“Mom…I…we…we…were…just…um~” Talia began blabbering incoherently and I felt my heart stop completely. The cold glare mom was sending us was enough to freeze California over. For eternity.
“What do you think you’re doing in here?” Came her quiet response.
“It’s honestly not what it looks like mom” Talia pleaded. None of us had moved from our position, probably because we were all frozen into place.
“Who is Ashton?” Came Elliot.
In my entirety on earth, I could never recall a moment seeing my mother lose composure. She was always the picture of perfection but right now, looking at her, she actually looked caught off guard.
“Excuse me?” She asked swallowing.
“Ashton. Is he your little boyfriend?” Elliot said shaking his head, “I can’t believe you’d do something like this”
“Ashton” Mom whispered collapsing into the auto man near the door. We all jumped to her in fear.
“Mom, are you okay” Talia gasped. Elliot was the first to get to her and I could see uncertainty in his face. Mom looked up at Talia and did the unthinkable. She shook her head no.
“Who is Ashton?” I tried softly.
“She was my intern” Mom said. I almost fainted.
“SHE?” Elliot exclaimed, “You left dad for a chick?”
Now I was confused.
“You think I left your dad?” Mom asked shocked, “Wait, do you guys think that I initiated the divorce?”
“Yeah. Its kinda common knowledge” Talia said lightly.
“Your father brought the divorce papers to me”
“After you cheated with your intern?” Elliot looked at a loss for words.
“I DIDN’T CHEAT!” mom yelled.
“Then why…” I trailed off.
Mom sniffled and looked at the ground.
“Are you crying?” was this an alternate universe in which my mother was capable of feeling actual human feelings?
“I loved...I love your father more than anything…besides you kids” She hiccupped, “I…I”
She crumpled in on herself and I did the only thing I knew how. I walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, sitting on the edge of the chair. Soon Elliot was grabbing a seat on the old coffee table, Talia beside him, and Seth around the back of the chair. We were all surrounding her, ready to comfort her.
“Mom, what happened?” I asked her softly. She was murmuring incoherent things into her hands but I caught ‘I don’t know what I did to deserve this’
“Deserve what? Mom, please” Elliot’s voice took on a gentle edge and he looked at me with slightly glassy eyes. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve said that Elliot was about to cry but he quickly looked away from me and when he looked back, he seemed fine. Mom took a deep breath, trying to regain composure and let it out.
“Ashton was my nineteen year old intern” Mom began, “She wanted to learn the ins and outs of the writing industry and I took it as my own personal mission to help this girl learn all she could. I took her everywhere with me, thinking I was doing her a personal favor. I should’ve listened to the classic saying ‘don’t take your work home with you”
“Wait, is this that hot blonde you brought home that day, who was supposed to help you scan through a list of possible publishers after you left Wally’s?” Elliot inquired.
YOU ARE READING
Along Came Seth
Romance"Seth?" He walked to the door and paused. "Yeah?" He murmured, hand poised on the knob. "Would you...Could you stay?" I asked unsure. He turned to me and a small smile formed on his lips as he walked back over to my bed. "I thought you'd neve...
