Convergence

Twenty Three

So this is the updated chapter Twenty Three!

"Charlotte, I've been thinking. Christmas is 3 weeks away, why don't you and Oli come out to LA and spend it with us?" said Jared while we were having dinner. It was his last night in London and he'd spent almost the entire day with us. I looked up from my plate in surprise, I frowned and slowly shook my head. "With us? Your entourage, the girlfriend and the hangers on? No thank you. We'll stay here, with family" I said a little too sharply. "It would be with my mom and Shannon" . "And what, pray tell, will you say to your girlfriend? She'll want to know why she isn't invited" I snorted. "It would be us, just my family. I'd love for them to meet him" he said through gritted teeth, deliberately ignoring my comment. "How about the girlfriend? When are you planning on telling her?" I said, trying but failing to keep the snarky tone out of my voice. He exhaled rolling his eyes, "I'm going to tell her when I get back. She'll just have to deal with it. He's my child and he's going to be in my life" he said. "So you've gone from, it's not serious, to, explaining why she has to deal with it" I said sarcastically. "It's not!" he exclaimed. "Are you listening to yourself?!" I said loudly. "In any case, I'm not coming" I added curtly. "Okay Charlotte. We need to set some ground rules. I want to see Oliver and often. You and I are going to need to spend time together for that to happen, because I know you won't let him out of your sight" he said, I gasped but didn't manage to get a word out. "And I get that. But you are going to need to compromise. It can't just be me coming here, you're going to need to bring him to me" he said. "I think it's a bit early in the game to be talking compromise" I said raising an eyebrow. "Maybe for you, but I've already missed his birth and the first six months. I'm just trying to catch up" he snarled angrily. "I'm not coming to LA for Christmas!" I cried standing up and sending my chair clattering backwards onto the wooden floor boards. "Calm down Charlotte, no one is forcing you to come, it was merely a suggestion" he said firmly. He picked up my chair and righted it, then stood there waiting for me to sit down, pushing it in again. "As I was saying. We are going to need to agree about things" he said calmly. I nodded, he was right of course. "What are you doing for Christmas, do you have plans?" he asked. "I think we're going to the Lakes" I said. "With Raf?" he said, I nodded. "And the rest of the group" I added quickly. "Great, so he'll get to see my son on Christmas" he said in a disgusted tone. I rolled my eyes, "don't be so dramatic" I said. "I can't believe I'm sitting here, arguing with you about this" he said shaking his head. "Well then, why don't you go?" I sneered. He stared at me for a moment and shook his head again. "I know what you're doing Charlie" he said in a much quieter voice. "I'm not doing anything" I said standing up. But he was up in a flash, grabbing my arm, pulling me to him. Wrapping his arms around me tightly. "I don't want to leave either" he whispered. I allowed a sob to escape me, covering my face with my hands. "It's been so hard, doing it alone all this time. And having you here has been, so nice" I sniffed. He rubbed my back and exhaled, "I'll be back, I promise, we'll work something out. I want to be here for you both" he said, but he didn't sound too confident and I knew the moment he was away from us, it would be a case of out of sight out of mind. I nodded nonetheless and hoped he was right.

At his request, I sent him lots of photos. He messaged me often, asking after Oli and wanting to know what he had been doing. Hoping he didn't miss anything exciting. I obsessively checked my social media looking for photos of him. About a week after he'd got home, I saw a photo of him and Isla having lunch in Malibu. I felt my heart sink, I knew he was still seeing her, just because I hadn't seen them together didn't mean they had split. This was proof positive. He'd never talked of us or our relationship while he'd been in London. Not that we had a relationship. It seemed he was only interested in maintaining our friendship because of the baby. That was fine by me, I wanted Oli to see him and if that meant I'd be a little broken hearted, I could deal with that for his happiness. It was late and Oli was asleep, I was lying in bed reading when I saw my phone start ringing. I exhaled and took a deep calming breath before answering. "Hey" I said, "hey Charlie, did I wake you?" said Jared. "No, it's only 10, I'm just reading" I replied. "What's Oli doing? Is he asleep?" he said. "Yes, he's sound asleep" I said. "I miss him" he said, there was a note of sadness in his voice. "I think he misses you too, when he hears someone at the door he starts squealing and gets excited" I said with a sigh. "Really? That's so sweet" he said. "Yep" I said. "When do you all leave for the lakes?" he asked. "Ah next week" I said unenthusiastically. "You don't sound excited, I thought you'd be thrilled to be cozied up in the snow with your best friend" he said, I could almost hear his smirk. "How was your lunch?" I countered. "What lunch?" he said, "your lunch, in Malibu? Was the company nice?" I said. "It was fine" he said shortly. "Have you told her, about your son?" I asked. "Not yet, that was the first time I'd seen her. I want to tell her in private, at home" he said defensively. "Of course. That way you can fuck her to make up for the bad news" I sneered. "Jesus, why do you have to say shit like that?" he said angrily. "I'm going to go, I'm tired" I said, "don't hang up Charlotte" he warned. I was silent for a moment, then, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude" I sighed, I needed to hide my jealously a little better. "It's fine. I promise you I'll tell her. I want everyone to know about him" he said gently. "It's okay, you can keep it quiet. I don't relish the attention that will come with it" I said wryly. "Don't stress" he said. "Maybe, I'll come. After New Years" I said slowly. "That would be great Charlie, I'd love that, mom and Shannon are dying to meet him" he said excitedly. "Okay. Well, I really am tired. Goodnight Jared" I said, "night Charlie. I miss you both" he said. "We miss you too" I said truthfully, hitting end.

