Its Just You And Me

2.

Meredith and Aurora had been waiting outside for Nathan for over an hour and there was still no sign of him.

Meredith had suggested going back into the house multiple times but Aurora kept pursuing that he would be here soon.

another twenty minutes had passed and Meredith took a seat on the steps in front of the house and had gone inside to get her and Aurora a thicker coat.

"Aurora, I think your dad's going to be a little late and it's getting colder out, are you sure you don't want to go back inside? it's freezing," Meredith said as she squeezed her hands together once she had put on her gloves.

"No, Mommy. he'll be here soon," she protested as she shivered at the cold.

Meredith noticed how cold Aurora looked even though she did her best not to show it.

"Okay, we're going inside," She said as she stood up and lifted Aurora into her arms.

"No! he'll be here soon, look!" she said as she kicked her legs until Meredith put her down.

"Aurora, you can't kick me when you don't get what you want," she said while Aurora watched the car that drove past their house but drove into the neighbour's driveway.

"That's not him, babe, that's the new neighbour," Meredith told her as she grabbed Aurora's hand and squeezed it gently.

"Why isn't he here yet?" she whined as she dropped her hand from Meredith and sat herself on the steps.

"I don't know why he isn't here yet, maybe he got called into work," she picked her up again and moved to open the front door.

Meredith hated that she continuously had to make excuses for Nathan on why he wasn't showing up but she wasn't going to tell Aurora the real reason why he wasn't there. Nathan most likely forgot that he had to pick her up due to drinking, because he just didn't want to, or maybe he found someone else to spend the weekend with. but there was a very small chance that he actually was called into work considering he rarely went to work.

"Daddy says he doesn't go to work," she said while Meredith struggled with opening the door due to her gloves.

"What do you mean he doesn't go to work?" she asked as she pulled off her glove before opening the front door.

"He doesn't go to work anymore, he said he was fired," Aurora said causing Meredith to stay in her place and look at Aurora.

"Your dad was fired from his job?" she asked making sure she heard the words from her daughter's mouth correctly.

Aurora only nodded in response before she smiled and waved across.

"Who are you waving to?" Meredith asked before she took both her gloves off.

"the new neighbour, he looks nice," Meredith looked across at the house across from theirs.

There was a man unlocking the front door to the house, the new neighbour, she thought to herself before she had decided she had been outside for long enough and stepped inside, closing the door behind them.

"When do you think is Daddy going to come?" Aurora asked as she was placed down on the floor.

"I'm not sure. why don't you go warm up on the couch and I'll text him," she took off Aurora's coat and hung it up as Aurora listened and went into the living room.

Once Meredith had taken her coat she took out her phone from the pocket of her coat and messaged Nathan.

M: where are you? Aurora and I just spent the past hour and a half in the cold waiting for you and you didn't show up. she never going to believe you when you say something if you keep doing this.

she sent the message and put her phone away before she went into the living room where Aurora was sitting on the couch watching tv.

"How are you feeling?" Meredith asked as she took a seat next to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her.

"Fine," she simply replied.

"No, how do you feel about your dad not showing up?" she placed a kiss on the top of Aurora's head.

"He'll come later, I know he will," she smiled up at her.

The only thing Meredith could do was smile back at her because she didn't want her to think otherwise.

She knew what it was like to have a father leave for an amount of time and think that he'll be back soon, but the time that they leave slowly becomes bigger and bigger until you don't see them anymore.

Meredith was the same age as Aurora was now when her father left her and she always thought that one day he would come back and save her from her mother but he never did, and deep down Meredith knew that one day Nathan wouldn't show up but she didn't know how to prepare her for it.

"Are you hungry? do you want me to make you something before he comes?"

"No, I just want to watch tv," she said with her eyes glued to the tv.

"Okay, have fun," she kissed her cheek before standing up and walking into the laundry room.

After she had finished washing and drying the laundry she folded everything and put it into the laundry basket and left the room to put them away right before she heard her phone ringing.

She placed the basket on the couch before she picked up the phone from her coat pocket. when she looked at the caller ID name she saw Nathan's name.

"Hello?" she answered picking up the basket again.

"Meredith?" she heard from the other end as she started walking up the stairs.

"Well, that is who you called isn't it?" she said when she walked into Aurora's room and placed it on the bed.

"Why can't you just answer the phone like a normal person and not be a bitch?"

"Ugh! I can't believe you think you have to ask that question. I'm not happy with you because you were supposed to pick Aurora over two hours ago and she's watching tv on the couch instead of being with you, Nathan, she looks like she's going to fall asleep," she said as she looked down from the balcony.

"yeah, something came up and I'm not going to be able to make it," he said.

"Nathan, if you're not going to show up then don't show up at all. if you hate seeing her so much then don't see her at all. if you can't seem to make time for her once a week then don't at all," she said.

"Of course, I want to see her," he said but she could hear the smile on his face.

"If you don't want to spend time with her then that's your choice but don't lie to her, don't tell her you're coming to pick her up if you're not, I won't tell her just don't lie to her either," she said sitting on the edge of Aurora's bed.

"She's my daughter and I have every right to see her," he said starting to get angry.

"I'm saying you don't, I'm just saying if you don't want to then don't lie to her, don't say you're coming to pick her up if you're not, it's fine just don't lie to her," she said again.

"I planned on coming today but something came up!"

"Oh, yeah? and what came up, you got a new female boss? you went to a bar and met someone there? did something come up or did someone come up?"

"I met a woman-" she had heard enough when she got the answer she was looking for before she ended to call.

She placed her phone on the bed and started putting the folded clothes back into Aurora's dresser.