I don't know

6

Lucia sat there, sipping her coffee slowly as Dilys - Tom's sister -  was crying ridiculously loud in the middle of Starbucks.

She was never fond of Tom's sister, and when Ally and Anthony told Lucia to go out, she had imagined something more peaceful than hanging out with her sister-in-law. But unfortunately for her, she had run into Dilys at the mall, who was getting her nails done. Anthony had made sure to send his aunt an invitation to Tom's funeral, but Dilys had claimed she couldn't make it due to prior commitments. And when she had run into Lucia, she had insisted on buying her a cup of coffee and when she had she started talking about how upset she was to have missed the funeral of such a good man, that's where the waterworks began.

Dilys had been sobbing for the past 10 minutes or so and had caught many onlookers. Lucia just awkwardly stood there trying to comfort her, which was clearly an impossible feat.

'Oh god, I feel so bad, Lucia. Here, I am sobbing about my brother when you lost your husband.' Dilys commented, blowing her nose into her flowery handkerchief. Lucia re adjusted herself in the chair and leaned back.

'It's not your fault. And he was your brother longer than he was my husband.' Lucia replied, finishing off the last of her drink. She was devastated after Tom died, and she didn't talk to anyone for the first day or so. But she knew she couldn't leave Anthony to deal with Archie and Austin. It wasn't fair on him.

'It's just he was such a good brother.' She said before bursting into sobs all over again. Lucia patted her shoulder, reassuringly.

'I know he was Dilys. He was a good husband and father.' Said Lucia beginning to tear up herself. No, she told herself sternly, absolutely not. She was not breaking apart in a coffee shop.

Dilys nodded and wiped the last of her tears. 'Well, I must get going. I'll pop by the house later on.'

Lucia nodded as she watched Dilys get up and leave. Then it dawned on her. The house. The house Tom had bought after they had gotten married. The house Anthony, Archie, and Austin had grown up in. Most importantly, the house that contained memories of Tom.

She sighed as she laid back in her seat and closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax and let her muscles calm down. Why did she have to be punished like this? Why couldn't she have died first? She couldn't stay with Anthony any longer. She was invading his life. Anthony had been stubborn and told her that she wasn't going anywhere until everything had fallen in place.

Crap life, Lucia thought a she grabbed her bag and walked out of the shop. She was going to go home tonight whether Anthony wanted to or not. Anthony James might be stubborn, but that was a trait he had received from his mother.

~~~

Ally put her hair up as she groaned in frustration. She wanted to go back in time and kick her past self for choosing to be a lawyer. She had a hearing in 20 minutes, and it was a case she was sure going to lose; her client didn't make the best points.

There was a knock on the door.
'Come in,' Ally replied, without looking up and rummaging through her files and drawers.

'Hey Allison,' Anthony said as he walked into her office, small smile on his face. Ally looked up and returned the smile.

'What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?' She asked as Anthony took a seat in front of her.

'Shaine told me to take a break and not come in for the next week. I was in the area'

'She's got a point,' Ally pointed out as she hurriedly gathered some papers and shoved them to the corner of her office and in the process of doing that she dropped a stack of them on the floor.

'Allison!' Anthony called as he burst into laughter. Ally glared at him disapprovingly and started to gather the papers.

'Quit laughing and help me, would you?' She asked, but her question came out more as a demand.

'Yes ma'am.' Anthony said as he obediently bent down and began helping her with the papers.

As she re-organised the papers, her eye caught a bright blue folder that definitely wasn't hers and definitely wasn't in the room before Anthony walked in. She might have a messy office, but she knew it inside out.

'Anthony, what's that?' Ally asked. Anthony looked to where she was looking, and his face paled a bit. Now Allison was curious, Anthony would always type up all of his articles due to his handwriting being absolutely disastrous, and absolutely no one could read it.

Anthony pursed his lips as Ally wiped her hands on her skirt and picked the binder up.

'Divorce Papers.'

Ally looked at Anthony, absolutely fuming.

'Anthony! I told you not to even think about this until everything fell in place!' She shouted, making

'Look, I'm sorry, but I can't live with the fact you're unhappy in this marriage, and I'm the reason for it!' Anthony shouted back.

'For heavens sake! You are one stubborn man, Anthony James!' Ally scoffed before grabbing the first thing that caught her which was - luckily for Anthony- a plastic cup. She took hold of it and chucked it at Anthony's head. Anthony had very little time to react but ducked just in the nick time. So, Ally grabbed a pen and threw it at his forehead again. She had more luck with the pen as it hit him square in the forehead.

'Are you out of your mind?!' Anthony cried as the bruise started to redden. 'If you're going to throw something else...' Anthony said as he looked around the room for anything that wouldn't hurt him as much and to his favour he found the customised pillow he had gotten her for their anniversary. 'Use this!'

Ally glared at him before huffing and sitting down at her desk. 'You're evil.'

'Says the woman who just chucked a pen at my forehead.'

'Be happy it was just a pen!' Ally growled before sighing. 'Does it hurt?'

'Yep. Honestly quit being a lawyer and take up archery, you have great potential.' Anthony replied sarcastically, rubbing his forehead.

'I'm sorry,ok?' She replied throwing him a wet paper towel. She sighed as she twisted a dry paper towel in her hand as Anthony dabbed his forehead.
'Are you in the right state of mind for this? Like do you still want to go through this?' Ally asked, gesturing to the papers.

'I think so. I mean we tried our best,' he replied, sadly. '7 years.'

'Remember the day we met?'

'In Yr7, you were Miss. Popular and I was Mr. Bookworm,'

'That was fun. Like you'd always either be reading or playing cricket. And I would be fooling about, rolling my skirt and my eyes.' Ally said as she and Anthony burst into laughter. She felt good and so did he.

Maybe in another dimension everything could've worked out and they'd be happy together.