Me Without You

"Hola, mi amor."

For months Alejandro had grown accustomed to the role of sole parenting. He knew what Sofi loved on her sandwiches and what she didn't. He knew when to speak with Camila about things and when to just let it go. He knew when parenting only required a listening ear and nothing else.

But Sinuhe was back and he was more than grateful for her presence every day. It wasn't that he feared being a lone parent, it was more like...Sinu was a woman. He had two daughters. There are just some things he would never understand no matter how many feminist books he read or how many blogs he scoured.

And Sinu was getting better. With each passing day Alejandro saw her fight her mental illness with more ease. The medication helped, but he was sure it also had a lot to do with Sinuhe's own persistence in wanting to be in her children's lives again.

Alejandro saw the gratitude for her battles mostly in Camila. It was clear that Camila had sorely missed her mother in her absence despite her lack of enthusiasm when the subject of Sinu had been brought up. Alejandro's children had always been divide in the case of parental preferences. Sofia clung to Alejandro like glue whereas Camila had always swayed more towards her mother.

The father suspected it was because Sinu could always provide more understanding in relation to Camila's changing body when she hit her teenage years and he suspected Camila distanced herself from the subject of her mother for that very same reason.

So as Alejandro stood beside his wife as he dried the dishes she washed from their previous family breakfast, he couldn't help but smile knowing that their family was finally getting back on track.

Sofi was enjoying school.

He was satisfied with his job.

Camila was doing wonders with her career and she was balancing her friendships well in Miami again.

And Sinu was making progress every day with more smiles and laughter echoing through the previously desolate house.

And then the doorbell rang.

It took Lauren all of a day to figure out what exactly she was going to do. As suspected, she spent the majority of that day at Lucy's place, which had the older girl shooting daggers at her girlfriend every chance she got.

This is exactly what Lucy had been talking about. They would now constantly be the mediators when a Camila-Lauren problem arose.

Lauren knew Camila left the ball in her court. The brunette had left Lauren with the knowledge that she was still in love with her and Lauren could do with that information what she pleased.

She later learned through Dinah that Camila had broken things off with Maddy, which suggested to Lauren that the celebrity was pretty serious about her convictions. And that sort of made Lauren think about how their relationship would be if she decided to reignite it.

Things would have to be drastically different. It couldn't be this push and pull love anymore, it had to be real and proper and there had to be more honesty in relation to how they felt about each other. It had to be serious and Lauren had to have that reassurance that Camila wouldn't up and leave again.

And part of Lauren was sure of that, she was sure that Camila also knew things had to be different this time around, that it had to mean more than to just be able to walk away from it, from both of them. They needed to be in it together, one hundred percent. Lauren couldn't deal with uncertainty again when it came to Camila.

No matter how much Camila tried to immerse herself in her work, nothing could get her mind to stray away from the alluring set of green eyes occupying her mind. They were still as riveting as the very first time she saw them and still held her captive just the same.