Where You Belong

16

"Hello?"

Derek smiled as the familiar voice filtered through the phone line. "Hi, mom."

"Derek! My favourite wayward son. I was beginning to believe you had moved to a place without phones."

Derek laughed. "Then how do you explain being able to call me every week?" He countered.

"I'm a mother, Derek. I have magical skills."

"I'm sure you do."

"So, to what do I owe this great honour?" She prompted.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes, but knew he didn't have much of a leg to stand on. He very rarely called home on his own accord. "I just wanted to call and say hi."

"You've been gone nearly six months, and suddenly you felt the urge to call and say hi?" Her tone was relatively light, but Derek could hear the undertone of disappointment.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry I've been so distant. I want to change that."

There was a long pause before his mother responded. "I'm glad to hear you say that, Derek. We all miss you."

"I'm sorry for that, too," he told her. "I miss you, too. And I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and Christmas is next week, and I don't want to be distant anymore."

"Are you...coming home for Christmas?"

Derek cringed at her hopeful tone. "No, mom, I'm sorry. I've been here less than six months; there's no way I could get off for the holidays."

"Derek, are you planning on staying out there?"

"I am," he answered quietly. None of his sisters lived more than an hour or two away from their childhood home in New York, and none of them had been further away for more than a few years for college. He could imagine the strain it was putting on his mother to have one of her children suddenly so far away, regardless of how grown up he was. "But I promise I'm going to call more. And I'll come and visit when I have a chance."

"Are you happy, Derek?"

"I'm definitely getting there. It wasn't easy to start over, but I really do think it was for the best."

"Is...Addison still out there with you?"

"She's here, but not with me."

His mother sighed heavily. "You know what I meant."

"I just wanted to clarify. We're not together, and we won't ever be again."

"Derek-"

"No, mom. We got divorced, you know that. She's working out here, too, but that's all. We don't have a relationship outside of work."

"She's sorry, Derek."

"I know she is. And I think I'm starting to forgiver her." He sighed. "But it wasn't good for a long time. It's better this way. We actually managed to sit down and talk last week without fighting, and we talked through a lot of what has happened. And we both know it's better this way."

"I just want you to be happy, Derek."

"I know, mom. And I am happy."

"But wouldn't you be happier in New York than Seattle and all that rain?"

He laughed. "The rain sucks, I'll give you that. But I like Seattle. It has ferry boats."

"So does New York, Derek," she responded in the flat, slightly exasperated voice that only a mother can perfect, as if she just couldn't bring herself to argue with her grown son over the merits of moving across the country to a new city because of something so trivial.