The Life We Live

Chapter 17

Marshall, Kim and the girls spend Hailie's Birthday and Christmas at Kim's family and it was a chaos. The girls kept asking about Bella and Jack, 'Why aren't we celebrating with them? We don't want to be here we want to be at Bella's with Auntie Jan and Jackson!' Kim started to yell at them for the first time since she turned nice, when she looked at Marshall she quickly regained herself and told them nicely that now, that Kim and Marshall are back together, they're a happy family and don't need them, but Marshall disagreed. Just because they're back together doesn't mean that they can't have them in their lives. After all that everything got back to normal, well actually that's a lie.

Marshall left the girls with Kim at home to drive up here where his best friend was. He couldn't stand the thought of not talking to her and he knows it's his own fault, he was the one who didn't returned her texts or calls, all because he couldn't face her, the guilt was too much. He fucked up, he knows that for sure but he's here to fix it. He's still with Kim but that doesn't mean that he doesn't want his best friend back. Now's the time to face the music.

He observed his surroundings, seeing his friends and brother lightening up some fireworks, laughing with each other and then he saw her. Isabella looked so beautiful, staring up into the sky, he walked towards her and tapped on her shoulder, waiting for her reaction. Her smile faltered when she turned and saw him standing there.

"Marshall?"

"Looks like ya have a lot of fun, huh?" He gave her a small smile, which she didn't returned.

'Really asshole? You couldn't say something else?' Marshall thought to himself.

"Oh wow, he lives!" She said with sarcasm in her tone. "Weeks of nothing, no calls, no words from you and this is what you have to say? Are you fucking serious? If it wasn't for Nathan telling me that you and the girls were fine I wouldn't know shit about your well-being!" Isabella told him while raising her voice.

'She asked about me, Hailie and Alaina, she still cares... Of course she does ya dumb motherfucker, she's Izzy!'

"Izzy, I wanted...-" Marshall started but she cut him off.

"You wanted nothing, you made that clear. You know what? I don't even want to hear your sorry excuse right now." She sighed, shaking her head. As she was about to turn around to walk back to her friends and family, he grabbed ahold of her arm, stopping her.

"Iz c'mon let me talk-"

"Now? Now you want to talk?!" She scoffed as she shrugged his hand off. "No, I'm good."

Marshall opened his mouth, trying to have a conversation with her, but was interrupted as Jack looked for his mother. That got the attention from the others, they stopped laughing and turned to what was taking place behind them. Janelle was quick to walk up to Marshall and tell him a piece of her mind but was held back by Marcus, who told her to stand back for now.

"Mommy, did you see that big one?"

"No I'm sorry baby, I was distracted. Was it awesome?" Isabella crouched down to be on the same eye level with her son, who only just now noticed that his mother wasn't alone.

"Yeah..." Jackson muttered, avoiding Marshall's gaze. Jack was still upset, not only for the fact that Marshall didn't wished him a Happy Birthday but also for Christmas and Hailie's Birthday. He couldn't understand what he did wrong to be punished like that.

"Hey buddy, you ain't gonna say hello to me?" He asked Jack, but got ignored.

"Please Marshall, can you just leave?" Isabella lifted her son up into her arms, who buried his face in his mother's neck.