Remedy

Family Table

"You ready?" Amelia asked as she walked down the stairs. Scarlett was putting her shoes on and looked up and replied with,
"Yep."
Then she put her coat on and follow her mother out the door.

"Are you nervous?" Amelia asked her kid on the ride over.
"Should I be?" Scarlett asked back and glanced over at her mom.
"Nope," Amelia said and shook her head slightly.
Scarlett could feel her palms getting sweaty so she subtly wiped them on her coat and continued to look out the window.

Amelia pulled up to the family restaurant they were meeting Max at and the two walked inside. Max got there before them and got seated already.
"You good?" Amelia wanted to make sure before they walked over.
"Yeah," Scarlett assured her.

Max looked up for a second and when he saw Scarlett and Amelia, he got up.
"Hi, I'm Max," he said and held his hand out for Scarlett.
"Scarlett," the teen said and shook it before taking a seat.
Amelia and Max exchanged looks before sitting and then Max said,
"Thank you for coming for dinner."
"Thanks for inviting us," Scarlett replied with a small smile.

After ordering their food, Max decided to break the ice and say,
"You're fifteen, right?"
"Yeah, I'm a sophomore," Scarlett told him.
"So... what's your favorite subject?" Max wanted to know. Scarlett took a sip of water and then said,
"Probably math or science."
"Do you play any sports?" Max wanted to know.
Scarlett felt like she was being interrogated but she went along with it anyways.
"I used to play field hockey and softball," she answered.
"You did?" Amelia asked with a surprised look.
"Yeah," Scarlett replied.
"I played baseball up until college. Why don't you play anymore?" Max asked.
"The last year has been kind of crazy with moving and my dad and all so..." she trailed off.
"Right, I'm sorry to hear about your dad," Max told her sincerely.
She acknowledged what he said with a nod and then dded,
"Plus, I don't know even know where my equipment is. I think it's in the garage of my old house somewhere but I haven't been there in a while and I don't plan on going back anytime soon," she further explained without realizing she said the last part out loud.
"Why don't you want to go back to your old house and get your equipment?" Max was curious about.
Scarlett realized what she said and glanced to Amelia and then said,
"It's complicated."
Max respected her answer and decided to change the topic of conversation but before he could say anything, Scarlett said,
"I heard you have three other kids?"
"Yeah," Max said with a smile as he pulled out his phone. He pulled up a picture of the kids together standing outside at the bus stop on the first day of school.
"This is Alice," he said and pointed to his older daughter.
"She looks just like you," Amelia said to Scarlett who nodded and said,
"Yeah she does I guess."
"She's 13, almost 14."
"What's she like?" Scarlett asked. She was genuinely interested in learning about her half siblings.
"Well, she likes to sing and she plays softball too. Ummm she's a good student and works at a bakery near our house," Max told her proudly.
"She's working already?" Amelia asked with a surprised look.
"Only on the weekends. The people who own the bakery are old friends of mine and Alice is good friends with their son who works there too," he explained.
"Who's that?" Scarlett asked and pointed to the other girl in the picture.
"That is Poppy. She's seven and probably my loudest and most outgoing kid."
That made both Amelia and Scarlett smile. Max pulled up another picture and it was of Poppy sitting at a piano bench with older woman.
"She just started learning how to play the piano," he told them as he showed them the picture.
"Does she take lessons from someone?" Scarlett asked.
"She did, but that teacher just had a baby so now I need to find Poppy a new one," Max said.
"I could do it," Scarlett offered.
"You play?" Max asked.
"You play the piano?" Amelia asked at the same time. She was learning a lot about her daughter that night.
"Yeah, I've been playing since I was five," Scarlett told her parents.
"Well, that would be great," Max said in reply. "Poppy would love that," he added.
Scarlett nodded and then smiled at him sincerely.
"Do you have any siblings?" Max asked.
"Just two stepbrothers, but we don't really talk, so I don't really count them as my siblings," she told him. He nodded and said,
"Well now you have three half siblings."
He swiped to a picture of his youngest and said,
"Last but certainly not least, this is August, but we call him Auggie. He's five and the sweetest kid you'll ever meet," Max said and showed them a picture of Auggie smiling.
"I think you met him the other day in the ER," Max added.
"Right, how is he?" Scarlett asked.
"Better. He's learning how to ride a bike and he's having trouble balancing," Max explained with a smile.
"I had troubling learning how to ride a two wheeler too. My dad spent the whole day trying to teach me," Scarlett told them as she took a sip of water.

Their food arrived shortly after and the conversation continued with Max and Scarlett asking each other questions, while Amelia just sat back and listened to the two talk. It wasn't like her to be so quiet and both Scarlett, and Max knew that.
"So, have you always lived here in Seattle?" Max was wondering.
"No. I lived with my parents in California. Then about four months ago my dad and stepmom moved us out here," Scarlett explained.
"Oh, where in California?" Max asked.
"Los Angeles," Scarlett answered.
"Have you been back to visit your friends?" Max asked.
"No, but my best friend, Alexa, is actually moving to Seattle next week. Her dad got a job in the area," Scarlett told him.
"Oh, that's nice," Max said.
Amelia didn't say anything.

The rest of the night consisted of small talk and story telling. Once Max handled the bill, the three of them got up.
"Well thank you for dinner," Amelia said with a small smile.
"Yeah, thank you," Scarlett told him as they made their way to the door.
"You're very welcome," Max said with a smile as they walked out.
"So I'll let you know about piano lessons?" Max said in a way that made it sound like a question.
"Sounds good," Scarlett told him with a nod.

Once Amelia and Scarlett got home, Scarlett joined Zola, who was watching tv in the living room.
"How was dinner?" Meredith asked Amelia as she walked into the kitchen. Amelia sighed.
"Not good?" Meredith questioned.
"It was fine. The food was good. I think Scarlett had a good time," Amelia said.
"But?" Maggie asked.
"But I feel like I don't really know her," Amelia explained to them.
"What do you mean?" Meredith asked.
"I found out tonight that she plays the piano, and she played softball and field hockey when she lived in LA," Amelia told them.
"I think she also plays the guitar a little," Maggie interrupted. She didn't mean to, but it just came out as she was thinking aloud.
"Wait, you knew she played the piano?" Amelia asked.
"It may have come up in conversation before," Maggie said slowly.
"While were at it, I knew she used to play softball. She saw a picture of the hospital's softball team and made a comment about how she used to play," Meredith added quickly.
"Scarlett doesn't tell me anything, and I can't read her mind so-" Amelia trailed off with a sigh.
"She'll come around," Maggie said to her sister.
"It took me a while to really talk to Richard," she added.
"I don't need to know everything about her... I just want to," Amelia told them with a shrug.
Meredith smiled and said,
"She's a teenager, good luck with that."