Sinking Ships

Chapter Fifteen

            Fifteen

        Kelsey left.

            Despite the fact that I know it’s for the best, I’m a complete mess. I wish that I hadn’t told her to leave and instead begged her to stay. I know it’s stupid; I know I’m stupid, but this is what love has done to me.

            Maybe love’s just as stupid as I am. It blinds me from being realistic and instead wants me to beg for Kelsey’s forgiveness. I think she might have loved me once, but now, I see that she loves her drugs more. Despite that hurting like someone stabbing me in the chest, it feels like I’m being torn in half knowing that again, she chose drugs over her son.

            “You’re right.”

            Eve smiles as Tyson runs under the playground. She moves closer to me on the bench and leans her head on my shoulder. I know that she will never be what Kelsey is, or was to me, but she’s better, at least for now.

            “So she’s really gone?” I nod and she’s full on grinning. Before I can tell her the story, she’s hugging me in the middle of a park. “I’m so proud of you, Fallon. You finally did the right thing.”

            “I hope so,” I tell her sombrely. But I still give her a small smile.

            Hers doesn’t waver as she moves away from me and climbs to her feet. I watch as she goes and helps Tyson climb up the playground. Soon, they’re going down the slide together, Eve acting the way that Kelsey never did.

            “Come on Tyson,” she coo’s, crouching down and gesturing for him to come to her. He giggles and smiles, sprinting into her arms. She picks him up and swings him over her head as he laughs.

            For a moment, I imagine what it would be like if Kelsey was in Eve’s place. But I quickly shake away the thought and tell myself that it’s never going to happen. The only person I can change is myself so I need to stop trying to change Kelsey.

            “Want to stay the night?” I ask Eve hopefully, putting together food in the kitchen. She’s sitting on the floor in the living room across from me, playing with Tyson and his toys.

            “If that’s alright with you,” she says, smiling. Tyson hands her a small car and she takes it, grinning.

            I guess since Kelsey’s gone, at least for now, things are escalating quickly with Eve and I. Maybe it’s because she’s really making things better for me, or because I’m trying to ignore the fact that Tyson’s mother is gone, but regardless, it’s something that’s making me happy.

            My phone vibrates in my pocket and I check the caller ID behind the counter so that Eve can’t see. Trying to be discrete, I stop what I’m doing and head down the hall to my bedroom, closing the door silently behind me.