Mrs. Avery

Chapter 32

"Hiya." She said looking down and kicking her feet around.

"Hey." His voice sounded sleepy. "It's so good to hear you."

"I didn't meant interrupt your nap." She said quietly.

"You're completely fine." He said. "Are you okay?"

"Just a moment of weakness, I guess." Her voice broke a little.

"Hey, it's okay." He paused. "I miss you too." His voice was snagging slightly. They both remained silent before he picked it up again. "How have you been?"

"I'm good. I've really adjusted to this 90 to nothing lifestyle."

He chuckled. "Well that's good." She could hear his smile and she wished so much that she could see it.

"How's the new place?" She asked.

"Well it's probably a little too much space for me, but I do like it a lot."

"That's good." She smiled, but a frown kept trying to overtake it.

"Would you like a tour?" He asked.

"I think I would love that." She smiled and turned the phone towards her as she heard him shuffling it on his side, the Facetime call was coming in.

"It's so good to see you." He said and smiled.

"Yeah," She said with a weak smile that curled almost instantly.

"Anyway, back to the point." He said and turned the camera. Here is the kitchen.

It was a gorgeous large modern kitchen, very clean edges. She loved the look of it. She could see herself attempting to cook with all the new appliances and laying her creations out on the granite countertop. It was all a play in her mind. She wasn't a huge fan of cooking.

"I love it." She said.

"I knew you would." He responded from behind the camera and then moved on to the living room. "There's an actual door there and not just an archway into the living room. I'm moving on up in the world." She could hear his smile.

"You certainly are."

"We'll go to the bedrooms here and save the best for last." He showed her each room and now the designated spare room that would have been her home office. He didn't spend much time in there. It didn't even have a bed in it yet.

"And last, but not least the living room. Here, you will notice the same couch, but the real thing to note are the nice large windows behind it."

"That is the perfect placement."

"It was the only place the couch could go and afford the famous 'Sun Naps'."

"Yeah." She said her voice breaking. "Those were absolutely crucial."

He flipped the camera. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it at all."

"You're fine." She said her eyes filling with tears.

"Agnes, please." He begged, but he wasn't sure what he was begging for yet.

"I love it. You picked the best place."

"I picked the best place for us." He emphasized. There was silence while they looked at each other and their eyes filled with tears.

"I don't want to lie to you. I started seeing someone, but I would end all of that, if you just tell me that we'll make this work. I know I wasn't very keen on a family, but Agnes I will make it work with you. I just want us back. I saw us in this condo and I still see it. I could even get a bigger one. I know there are two kids so they could each have room and we could travel on weekends to be up there. I can try to get transferred back. We can do the stepparent thing for what? Ten years? I can do that. I will do anything for you." He paused his rant. "Please just tell me what to do. I miss you so much." He frowned and fought the tears.

She pulled her lips in as they curled down. "You need to keep doing what you're doing."

"Aggie don't say that to me. I know I fucked this up in the end and if that's what this was about, I can promise you that you would come first from here on out. I knew my mistake as soon as I made it. Please..."

"Evan, don't do this. I love you, but we know better. And this life that I'm living now, isn't what you wanted. You know that and as much as I want to believe we could make it work, I know better." She paused. "But god it doesn't stop me from missing you. And I just-"

"Mommmm!" Liam came flying out the door at full speed with James following behind him. "I got a new high score! Come see! Didn't I Dad?!"

"You absolutely did, buddy."

Agnes mouthed sorry at the camera before hanging up the call. She put the phone down on the trunk of the car as she wiped off her face.

"What's wrong Mom?" Liam asked quietly as he approached.

"Oh, baby. I think a bug got in my eye, but I'm pretty sure that I got it." She sighed lightly. "Come here. I could definitely use a Liam hug." He wrapped his arms around her for a brief moment before tilting his head up and telling her how he had demolished his new high score. She had no idea what the game was or how the scoring worked, but she nodded along as he prattled on in great detail. He immediately took her mind away as he often did. Sometimes it seemed like Liam was the only thing keeping her going.

As James drew nearer, he believed this gimmick about a bug in her eye less and less, but of course said nothing. Their relationship was a tad complicated since the unintended kiss and it only proved to be more complicated with the jail break of Big Chris... and all that complication wasn't including the fact that they were ex's trying to raise a couple of kids together. James shook his head as it all rolled around, if this got anymore ridiculous, he was destined for therapy.

Liam and Agnes were decidedly making their way to the house. He decided it was his turn for a breather. Arguing with his mother about what his father should and should not be doing had wore him out. He leaned against the trunk of the car. He heard them shut the door to the house and he started to take a few deep breaths when he heard a buzzing sound. He assumed it had to be his phone, which was less than thrilling because it was likely Kelly looking to pick a fight again. He was pleasantly surprised when he pulled out his phone and there were no notifications. A few minutes later it sounded again. It sounded like the phone was buzzing against something hard so he fully turned this time to see Agnes's phone sitting on the trunk of the car.

James picked it up with only the intentions of taking it inside to her, but he couldn't help, but see the name of the sender and the message sprawled out against her lock screen.

It was a text from Evan.