Cinders

~52~ Reality

After we come back out, mom and Taylor are waiting for us so we can leave. Mom still doesn't look happy, and Taylor can tell. He grabs her chin in his fingers and lifts her face upward.

"Ellie Jane, I've been having the best few days of my life—Please don't let this ruin it. Come on baby girl...I'll even let you pick where we go first," he says, kissing her cheek gently.

Mom sighs and glances at me for a moment. "I'm sick of this crap, Liam," she snaps before turning back to Taylor and giving him a kiss. "But you're right—Can we PLEEEEASE go see the Historic Mansion now?" She begs, sticking out her lip into a pout and batting her eyes.

Taylor starts to chuckle. "You know there's no need to try and flirt with me, girly—I just got done telling ya that you could pick first. We're happy to go to the Historic Mansion, aren't we fellas?"

"Yup..." Duncan and I say at the same time.

"What do you mean, TRY to flirt. I'm great at flirting," mom says, getting offended.

"Just get in the dang car, crazy," he chuckles as he puts his arm around her and kisses her head.

~*~

The rest of the day actually turns out to be fun. Duncan and I are uncomfortable, but we try our best to ignore it.

The mansion was cool.

Taylor wanted to go see a lighthouse that he saw when he was a kid—His mom had fallen in love with it, and he couldn't remember it very well.

When we get there, he gets really quiet. Duncan and I leave them alone for a bit once we see tears in his eyes.

They just stand there for a while, staring at it. Mom silently wraps her arm around his waist and leans into him. He grabs her hand, and just stares at the lighthouse.

By the time they get back, something grew deeper between them—It's obvious.

She saw a piece of him that he never lets anyone see; how much he loves his mom. How much he misses her.

"You ok?" She asks quietly once we get back in the car. He grabs her hand and kisses it.

"Yeah—I needed to see it. Lilah doesn't remember the trip, she was too little...but I do. I remember the stairs, and mom taking Lilah and me up to the top while dad took pictures."

He then tells us all about that trip when he was a kid. We just sit silently as he drives, and listen to him reminisce about his mom. By the time he's done, we feel like we knew her.

"Wish I coulda' met her," mom says after a while.

"She would've absolutely loved you," he says with sadness in his voice as he takes her hand and brings it to his mouth, kissing it gently.

The rest of the day was spent going to a couple of other places, and then we ended up hiking in this National Forest—It was amazing. I'm still pretty stiff, but I tried not to think about it.

~*~

The week flies by and before I know it, it's our last night here. Mom and Taylor are sitting out on the deck, watching the waves crash. Duncan and I are watching TV in the living room, but we can hear what they're saying.

"I don't wanna leave here," mom says, sadly

"I know—I've had so much fun."

"Did you mean what you said the other day?" Mom asks, propping her feet up on the railing.

"Bout what?"

"At dinner the first night here—You were trying to get me to eat the lobster. You said 'when we're old, living in a big house', did you mean that? Do you really think we'll make it? You've said if yourself, I'm a handful."