Third Love's The Charm [PUBLISHED]

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Child of Divorce

"You're all dressed up," mom commented when she passed by the open door of my bedroom, "Remember to keep safe, sweetheart."

I turned around and saw spotted her motherly smile. I returned it with a grin of my own, watching as she hugged the robe tighter around her body and leaned against the doorframe. My mother was hurting – every single day of her life since my father left us, she had been in pain.

She had always allowed me to have my fun and in return, I rarely did anything to make her worry.

Maybe one day I'd confront or perhaps I would just let her give me the letter on its intended day instead. But for now, I wanted to live each day without these overwhelming thoughts because that was the gift that Leon had worked so hard to give me.

Just a normal life.

"I will, mom," I said, walking up to her and pressing a kiss on her cheek, "I won't stay out too late."

I was pretty sure she had a hunch that I was seeing someone. Daily car rides to school, staying out late on a school night, and completely avoiding the topic about dating was just a dead giveaway. I was glad she was waiting until I was ready to talk about it though.

I'd tell her after Leon and I have finally decided to go out instead of this weird flirting thingy we were doing.

Well, that was if we were actually going to go out.

"Have fun," she told me, letting me make my way downstairs and out of the front door. Leon already texted me that he was near so I thought that it would be better if I waited for him out here.

And then, the door of our neighbor suddenly opened up. My eyebrows knitted in confusion since Zoey already left, judging from the way her car was absent from their driveway. She also told me before that it was Lauren's birthday and she was going to her house to celebrate.

Lauren was Zoey's version of Mia and just like Zoey, she was a pure hearted soul. Two beautiful angels who were too kind for this world. I was always afraid that they would get scammed whenever they were alone together.

The culprit was Zoey's mother, walking up to me with a wrapped box in her hands, "Going out, Avery?"

"Yeah, my friend's about to get here," I told her and her eyes lit up as she made her way over to me.

"Do you mind dropping this off at Lauren's house?" she asked, "Zoey just called and told me she forgot to bring it."

I saw Leon's car turn the corner and if I knew him well enough, he wouldn't mind if we played messenger for this. So I nodded, opening my hands so she could give it to me, "Sure."

"Thank you so much! Here are the directions..." she exclaimed gleefully, handing it to me. Zoey really did take much of her personality from her mom because her father was the epitome of straight laced man, not a hair out of place. Meanwhile, her mother had this love for life that was so evident in everything that she did.

To be honest, their family was our rock when we lost dad.

They would invite us to eat with them for a month straight after because they knew how difficult it was to be alone just the two of us. They would help with cleaning up the house, maintaining the garden, all the chores we forgot to do because we could barely function on our own.

Without them, I have no idea how mom and I would have gotten back to our feet.

I saw Leon get down from his car through my peripheral vision and he made his way to me. Zoey's mom flashed him a polite smile before thanking me once again, "Have fun, kids."