Taylor Everlasting

19

"I have no intention of going. I told him that yesterday when he stopped by."

"Ok. I'll let him know." Zac said almost defeated.

"what was that? You think I should?" she asked

"Babe. No. I think you should do whatever feels best for you. It just feels weird being the go between with you and Pops. Yall ain't ever been like this."

"Zac I'm Tired, I wanna go to bed and not deal with this."

"No. see. Don't do that. You beefing with him not me."

"Correction, I'm not beefing with anyone. I'm just tired. Your son had me going all afternoon and I am beat."

"Ok. Fatima." Zac said not believing her one bit but also not trying to make it into something bigger. Veronica died four days after Fatima visited her in the hospital for the first time. She returned the next day secretly to visit her one last time. It was a quick visit. Although her mother could see and hear her, she could barely communicate back and that worked for Fatima. She didn't want to hear anything she had to say. Instead, she thanked her for everything she'd done for her by not being there for her when she needed it most. It taught her early on to never really expect much from people and to always show up for herself. She thanked her for ruining her father because it opened her eyes to a new kind of pain. One that she would never invoke on Zac again (although they were divorced when she dated rich). She thanked her for showing how not to love her child, because Zane would only ever know the opposite and finally, she thanked her for leaving the earth silently so Fatima could finally have peace knowing that people would understand her having no relationship with her mother because she was dead over not having one because her mother never truly loved her in the first place. In Fatima's eyes. She said everything she needed to say so there was no reason to go to a funeral to celebrate the life of a person that never celebrated her. A few days later Fatima met with her doctor and the results of her exam gave her a bright spot knowing that she did not inherit the heart disease from her mother.

"You need anything before I head upstairs?" She asked him.

"yea. Lose that attitude."

"Goodnight Zac."

Zac shook his head and went back to scrolling on his phone. Truthfully, Zac didn't think Fatima should go to the service but he wanted her to make the decision on her own just like she made him do for his brother's service. But her short temper and attitude lately had really been trying his patience. Whenever he tried to talk to her about it, she would flip it and make it seem as though he was bugging but he knew better. He was trying his best to keep the kids out of her way and making sure to help out more around the house because he knew she was probably going through a rough time even though she wouldn't admit it. He'd even thought about asking her to take a pregnancy test just to be sure because the mood swings were unpredictable. Thankfully, they'd already been through worse. Either way, Zac was hoping that their trip to Aruba would brighten her mood but even that was being messed up with Veronica's passing. They were originally scheduled to leave the Monday after she died, but being that Charles was their caretaker and his attention was needed elsewhere, they moved their departure back to the day after the service.

***

Fatima rolled over to find herself alone in bed with the sun peeking through the curtains. She squinted at her phone trying to check the time until she realized she never put it on the charger the night before. She called to Alexa for answers as she brought herself to the sitting position stretching her arms to the ceiling until she heard the time. Zac had taken the kids to school and no one had bothered to wake her. Fatima plugged her phone into the charger and went to brush her teeth and start her morning. She spent an hour in the bathroom getting ready and Zac still had not returned home. She decided to call him as she prepared herself a cup of coffee to find out what was up but before she could Rich was calling her.