Andante, Andante: Please Don't Let Me Down

Chapter Eleven

"So my dear, how are you doing after spending the entire day with Regina?" Cora inquisitively questions as she places a warm cup of hazelnut coffee down in front of me.

I eagerly accept the cup, wrapping my cold fingertips around the ceramic mug and quickly taking a cautious sip to wake my mind up from another restless sleep last night.

"I'm fine. It was fine," I reply mostly on autopilot and relish in the warm tingling sensations spreading through my chest and warming my bones.

"Did you two speak?" Cora fishes around for more information with her full attention upon me as she slips into the seat next to me.

"A little...yeah." I shrug noncommittally and focus on indulging my coffee.

"Well you my dear are just useless. I should've interrogated the children first," she muses with a sly smirk before she sips her hot tea delicately.

"Don't you dare," I sternly object, but she simply just laughs in return just as the back screen door swings open, grasping our full attention.

The delicious sound of Regina's rich laughter fills the warm cabin and tickles my fluttering heart. My lips stretch across my cheeks almost painfully as I watch how happy my ex is strolling into her parent's home with her father laughing right behind her. That is until an awful nose curling stretch wafts through the air.

"Ew, you two stink," I protest and scowl into my coffee mug, hoping the hazelnut will outweigh the dead fish scent. "Did you bathe in a sea of dead rotting fish?"

"Ah, so you do notice the smell," Regina's father chuckles as he sets down his fishing gear.

"Of course I smell that, it's horrible," I groan and bury my face into the front of my hoodie.

"If I recall...now correct if I'm wrong," Henry begins with a mischievous grin plastered across his jolly face. "...but there was a time when you said you hardly noticed the scent."

"Ah yes," Cora smiles wickedly while my brows furrow painfully together in confusion. "You said the scent didn't bother you. You even allowed Regina to wrap her arms around you and kiss you, full of dead fish," she muses as she sips her tea casually, her chess piece falling into place, ringing check mate, loud and clear while I turn ten different shades of red.

"Why did I ever agree to come here. You two be nice or I won't bring your grandchildren anymore," I threaten, only persuading the older couple to laugh in my face.

"Mother please don't make this more awkward than it needs to be," Regina sighs, her mood effectively dampened as she trudges her way toward the coffee pot to pour herself and father a cup each.

Regina pours one mug and then pauses, pulling out her cell phone to check either emails or maybe even texts, I truly don't know anymore. Cora abruptly stands tall and marches over to her daughter with fury pulsating from her tiny frame. She snatches the phone away from Regina's grasp before my ex has a chance to even protest.

"Mother-"

"No, here, in this home, there are no phones. We spend time with one another and enjoy each other's company. We listen to each other, we laugh, we poke fun, but we do not have our noses buried into some cell phone."

"I have-"

"You don't have to do anything, but provide your undivided attention to every single person in this family. Do I make myself clear?"

Regina coolly folds her arms over her chest with those succulent full lips pouting in protest while her one eyebrow inches it's way higher and higher. I smirk to myself, knowing how much Regina is going to hate being away from her devices, so I sit back and watch with amusement.