A Missed Opportunity

18

❃𝙺𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚊❃

"Are we there yet? Where are we going now? Mommy? Mommy?"

I take a deep breath and turn in my seat while Noah laughs to himself, trying to stifle his own laughter. "Cameron Stone," I scold on a huff. He sinks in his car seat. "We will be there soon, okay?" I repeat for the umpteenth time. Slowly he nods at me. I shut my eyes as I turn back around and lean back in my seat.

I open my eyes and look out my window to watch the trees pass by. As it turns out, Noah's grandparents aren't in New York, but are in Connecticut. I warned Cameron about the three-hour drive ahead of us to get to the place we're having Thanksgiving, but I don't think he was really listening. He was too excited by the prospect of seeing more of his dad's family. He hasn't acknowledged that they're his family too, but I haven't pushed it. He's still teetering between calling Noah by his name and calling him his dad, so extended family is kind of the least of our priorities.

"Daddy," Cameron whispers loudly. "Are we almost there?"

I'm going to go insane.

Noah doesn't look away from the road. "Not yet, Nut." He whispers back. "Thirty more minutes." He adds. I glare at him while he encourages the whispering. He glances my way and offers a quick smile as if he wasn't just whispering back to Cameron.

"Can we get nuggets?" Cameron continues with his whispering.

Noah sighs at that and glances over at me. I narrow my eyes. "I don't know, kiddo. I'm getting a serious death stare over here." He murmurs, keeping his eyes on the road for now.

"Please?"

I scoff quietly when he grimaces. "Noah,"

"What?" He huffs. "Cameron, do that again for your mother." He orders with a smug look my way.

"Mommy, please?"

I shake my head at the road ahead while they both wait for me to answer them. "We're about to go to dinner." I dryly remind them both.

"Mother." Cameron tries some raspy voice in his higher pitch one. I make a disturbed face as I glance in the backseat at my son who's apparently been smoking for thirty fucking years.

"They wait a while before they serve it. If he's hungry now, it's probably best we feed him." Noah quickly informs without acknowledging Cameron.

I roll my eyes at that but suppose he's right. Cameron's going to end up getting hangry. I might too. Maybe I already am. "Fine." I breathe.

"Yess," They both celebrate at the same time. I recoil against the car door. It's fucking freaky.

__________

I've come to terms with the fact that I more than likely won't be the most liked person in the room, and that my son might be fawned over despite that fact. I've decided that I'm okay with that so long as Cameron's fine. I know Noah cares about his family too, so really it mostly matters if they're happy today.

Even though I've come to terms and thought about all of that, I still don't know what to expect today while Noah leads the way up the driveway and to the door. He doesn't knock or ring the bell, simply opening the door and looking to us to walk in, in front of him.

I'm not sure if any of us are prepared for this, to be honest.

Noah pauses at the door after slowly closing it. Warm laughter fills one of the rooms. It's quiet, but in the very far background lyric less music accompanies the laughter. For half a second, he looks unsure. But when he blinks and looks at me, that's gone. He smiles. "Come on, guys." He's almost whispering as he nods over to one of the doorways in the foyer.