The Philocalist 〰 ♡ 〰 Volume Three

La Fiera

"be good for Katherine, yeah?" Elle requests to Max, he has a day off of school.

"I always am, mama" Max pouts. 

"I know, I know, I just-..." Elle sighs. 

"you like hugging a lot, mama" Max points out. 

"I missed you a lot, bud, I just want to get all of my hugs out" Elle murmurs.

"I didn't like spending time with Alex" Max frowns.

"well you won't have to ever again, I promise" Elle smiles, giving Max one more hug. 

"I'll send you pictures every hour" Katherine promises.

Elle stands up. "I'm really sorry, I just-..."

"you want to make sure no one takes your kids again, I get it" Katherine assures.

"you're the best, I'll see you all tonight" Elle smiles.

"you ready?" Nolan asks.

"yup, let's go" Elle nods when Nolan's phone rings.

"Hey! Mom! Actually, I'm so sorry. I'm just running out the door." Nolan says over the phone.

Elle giggles and shakes her head, knowing how Nolan's mom is.

Elle frowns when she hears talking outside of the front door. Elle opens the door and sees Nolan's mom, Evelyn, standing there.

"oh, Elle! you look gorgeous, love" Evelyn smiles, hugging Elle.

"it's lovely to see you, ma'am" Elle responds.

"when are you two getting married?" Evelyn asks.

"no, no, no, mom, she's my roommate, we're not-" Nolan starts. 

"you two should get hitched, lord knows I'm single" Evelyn sighs. 

"what happened, ma'am?" Elle asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Danny had an affair with his ex, so I dumped him." Evelyn says, opening her arms wide "I need emotional support."

"Emotional support." Nolan echoes and hugs Evelyn. "Mom, I am so sorry. He just proposed to you, though. I sent flowers. They're getting delivered today."

"Oh, that's so thoughtful of you. But I should have known this was not gonna last. I told him I wanted three carats, and apparently, I'm only worth one and a quarter. A quarter!" Evelyn explains. 

Elle sees the ring on her finger.

"Mother. You're supposed to give the ring back when you break up." Nolan sighs.

"Nonsense! It's damages. Compensation for pain and suffering. And, now, weren't you in trouble recently? 'Cause Cousin Carol sent me an article from Facebook or som-- I did not read it." Evelyn says.

"Your concern is touching. Um, it's -- Everything's okay. I am back on track. At least I think I am. But to that end, we really -- we can't be late, so we're –" Nolan looks to Elle for backup. 

"um, yeah, we should really go" Elle smiles.

"Okay, go, go, go. I'll settle myself in." Evelyn says, heading for Nolan's bedroom.

"Okay. U-Uh, actually, that's my bedroom." Nolan says.

"And I'm sure you want your mama to have it." Evelyn smiles.

Elle and Nolan head out. "that's... no fun" Elle sighs.

"poor Katherine" Nolan remarks.

"yeah, I'll double her pay for a while after today" Elle agrees.