33 || Wine Glass

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"You made it," I say to him as he sits down on the bench, right next to me

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"You made it," I say to him as he sits down on the bench, right next to me. Watching as Aaron teaches Liz the basis of skating and wishing that Lily would keep her promise of Christmas Eve.

I invited him here. The man I once called Uncle until things fell apart for our families.

He's silent for a moment, observing the rink. I watch as his eyes meet Aaron and Liz and he chuckles lightly. When I look at my two best friends in the world, Liz is seated on the Ice, laughing as Aaron is doing what he calls "teaching." Alex skates towards them, and for the first time in a while, he smiles as he helps Liz up to her feet.

"You've grown up," he sighs, still not looking at me. "Everyone's grown up, even Tyler,"

"Yeah," I sigh as Alex shows Liz how to skate in Aaron's way. They laugh and I smile. I look to Uncle Cole, he's smiling too, even if it looks pained. He seems to be thinking about Aunt Jess.

"Some days I hate myself," He sighs, staring at his hands. "When Jess found out she was pregnant, she bought a lot of baby girl stuff even before doing the scans. I remember coming home to pink stuff scattered all over the place," He sits up. "I remember telling her that we didn't even know the baby's gender and then she said she was sure of a girl," he sighs more. "And the we went for the scans, and the doctor happily revealed to us that we were having two girls," He pauses. "I screamed in happiness, I always wanted to be a girl dad you know, I mean if we ended up having boys I'd love them all the same but I loved my girls so much more from the moment the doctor gave us the news,"

Where is he going with.......

"I remember looking at Jess and seeing a tear drop down her cheek, she didn't want two, she wanted one, and then a week before Lily and Rose were born, she said she was going to love the child she had first," He heaves a huge sigh. "Our marriage was strained, I forced myself to believe that it was the million emotions that come with pregnancy that made her say that, but as the girls grew older, she favored Rose more than Lily. It sucked to watch, even Lily as a little child started noticing what was happening. I stepped up for my baby girl, took her fishing and beach hunting and all that, but I knew nothing could ever compare to a mother's love, nothing,"

"It didn't help that Lily was born asthmatic. Jess didn't bother keeping track of her meds and stuff, so I did all of it. I remember making Dinner one day and Lily was asleep in her crib because Rose and Jess had gone night watching, and she started having this intense shortage of breath," His eyes begin to water. "I keep wondering what would have happened if I didn't go back to the living room to see how far the Hockey game had gone,"

"I had multiple fights with Jess over this, even Ava did too. You were always keeping Lily company so she always loved hanging around with you and your family because apart from me, y'all made her feel welcome. Jess and I fought a lot, and then one day Ava and I had a huge fight about something related to this. Jess comes home and all she's saying is, I'm taking Lily out of town, to hurt Ava's baby boy,"

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