You Are My Sunshine

Chapter 74 - Grieving In Your Own Way

"The goal of all life is death." - Freud

Walking off the plane after a thirteen hour flight Opie was greeted by Mae as she raced toward him threw her arms around his neck. She exhaled, finally feeling truly safe since before being taken to Ireland, as he held her in his arms a few inches off the ground.

"Christ, I missed you," he muttered. "Shit is so fucked Mae."

"I know, baby," she looked up at him as she slid down his body to her feet. "You okay?" She caressed his cheek tenderly. "I'm so sorry you're still hurting."

"Now I got more shit to worry about," he complained.

Mae nodded. "Jax told me Amelia called him, she left him a message apparently. He wasn't happy."

"Where was he last night?" Opie asked suspiciously.

"I made him dinner," she laughed, "He loves you, Ope. It's kind of adorable."

"That sounds pretty gay." Opie laughed and nodded as they headed out of the airport. "He's my best friend, I love him even when he's a smug asshole."

"Why?" She turned serious and took his hand in hers. "What is she thinking?"

"She ain't," he said sadly. "She's pissed. She knows we lied and she knows this whole fucking mess, my dad and everything, wouldn't have happened if we just told her."

"What happened to Piney isn't your fault," she said softly, squeezing his hand as they began to walk. "You had no idea it would end up like this."

"I knew, I knew it would be bad." He mumbled apologetically. "She won't be there long," Opie shifted topics. "She said she needed to get her head right, soak shit in and I feel like she wants to see where she came from. Meels was always so obsessed with family trees and bloodlines and shit."

"Guess she's a runner," Mae smirked, "Like you."

"Yeah, and my old man." He said sadly. "She's embarrassed too, mad people knew, ya know?"

Mae nodded, "Well Jax said he wants to talk to you. He's a mess, honestly, he tries to play it off but I can see he's not is usual smooth self."

"She blindsided him," Opie sighed. "I get why she's doing it but it ain't right."

Supportively, Mae simply nodded and unlocked her car with the remote. "I'll drive. You're probably exhausted."

"What did I do to deserve you?" He asked as she opened the car door for him.

"Must have pissed off someone important," she joked. Pushing him into the passenger's seat Mae slammed his door but Opie just couldn't feel relaxed or relieved yet.

--

When they arrived home Opie went right to Jax's. The door was open and he was on the living room floor with Alice.

"Hey brother," he said darkly. "You didn't get a chance to haul her ass back home, did you?"

"Think she would have let me?" Opie sat in the oversized arm chair and gently tousled Alice's hair as she played.

"Nah, she wouldn't." He scoffed and moved from the floor to the couch. "She's being selfish," Jax spat.

"Yeah," Opie agreed. "But we were too. She'll be back, Jax."

"I've had to sit here alone fucking obsessing over the Irish, over Piney, and pretend like shit happened." His voice grew louder with every word. "When can we settle this?"

"Mae said she was gonna call Charlie when I'm here." Opie spoke as he made faces at his niece to keep her father's booming voice from scaring her. "She's gonna pull that whole your my dad bullshit and make plans to get together."