Could It Be?

THIRTY-SEVEN

If he's being honest, Vince is still not used to their new set-up either.

Not that there's anything about it to complain about.

Well, maybe the fact that he has to go to work?

It's a Wednesday and the extended weekend is over. He wakes up that morning alone in bed. After adjusting his sight to the light, he notices a post-it on the TV. He stands up and puts his glasses on. It reads, "Breakfast downstairs. :)"

In Elaine's almost-calligraphic handwriting.

As he makes his way down, he can already hear movements in the kitchen, then as he makes it on the last step, laughter. They're talking about getting Boogie drunk, writing on his face, the hour spent on removing pentel pen ink off his face. He stays at the sala, walking slowly to the entrance of the kitchen, as Kyle proceeds to ask Elaine about him.

"Eh kayo ni Papa?"

"What about us?"

"How were you guys?"

Vince takes a peek, sees that it's Kyle who's facing the entrance so he's safe to stand by the doorway. She glances at him, then smiles when her mom looks up to continue her story about how they talked through the night, fell asleep early in the morning, then made breakfast.

He takes this time to look at Elaine, still in her pajamas, wearing fluffy slippers, her hair bunched in a bun. Those gestures — the way she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, the way she flips whatever it is she's frying — these are familiar things and he's paying as much attention to it as in the conversation he's eavesdropping in.

"And at church?"

"What about it?"

Kyle shrugs, glancing at her dad again. "Nabanggit lang ni Ninang Ampy na... she noticed raw that you seemed sad and Papa had to give you a handkerchief then had to sit with you at the back sa biyahe. Na Papa was trying to make you smile and..."

"I probably was just tired, anak."

Kyle nods, biting into a strip of bacon. "So, did he?" she asks after a while.

"Did he what?"

"Make you smile?"

Vince sees Elaine nod. "He did," she tells their daughter, and it makes him smile. "Madali lang naman para sa kaniya 'yun."

"What happened ba kasi?"

"It's just..." She sighs. "It was overwhelming, I guess. Fifteen years rin tayong wala dito... and after the talk I had with your Papa, I just..."

"You just wanted to believe that it will work this time?"