Reliving History, Repeating Mistakes

Part 8

Threepairs of eyes fix on him and he sends an apologetic look in herdirection. He had been listening in on the ongoing conversation fromthe bottom of the stairs for a while and his son bringing up thecurrent status of their feelings for each other seemed the bestmoment to make himself noticed. She'd just said they don't hate eachother, so him sleeping in her house doesn't necessarily mean he'sslept in the same bed as her. For all the children knew, they couldhave become friendly enough during the last week to actually be *friends * and he could have slept in the guest room to give the kidssome privacy, since his trailer really is the only place they couldachieve that. He hasn't planned on her daughter seeing the marks shedesperately tried to hide half an hour earlier, but by the time shehad, it was too late for him to turn around and head back upstairs.

There'snot really anything that would indicate he's responsible for the lovebites, either, but how likely is it, that the teenagers would believethat, with him entering the living-room in the same clothes he'd wornto dinner last night, at eight in the morning? She had been wearingnext to nothing just minutes before and she would never have donethat, if she'd been afraid of him seeing her like that. This ismessed up, and not how either of them had planned on relaying thenews to their children but it seems there's no denying or hiding iteither.

Sohe takes a deep breath, steels himself for the onslaught ofquestions, and probably accusations, and enters the room fully. Heleans against the armrest of the chair she's sitting in and reachesout to fix the collar of her shirt without looking. He doesn't needto see where the mark's located, he'd put it there, he knows. Atleast her daughter seems to realize that, too, by the look thatadorns her face. When he takes his hand from her shoulder, one ofher's closes over his', lacing their fingers. They are doing thisright now, there's no need to pretend. She's holding on loosely,again giving him the choice to not do this, but he tightens his gripand sits beside her on the arm of the chair.

"Ohmy god" They watch the girl hide her face in her boyfriend's shirtfor a moment, composing herself. When she looks at them again shedoesn't look the least bit more put together. "No, this is nothappening" She's out of her seat before any of them can convinceher not to.

"Betty..."

"No,Mom. I need a minute" And suddenly the adults are alone in theroom. But at least the children haven't left the house, they are mostlikely locked into her daughter's bedroom and with any luck he'll beable to calm her down just enough to hear what their parents have tosay.

Thisis the best opportunity for them to talk this through themselves,then they know what exactly they'll be telling their kids, and it'sthe first time neither of them wants to run from it. The only thingshe does is get up from the armchair and pulls him over to therecently vacated couch. She leans against the arm, facing him buttheir fingers are still linked and they both take this as a good signto the direction of their conversation.

Theyboth essentially want the same thing here, but since they had beentoo afraid to say it out loud until now, they don't actually * know *where the other stands in all this. And, wanting the same thing doesnot mean that it is the right choice in the end. They had learnedthat two decades earlier, when they ended up heartbroken because theyhad * wanted * to stay together but realized the * right choice * wassomething different.

Theyare older now, lived the lives they thought were right for them andthey should be able to make decisions on logic and not purely basedon feelings. That's easier said than done, though, when the feelingshaven't really lessened over twenty years of separate lives. Anddidn't logic went out the window the moment he'd kissed her anyway.