a new approach. She was going to try and reestablish a friendship with Olivia, however, she was not prepared for the events of the day to come. They would change her plans; she would need her best friend.

Rafe had come by for food and to talk with his mother. The two were in the kitchen, Rafe making himself a plate. Natalia was trying to get Rafe to move back into the farmhouse. It was empty and lonely without Olivia and Emma there, and she thought it would be good for him to already be there when she did convince Olivia to come home.

Rafe set his plate at the table and sat down. "I know Ma, but I can't come back."

"It's not pressure, I understand. I'm not pressuring you. I was just saying, you know."

"I know Ma, I mean, I really can't come back, not anymore. It's kinda what I came over here to talk to you about. I enlisted."

"Enlisted?"

"In the army, and according to the admissions officer, I leave in about two weeks."

Natalia's face fell. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. So much time had been lost with him and now he was leaving again, going to a place she couldn't visit.

"Ma, would you just eat your food, it's getting cold."

"I don't understand. Are you telling me that you're going away?"

"Ma, it's not like this just came up outta nowhere. Alright. I've been thinking about it for a while. I mean, I need some direction, some discipline, I need some focus. Alright. I mean I wanted to be a cop, that didn't work out, and with my record, the jobs out there are like the one I have now and I'm not gonna stay in the back of a hardware store the rest of my life."

"You know what your problem is, you are impatient, something will happen for you eventually."

"No, Ma, mom, that's the thing, I don't wanna wait. I want it to happen now. Why is that such a bad thing? I mean I can do it; I can come back, I can even go to school afterwards."

"When do you decide this and why didn't you talk to me about it? Who did you talk to?"

"Nobody. I'm a grown man I can do whatever I want. Okay. I made this decision on my own."

"Okay well go ahead unmake it cause you're not going." She slammed her first on the table and stood up, walking to the counter.

"Look I already signed the paperwork; I can't undo it."

"I don't care about paperwork, I'm your mother I should have to sign something. You're too young."

"Mom, I'm eighteen years old okay. Alright. I sign everything now. Not you."

"Is this about me and Olivia, because I told you I wasn't going to give her up?"

"No. Ma. This is about me, what I want. I have to do this."

"No, you don't Rafe."

"Ma..."

Natalia sat back down. "I don't think that you really understand what you're doing."

"No. Ma."

"Because you could get killed."

"Mom, I could get killed right here, being a cop in Springfield, and you were fine with that."

"That is completely different. Rafe you wanted to serve and protect, this is a small town, and it's not the same."

"Ma, I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna serve and protect, I'm just not gonna do that here."