All the Best People Are | ✓

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"Every adventure requires a first step."
~Cheshire Cat
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Listen to Let Her Go by Passenger for this chapter.
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Some people are like parallel lines. They go through life alongside you and are always there, but you can never truly be together. Others are like every other pair of lines. You meet once and then drift apart forever. Maybe Leo was my parallel line. He would always be there to look out for me, but we could never be more than two strangers with a history. Somehow, in that moment, I couldn't be more thankful for that. 

"Skott?" Mom called out in a soft voice. I winced internally, as if hearing her voice all over again caused me some kind of emotional turmoil. She was dressed in soft pajamas and was seated at the front porch. It was evident that she'd been sitting there for a long while. 

"Is that you?" She asked, her voiced sounding choked as she tried to hold back her tears of relief. She reached out a hand to touch my shoulder as if needing a confirmation that I wasn't just a figment of her imagination. "It's me, Mom," I whispered, my voice coming out clipped. I still couldn't push back the anger from our previous encounter. Mom shot up from her spot on the porch and pulled me into her arms. 

"I'm so sorry, baby,"she whispered, stroking my hair lightly like she did when I was just a child. "I'm so, so sorry." She kept repeating the phrase over and over again until I couldn't help but tear up as well. I rested my head upon her shoulder and let myself cry freely for a few minutes. 

Mom smelled different. Like vanilla, from when she used to bake. It was a family tradition of sorts, for the three of us to bake cookies on Christmas eve. She smelled, for the first time in years, like my mother. "I'll never let you go again,"she whispered. 

Never, always, forever. Those were words I'd heard too much in my short seventeen years in life, but this time felt different. It was easier for me to believe her. 

Although there was a hole in my heart where Leo used to be, I knew the reason for the night's events was not to inform me that I was hopeless when it came to love, or that I wouldn't get my happy ending. I knew with certainty that somewhere down the road, every missing piece would eventually fall back into place and I'd know why he left me. I'd find a reason to move on. And until then, I had to define my own path. 

The next morning, I woke up after Ty had already left to daycare. I was disappointed, of course, but the prospect of having some bonding time with my mother excited me. She looked changed, happier. I felt as though perhaps I wasn't the only one to be visited by a spirit the night before. 

"She came home, Matt." Mom was speaking into the phone. "She looks okay. No, no. I'll take care of her." She spoke slowly to stress her point. She paused, her brow furrowed. "Yes, that's right. No, I doubt that. You're probably seeing things. Remember that one time you swore you'd seen a dementor in the garden?" Mom spoke with such a casual air that it was impossible to think she was the very woman who'd been distraught and miserable over her broken marriage only days before. I considered the possibility of there being another Matt in her life, but I knew with certainty that there was no grown man more crazy over Harry Potter than my father. That was an obsession he'd most definitely instilled in me as well. 

"Yes, it was Ty's birthday yesterday." She smiled. I smiled too. I found it hard to believe that he still remembered, but then again, this was the very man who'd memorized scientific names of all the plants in his garden just for the heck of it. I liked that there was still a part of him that reminded me of my father. 

"Oh that'd be lovely! He'll be delighted." She paused for a moment in thought. "Please, bring Mia too."

Those four words probably killed her on the inside, but the fact that she was able to say them with a smile still playing on her lips made me want to hug her and never let go. This was the woman who I'd been proud to call my mother. The woman who was never afraid to stand her ground, what with her crazy feminism ideologies, the woman who could make me laugh even when I felt like there was no use trying anymore, the woman who made everyone feel happy even if she didn't feel it herself. The woman who was stronger than anyone could give her credit for. 

After Mom got off the phone, she came into my room smiling, but slightly nervous too. She hadn't been in my room in so long that it probably felt like stepping into a new world altogether. 

"I've got good news and bad news. What do you want to hear first?"I smiled. I knew she already knew my answer. We'd done this countless times before. 

"You've got an appointment with Julia at ten o'clock,"she said. I opened my mouth in mock anger. "Mom!" I protested. "You know I always ask for the good news first,"I pouted. She laughed. "And you know I always tell you the bad news first anyway because you've got no logic,"she deadpanned. I pulled a face, but honestly wasn't even dreading the appointment. 

Normally, I would've groaned. I despised these therapy sessions. Talking about my problems made me relive the bad memories over and over again. I preferred to let go of them rather than continuously hide myself in a bubble made of my own despair. But that day, everything had changed. Including this. 

"Great. I should go get ready then." I smiled and Mom kissed the top of my head. It felt like the past few months had never even happened. 

"And for the good news......."She began, and my heart fluttered in anticipation. "I'm going to be away at rehab for a couple of months."

I blinked, speechless. "That's.... um. I'm proud of you, Mom,"I managed weakly, trying to pull off a smile. Unfortunately for me, acting wasn't one of my 'very many' talents. It didn't help matters that she'd inherited her eye for details from Gran. 

"Hey.....it's only a couple of months, okay? I just don't want whatever's been happening to resurface. I want to be better to you. To both of you."

"But you seem alright, Mom." I knew my words weren't convincing enough the moment they tumbled out of my mouth. No matter how much hope had been fluttering around in my chest, I knew that my mother wasn't completely alright. Not yet. She was getting there, surely, but she needed the help to completely restore herself and get her life back on track. No matter how much I tried to deny it, her sleepless eyes betrayed it all. She needed this and I couldn't be the one to take it away from her. She knew I understood this too. 

"Dad and Mia are going to take care of you until then. It's going to be awkward,"she gave me a knowing look at that,"but it's the only way. Before you know it, I'll be back and things will be just like they used to be." But we both knew that wasn't true. Things were always changing. Maybe for the better or maybe for he worse, but they were changing. We couldn't get back what we lost, but we could surely make new memories to replace the old. We had to keep moving on if we wanted to be happy. 

"We'll be okay, Mom," I smiled, and I knew that was the truth. She pulled me into another hug and said the words I'd wanted to hear for so long. 

"I love you, Skott."