Give Me A Chance

Part 15

"What's the matter, son?" Mary, Tom's mother, asked, seeing him sitting alone in the dark, with a bottle in his hand. 

Tom had decided to spend the weekend at his parents', so he wouldn't have to drive all the way to his own home and back again in a couple of days to bring Amber home with him. 

"Why are you drinking?" Mary tried again, reaching to switch on the light.

"Don't. Leave me alone." Tom took a swig straight from the bottle.

Sighing, Mary sat down beside him, having a pretty good feeling why he was in such a bad mood. At least, because of who. "You don't have to be mad at me. I'm your mother and I'm here for you. It doesn't matter that you're not a little boy, but you're still my son, my child, Tom. You can talk to me."

Silence fell upon them for what seemed like a long time, until Tom finally decided to open up. "It's... it's Stevie."

"Yes, I've guessed that." Mary nodded, as she tensed up. She had never been a huge fan of the woman her son had chosen. "What happened? Did you two have a fight?"

"Not really. I've been an asshole to her lately. She found someone. It made me jealous and I... I thought using Amber to get my way would be a good idea."

"What do you mean?" Mary frowned. "How exactly did you use your daughter against Stevie?"

"I said, as long as Amber is with Stevie, he can't be around. Basically, I was making her choose between the new man in her life and our daughter. I know it's not right, but I can't help it." He shrugged, bringing the bottle up to his mouth. "I love her. I still, after everything, love her."

Biting her lower lip, Mary fought against the words coming out of her mouth. However, only momentarily... "See, I've told you. I've always known that woman was trouble. Didn't I say that you wouldn't build a life together? I did, son, I did. She left you, she left you alone with Amber, knowing you still have feelings for her. She didn't even try."

"Don't say that." Tom shook his head. "You don't know her at all or what our relationship was like. You were the one, who never tried to get to know her. All you ever did was find flaws in her."

"Well, most of things I said were true." Shrugging, Mary added. 

Scoffing, Tom rolled his eyes. "Most of what you said was you repeating the fact that she was older than me over and over again. I never cared about that."

"And here you are, broken up."

"Mother, stop!" Tom sighed. "Yes, we're broken up, but it's not because of the age difference. Stevie and I both have fucked up countless times to end up were we are now."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, son. I know you only ever loved her."

"Oh, you do, do you? I only ever loved her? What about those times when I called her names? When I told her, she wasn't good enough for me? When I made her feel bad about herself? When I cheated on her?" Seeing his mother's eyes go wide, Tom nodded. "Oh yeah, and not just once. How is that only ever loving, mother?"

"I... I didn't know."

"No, you didn't." Tom shook his head, getting up on his feet. "You never knew anything, so don't you fucking dare say I only ever loved her and she's the only one to blame."

~

Sunday morning came quickly and Tom didn't wait until later in the day, like he had told Stevie. Instead, he took a quick shower, ate a little bit for breakfast and was in his car, on the way to Stevie's place. She didn't expect to see him so early, but before she could say anything, Tom asked to come in.

"Hey, baby." First of all, Tom greeted Amber, who was situated in front of the TV, bending over to kiss the top of her head. 

"Hi, Daddy!" She smiled brightly, in between shoveling pieces of fruit into her mouth. "Are we going already?"

"No, you go back to your cartoons." Tom said, ruffling her hair, before he asked Stevie if they could speak privately. 

Leading him to the kitchen, where Stevie was making herself a cup of coffee, she showed him to take a seat. "What was so urgent that you couldn't wait until later?"

"I, uh..." He paused, before looking at her. God, she's beautiful... He nearly said that out loud, but then shook himself mentally. This was not why he was here. He couldn't care just about what he wanted anymore, because clearly, it wasn't the same for Stevie. "When I left on Friday, I went to my parents' and I took the first bottle of alcohol I found, downed it whole by myself, while thinking about what you said." Stevie wanted to ask, but since he let her speak the other day, she was going to be patient and listen to him as well. "I'm sorry. You were right, about everything you said. It's not easy for me to admit, but you were right." She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "I can't stop you from falling in love with someone, who's not me."

"I'm not..." Stevie began, but trailed off instead of finishing her sentence. 

"Well, I just wanted to say that, it's okay. I'm fine with it and I shouldn't have made you agree to any stupid conditions to start with. Amber is as much your daughter as she is mine. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to see her." Without hesitation, Stevie pulled Tom into a hug, which surprised him, but after a moment, he wrapped his arms around her too. "I'm going to go. I'll be back later in the evening."

"Okay." Stevie nodded. "Thank you."

Tom just half-smiled and left, after telling Amber he'd come back later in the day.

Stevie couldn't stop smiling, feeling as if she could breathe easy again. Before going back to her daughter, she went over to the phone and dialed the number, she already knew by heart. 

Once they were done with pleasantries, she asked. "I was wondering if you wanted to come over tonight? I miss you..."