Ecie & Esme III: Forever and a Day

Six

'How are you honey?' Sofie asked coming into Ecie's bedroom with a mug of hot chocolate.

'I'm okay mom,' Ecie smiled. 'Where's Eric?'

'He went into LA to collect some things,' Sofie said. 'What are you up to?'

'Nothing,' Ecie sighed. 'I've just been thinking.'

Sofie nodded. 'Are you going to see Carole?'

'Yeah,' Ecie replied. 'I think we need to talk about some things.'

'Well you know that I'm always here if you ever want to talk or anything,' Sofie smiled. 'It's so nice having you home.'

'Well it's not really home, is it?' Ecie said looking at Sofie. 'But it's nice being here with you.'

'You can still see the house if you want,' Sofie said. 'Or you could go and stay with your dad for a bit. I know he's missing you and Es.'

'I know,' Ecie said. 'I was thinking of maybe seeing him next week or something.'

'Well he'll be happy to see you,' Sofie smiled.

Ecie nodded. 'Have you met Riley yet?'

'Oh Riley,' Sofie said looking up at the ceiling laughing. 'Yeah I've met her.'

'Do you like her?'

Sofie looked at Ecie and smiled. 'As a matter of fact I do.'

'Really?'

'Look at me honey,' Sofie smiled. 'I've got three kids, another one on the way; I'm in a really good happy relationship. Why would I not be happy for your father and Riley? Why would I not like her?'

'I suppose,' Ecie said. 'But don't you find it weird?'

'It's hard,' Sofie said. 'Once you hit a certain age it gets harder to find someone to have a relationship with. Those numbers just start going down and down. You've got to be grateful for what you've got.'

'Do you think you'll marry Eric?'

'I don't know honey,' Sofie smiled. 'It would all have to depend.'

'On what?'

'Oh you know,' Sofie sighed. 'The time would have to be right, I would have to actually see the point of marriage and things would just have to be different.'

Ecie nodded. 'Right.'

'You don't need to worry about any of that,' Sofie smiled. 'You've got to finish growing up first.'

'Mom,' Ecie said. 'I'm nineteen already.'

'You're right,' Sofie smiled. She looked around the room and made her way towards the door. 'I'm going to head out in a bit, if you want to come with.'

'Sure,' Ecie nodded. 'Just give me a moment to get dressed.'

'So where are we going?' Ecie asked looking across at Sofie as she drove.

'We're going to a homeless shelter to donate some of our old stuff,' Sofie replied. 'I've got all these clothes and stuff that I don't wear, and I found loads of other stuff.'

Ecie nodded. 'We've got bags of stuff at the apartment I could have brought.'

'That's okay,' Sofie said. 'You could say that I'm having a bit of a spring clean.'

Ecie laughed. 'I also see that you're slowing down a lot.'

'Ha,' Sofie laughed. 'You wish. I'm flying out to New York the day after tomorrow and I'm staying there for a couple of weeks.'