𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃, | 𝐦𝐱𝐦

04. A Mother's Symphony

Some days I feel broke inside but I won't admit

Sometimes I just wanna hide 'cause it's you I miss

And it's so hard to say goodbye when it comes to this.

-Hurt, Christina Aguilera

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Delaney parks his 2021 Black Mercedes Benz E-class beside his childhood house. He shoots a quick text to Andrés, informing him about his whereabouts. He tosses his phone on the passenger seat and exits the car. The garage door opens, and his dad comes down the driveway with two beers.

"Son!" He happily says, holding his arms out. They shared a warm embrace.

"Hey, pops. Where is Delilah?"

"Oh, she went out with some friends. So, it's just me and you!" Delaney chuckles.

"Aight, bet." They go into the empty garage and sit on the two red lounge chairs with the cooler in the middle of them. He grabs his can opener from the cooler and cracks open his beer. He hands it to Delaney, who cracks his open. Duane took a sip, letting the cold beer go down his warm throat as they looked at the sunset.

This was a tradition for them to do when Delaney was growing up. Duane called it their bonding time. Delaney still cherishes this tradition and tries to watch the sunset with his dad often. It was the only other thing besides Andrés that brought him peace.

"How have you been?" Duane asks, looking over at Delaney. Delaney softly sighs.

"I got married." Duane's eyes widen.

"Married?" He asks, stunned. Delaney shows him his bamboo wedding band. Duane takes his hand and looks at it.

"Oh, wow! You really love him, son." Delaney nods, taking a sip of his beer.

"Yep, I told you, I wasn't playing about him." Duane chuckles.

"But, you were like seventeen," Duane argues with a slight chuckle.

"And I won't playing. I love Andrés with all my heart, pops." Delaney sincerely looks at Duane. Duane smiles.

"Well, I'm glad. I always loved Andrés, such a sweet boy." Duane says, smiling. Delaney nods, taking another sip of his beer.

"You know, Martina's momma called me the other day." Delaney looks over at Duane, confused.

"You still talk to Loretta?" Duane chuckles.

"Well, yes. She's still a sweet lady. Martina is coming back to town. She got a new job offer at that new tech company we built a while back." Delaney hums.

"That's nice."

"You know, Martina was a nice girl."

"And Andrés hates Martina." Duane puts his hands up.

"Look, I ain't trying to start anything for the newlyweds. I was just simply stating my thoughts." Delaney sighs.

"I know... I didn't mean to snap at you." Delaney mutters.