Chance on You (Pub 4)

15 - Lonely

The silence in the house reminded Leo of the thousand long nights he spent by himself. He missed Autumn and lived with so much regret. Riley's melt down had put him in a melancholy mood.

Like telepathy, his phone rang. His smiled at his mother's face. "Hi Mom."

"Hi. How's my son?"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"You don't sound convincing. How are the kids?"

"Good. They're shopping with my friend and the nanny."

Based on the emails from his bank about charges, they had been successful.

"A friend?"

"Not that kind. Lilli from work. They're shopping for Easter."

"Easter is why I'm calling. We thought we would come for a visit."

He shuffled things in his head. "Our new nanny lives here."

"That's different."

"It just works out better. I suppose I could put you in my room."

"We don't want to put you out, but we miss all of you."

"I know, Mom. You're welcome to come. We miss you too."

Maggie Nelson said, "Tell me, what's new?"

"Nothing other than a new nanny."

"What happened to the last one?" His mother found the stories comical.

He had to think for a moment. "A dirty floor."

"She quit over a dirty floor?"

"No. She made Riley clean it. She used dish soap. It was very slippery." But Isla fixed it.

"So live in?" He knew she needed a better explanation.

"I'm trying to work out a movie deal, so I may need to travel. Meanwhile Isla needed a new place."

"If you travel in the summer, you could take Riley and Cody."

"Mom, it's not a good idea. Remember why I moved."

"Not a good idea for you or for them?"

Leo felt pain behind his eyes. "Both. Some days I wake up and think every decision I made was wrong."

Maggie let out a long sigh. "Your number one priority needs to be those children."

"Did I have to divorce her?"

"You bowed out. You could have fought, but it would have been messy."

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I've been taking the kids to church."

"That's wonderful."

"Is my opinion wrong? If I had acted as her husband would it have been a sin?"

"When have you worried about sinning? When you lived with Autumn?"

Not for his two date nights. "Mom. I'm serious."

"Leo, do you think I wasn't when I supported you three years ago. Stopping extraordinary means is not a sin. If you ask me, keeping her alive in the name of religion is."

He felt the anger bubble up. Intense sorrow and anger were a terrible mixture. His was about his wife's persistent vegetative state and her mother's refusal to let her have peace. She threatened to fight him to keep her daughter on the ventilator. Because of the injury to her brain stem, she would never breathe on her own.

Riley knew her mother was sleeping, but even at eleven she didn't understand. Right after the accident, his daughter was afraid if she slept she wouldn't wake up.