My flight got in earlier than scheduled. Luckily the car was there and before I knew it, we were pulling into the driveway of his new house. A compound, it was the weirdest looking place I'd ever seen. An old army base apparently. The driver helped get our bags and I walked to the front door ringing the bell. A minute later Emma appeared, "Charlotte! It's so great to see you. Come on in. Look at him! Oh wow!" she said happily, letting us in and looking carefully at Oli. "He's so cute" she said. I nodded, "I think so" I said smiling. "Come on through, Jared is here, somewhere" she said, calling out to him. I followed her into a cavernous living area, standing there looking around in awe. "Charlie, you're here. You're early" I heard Jared's voice and turned to see him come in from the hall. He was smiling widely, and my heart leapt at the sight of him. "Our flight got in early, I didn't think you'd mind" I said. He shook his head, "of course not" he said. Oliver babbled excitedly at seeing him, reaching out to him. He took him into his arms, lifting him high and then kissing him gently. He leant in kissing me on the cheek, "it's so good to see you both, how was your flight?" he asked. Before I had a chance to reply, we heard a voice. "Where did you go? I'm gonna leave" she said. It was a high pitched, whiny kind of sound. "I'm here" he sighed, he chanced a glance at me then looked away. "Oh, you're here" she said stopping at the sight of me. She had shoulder length brown hair, and a pointed kind of face. Her eyes were a dull brown and they looked at me curiously. "Ah, Isla, this is Charlotte and this is Oliver" said Jared happily. "Hello, it's nice to meet you" I said as politely as I could manage. "Hi there. Hmm, well, he certainly looks like you" she said cooly, sparing Oliver a glance. "I told you he did" said Jared grinning at Oli. Her eyes narrowed briefly and she shrugged. "Bye Jared, call me later. Well bye, ah sorry I've forgotten your name" she said with a sarcastic giggle. "It's Charlotte. Goodbye Isla" I said shortly. "You can see yourself out" he said. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and stalked out, we heard the front door slam moments later. "I'm sorry, you got here early. Otherwise she would have been gone" he said apologetically. I shook my head, "it's fine, don't worry" I replied truthfully. I didn't care, she was gone and that's all I cared about. "God he's grown" he said smiling at Oli. He sat down and put him on his knees, looking at him closely. Kissing his head lovingly. "I've missed you both" he said looking up at me warmly. My heart started to beat a little faster and I quickly smiled. "We've missed you too" I said. "How was your flight?" he asked. "It wasn't bad, he was great actually" I said. "So, Shannon and my mom are coming for lunch. Is that okay, you won't be too tired?" he asked. "No that should be fine, as long as I can shower and freshen up" I said. He stood up, "absolutely, I'll take you up. This place is huge so be prepared to get lost" he laughed leading me upstairs. He was right, it was an endless maze of hallways and rooms and turns. "So I've put you near my room, in case you need anything at night. Plus, the room I have you in is big enough for all his things" he said grinning. We walked in and I almost gasped. It was huge, like two rooms in one. One half of the room had a huge white bed. With a high canopy, hung with sheer white curtains. Beautifully made up with simple, crisp white linen. Then there was the other half. Oliver's half, a big white cot. A rocking chair, all kinds of soft toys. An open armoire, full of baby clothes. A little teepee on a fluffy white rug. It looked like it had come straight out of a decorating magazine. "So I hired a decorator, she said this is everything he could ever need. She did everything in here. It's your room, for when you stay, so if you don't like anything, let me know and you can change it" he said, I shook my head. "It's lovely, thank you. You needn't have gone to so much trouble" I said taking it all in. "I want you to feel at home when you're here" he said. I turned to look at him, "I'm sure I will" I said gratefully, smiling at him. "Thanks for coming Charlie, I'm so glad you're here" he said, his smile sent a warmth through me. I nodded, "me too" I said. We spent the next hour or two relaxing. I showered and got into fresh clothes, then changed Oliver into something new that Jared had bought him. "Did you pick out the clothes?" I asked Jared as we sat on the bed while I fed Oli. "Uh, no, I enlisted Emma's help. They went a little crazy, picking out a bunch of stuff" he grinned. "I can see. It is quite a lot, he'll never wear all of it" I said laughing. "Oh you think?" he asked. I nodded, "he grows out of stuff so quickly" I said. "You're right, I feel like he grew so much and it's only been a month or so since I've seen him" he said. "I know, it's crazy" I sighed. "How long are you going to keep, uh, feeding him?" he asked curiously. "I don't know, I was thinking, maybe till he's a year old" I said. "He seems pretty attached to them" he said grinning. I smiled wryly, "yes, he's very attached. I'm going to have a hard time weaning him I think" I said. "Poor little guy, I feel kinda bad for him" he said. I couldn't help but giggle, "life is full of disappointment" I said, "don't I know it" he groaned laughingly. It felt great to laugh with him.
Just like old times.