Ecie & Esme III: Forever and a Day

Three

'Is your mom okay?' Taylor asked looking at Esme as she moved about the store.

'Yeah,' Esme nodded. 'She's fine.'

'And the baby?'

'The baby's doing fine,' Esme replied. 'They're both okay.'

'So what was the problem?'

'She peed blood early this morning,' Esme replied. 'It's just an infection and mom's lack of ability to stay still for more than a second. They'll be fine.'

Taylor nodded. 'So what's bugging you if your mom's fine?'

'Nothing,' Esme replied. 'I don't know.'

Taylor looked at Esme. 'Es?'

'Huh?' Esme turned to look at him. 'What?'

'Is everything okay?'

'Yeah,' Esme nodded. She smiled at him and walked towards him. 'I don't know what's going on in the world.'

'You always seem so confused,' Taylor laughed holding Esme and kissing her head. 'What's got your brain in a knot?'

'Lauren and Verd,' she replied. 'They used to be really close and they used to be such good friends.'

'That was because they were sleeping with each other,' Taylor replied. 'I'm guessing they've stopped doing that now.'

Esme looked up at Taylor. 'At least try and sound a little sympathetic.'

'Sympathetic about what?' Taylor asked. 'She was cheating on my best friend. I'm sympathetic about that. I don't really care about her troubles with Verd. It's kind of her fault.'

'Okay then,' Esme said moving away slightly. 'Well at least pretend to be sympathetic.'

'Okay,' Taylor nodded slowly. 'So what are you going to do?'

'That's much better,' Esme smiled. She kissed Taylor on the lips. 'I don't know. I feel like they can't be in the same room as each other anymore.'

'They probably haven't talked about everything,' Taylor replied. 'What you need to do is have them sit down and just talk it out. One step at a time.'

Esme nodded. 'You're right.'

'OF course I am,' Taylor grinned. 'I'm always right.'

'Ha,' Esme laughed. 'You wish.'

Taylor laughed and kissed Esme. 'So tell me what else is new with you today.'

'Ross is back,' Esme replied moving away from Taylor and walking around the store. She jumped up onto the counter and smiled at him. Taylor leant against a shelf and smiled back at her. 'But he's not staying for long.'

'How come?'

'He's a very busy man,' Esme laughed. 'Mom wants him to fly out to Michigan for her because Eric hid her passport.'

'Eric did what?' Taylor laughed.

'I'm not joking,' Esme laughed. 'I don't think he understood what the repercussions would be.'

'Obviously,' Taylor laughed. 'So what's happening in Michigan?'

'The Summer Read,' Esme replied. 'It's officially starting next week.'

'Cool,' Taylor nodded. 'Well that sounds fun. A bunch of kids.'

'Do you like kids?'

'Yeah, I guess so,' Taylor shrugged. 'I don't know. I don't really know any kids.'