I Fall Apart

Lin

The next day, Sebastian and Francisco were up early as usual and Nora slept in late as usual.  I usually made her get up at 10 if she wasn't up yet.  She probably stayed up late texting with Aaron again.

Aaron seemed like an okay kid, but we was dating my daughter.  I wouldn't completely like anyone she brought home.  He went to Hunter as well, so he was at least intelligent.  They'd been going out for two months now.  Vanessa had had "the talk" with her, but I was still uncomfortable with the whole idea of Nora dating.

I wandered down the hallway around 10:15 and knocked on Nora's door.  She didn't respond, so I figured she was still asleep.  I pushed the door open and found her sprawled out on the bed, her legs caught up in the covers.  I crossed the room and pulled up the blinds, letting the sunshine stream in, directly onto her face.

"Good morning sunshine," I greeted her, taking a sip from my second cup of coffee of the morning.

"Daaaad," she croaked in complaint, shielding her eyes with her arm.  "Close the blinds."

"But it's a beautiful day," I told her. "Get up or you're going to miss it."

She checked the time on her phone then rubbed her hands over her face.  "There's still plenty of day left."

"You've had enough sleep," I told her.  "Go hop in the shower.  I saved you some pancakes."

I walked out but left the door open, letting in the sounds of the house.  Cisco was constantly following Sebby around, and he was a good sport about it.  They were close enough in age that they were already partners in crime.  Currently, they were trying to see how high they could stack the Legos.  It was now as tall as Sebastian, so he stood on the coffee table.

"Sebastian, get down please," Vanessa told him as she refilled her coffee.  Cisco had been up since 6:30, despite it being a Saturday.  Sleeping in wasn't a concept he understood.  Or the fact that Vanessa had been working like a dog on her current case.

A few minutes later, I heard Nora turn on the shower.  It was laundry day, so I went to her room and stripped her sheets off the bed.  A text happened to come through from Aaron.  She had a long list of text alerts.  Nora was a very social kid.  She had lots of friends and stayed busy.

I got a text myself a couple minutes later.  It was from Laura.  She really wanted Nora to come see her that day.  I sighed, knowing Nora really didn't want to go.  It seemed Laura was lonely, though, and needed a visit from her daughter.

I popped the leftover pancakes in the microwave as Nora came out of the shower, her wet hair swept up in a towel.  She had quite an appetite usually, so I saved her five pancakes.  She immediately started to dig in.

"Your mom texted me," I told her as I started to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.  She rolled her eyes.

"What does she want?"

"She wants you to come visit," I told her, glancing up to check her reaction.  She wasn't into the idea, as I predicted.

"I don't want to see her," she said, stabbing a piece of pancake.

"Well, it is her weekend," I pointed out.

"I know," she mumbled.

"It might be nice to at least pay her a visit," I said.  I knew it bugged Laura when she skipped visits.  Nora reluctantly agreed.  She wasn't going to spend the night, but she'd pay her mother a visit.

My relationship with Laura had considerably soured over the past two years she'd been back in my life.  Mostly, I was tired of her not having her life together.  She was constantly on and off drugs.  She would make all kinds of promises to Nora when she was clean about how she was changed.  Nora was smart enough not to believe her, but I knew it still affected her.  To her, it was like her mother didn't love her enough to get her life together.