THE RETURN

Chapter 12

Elliot pulled up to the coffee shop 20 minutes later. He was happy to see that Kathy and Eli were already there waiting for him. Before he had decided to move back to New York, Elliot had taken Eli with him while he traveled. Him and Kathy always stuck to the same one year on, one year off again and she was willing to oblige sending their youngest overseas, as long as Elliot kept his head on straight. Since he hadn't even come close to turning back to his old ways, Kathy was allowing him to take Eli back early. It had been occurring more and more and he kept contemplating with himself about asking for a change of custody agreement. Kathy had done her time raising their kids, she raised the four oldest pretty much by herself. After their split, she went to Florida to start over. With a job as a nurse that allowed her to finally get out of the house after so many years of being in. She had met Jack, a doctor at the hospital that she worked at and they had hit it off right away. Elliot was happy for her, she deserved a better life than he had given her the 30 years they were together and she had finally had it. With him not working, he figured that maybe he could take Eli in full time and Kathy have him on holidays and vacations. He didn't know when the right time to talk to her about it was but he knew it was going to need to happen.

"Hey dad." Eli said as Elliot got out of the car.

"Hey bud." They gave each other a quick one handed hug before Eli jumped into the front seat.

"Thank you for getting him."

"He's my son Kath, you don't need to thank me."

She nodded, "I know." They stood there in silence for a second before she said, "So have you seen her?" When he had informed Kathy that he was moving back to New York for good, she knew he would find the one woman who always held his heart.

He crossed his arms, "I have."

"How is she?"

He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face, "She's great. She's a mom."

"She always deserved to be one." She waited until he nodded to continue, "Have you met her child?"

He nodded once more.

"Anything I should know about?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She sighed and crossed her arms, "I mean are you two serious already?"

"What does that matter?"

"It's just..."

"Just what Kathy? We've been divorced for seven years now, our kids are grown enough to understand that we all have to move on, and our grandkids will never know us together. There's no one to explain this to."

"What about me Elliot?"

"What about you? You're remarried already."

"Yeah, I am. But I didn't fall in love with Jack while we were married." When he didn't respond, she continued, "I'm not trying to attack you. I just wish you would have realized it sooner. It would have saved us all a lot of heartache."

"I know and I've apologized for that before."

"You have. I'm glad you've realized, we both deserve to know what real love is."

"I'll always love you Kath."

"And me you Elliot. But not like I love Jack or you love Olivia."

He sighed, "I'm sorry."

She shook her head, "Don't be." They smiled at each other warmly, "Go be with your son, he looks like he's about to start shooting daggers through the windshield."

He laughed, "He better not think of putting anything through any windshields."

They gave each other a quick goodbye hug before he got into the car and pulled out.