Sunshine After The Rain

Chapter Twenty-Five

Summer turned to Fall and most interaction she'd had with Lucas had been through emails and texts, keeping the conversations about the house or kids. When she dropped off the kids for their weekends with their uncle, she remained in the car.

The first few weeks, they'd played things off like everything between them was okay, but Sophie couldn't keep playing the game. She'd stopped going to her new house out of fear she'd see him and have to interact and pretend that her life was doing well, when he'd be able to see right through her bullshit.

If he were anyone else, all contact could have been severed and Sophie would have been able to move on. But catching a glimpse of him twice a week every other week was a reminder of what she lost and what she could never have.

Sophie was making dinner for the kids when they ran through the front door, followed by a more docile Laura. She'd asked Laura to pick up the kids a few times for over the last two months when Sophie couldn't bear to see him.

Justin and Ella went straight upstairs, while Laura found her way into the kitchen and placed her purse on the island between them. "Do you plan to eat any of that?"

Sophie glanced up, then picked up the tray of chicken and placed it in the oven.

"You're wasting away, Sophie."

"Funny, you used to make jabs about me being overweight, and now I'm too skinny. Seems I'm suffering from Goldilocks syndrome," Sophie joked.

"I understand that you and I have never been close," Laura admitted as she sat on the stool beside her, "but I need you to be honest with me. Is this because of Jason?"

Sophie still faced away from her, unable to look her mother-in-law in the eye when she shrugged her response.

"I see. So this is about Lucas, then."

When Sophie turned at that comment, she saw no animosity on Laura's face. Still she couldn't speak.

"You went from always having him around and showing up unannounced to acting like a divorced couple trading off the kids. Joel had to bail him out of jail for a drunk and disorderly the other night. And you look like a light breeze could knock you over. I may not know the story behind what's happened, but I know you've both been miserable for a while now."

Sophie didn't know that Lucas was having a hard time. When she saw him, it was only through the windshield of her minivan. Still, he looked happy enough, and healthy.

Laura wanted honesty, and she deserved as much considering she'd been picking up all the neglected pieces of Sophie's life these last two months. So Sophie wiped her hands off with a kitchen towel and prepared for one of the most awkward moments of her life. "We realized that we had feelings for each other and thought it would be best to give each other space. That's all."

The older woman nodded her head, her brown-grey hair remaining perfectly in place as she did so. "Well, that space isn't doing either of you any good at all, is it?"

"Neither would erasing it," Sophie countered.

"Because he's Jason's brother?"

Along with all the things that came with that fact. "Yes, because he's Jason's brother."

Laura stood and walked around the counter to the sink, wet a dishcloth and began wiping down Sophie's kitchen like it was the most natural act in the world. "You know, when we first met, I thought you were such an odd match for Jason. Not less than him, but just so different. Differences in a couple is fine, but one of the first things that popped into my head was that you would have made more sense with Lucas if he wasn't already married.

"You're both down-to-earth, both artistic, both slightly chaotic. It was a silly thought, but as I've watched you both decline, I remembered thinking that all those years ago."

That was news to Sophie. It was surreal having the mother-in-law who she never connected with able to see all that years before her and Lucas had ever met. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I told you two months ago that it was time to find your own life and your own dreams, and right now you're running away from them and it's making you miserable."

"The kids would never be okay with it." Truth was, Sophie was still shocked that Laura was so calm with the idea.

"Children are resilient, Sophie. A parent lives their life for their kids, but they also have to live a life that makes them happy. You aren't happy, and that's what affects children in the long run."

That was accurate enough. Her own parents were miserable with one another until they finally divorced. Although she never witnessed fights, she could feel it, which was why it became a dark time in her own life.

"So, tomorrow, you will drop Justin off at school and Ella off at daycare, and I will pick them up. I recommend you use that time to resolve your issues with Lucas, because neither of you will survive if this keeps up the way it is."

Sophie's lips parted, and brown eyes went wide at Laura's comment. The entire conversation was blowing her mind, but this was like she was being given permission to go somewhere she thought she couldn't go without being hated.

"Why are you okay with this?"

"I think Jason regretted how he treated you, Sophie, and would have wanted you to find a love you deserved. I never knew Lucas as well as I should have, but I know that when that man loves, he puts his whole heart into it and takes nothing for granted. Those kids deserve to have a man in their life who wants to be there for all the big moments, who never puts work before his family, and who shows those he cares for nothing but love and respect. You deserve the same.

"If you keep being afraid to put your heart out there because of what my son did to you, you will become bitter and that bitterness will pour into the rest of this family. You don't want that, and neither do I." Laura tossed the rag in the kitchen sink, placed a quick kiss on the side of Sophie's head, and went around the counter to grab her purse.

"I believe it's too soon for you to enter a new relationship. The relationship may have been over when he died, but that doesn't erase the pain and anger you feel. But it's your life to lead, Sophie, and if you move on with another, I couldn't imagine a better man for you to move on with. And, seeing as we're being candid here, I think Jason would agree with me if he could see the man Lucas became. Text me where Ella's daycare is."