Everywhere, All At Once

Chapter 12 - Begin Again

More than two weeks. Sixteen days, to be precise. Sixteen straight nights alone, on her couch, a bottle of wine, and Gilmore Girls playing on Netflix, interspersed with the occasional Disney movie. She was sick of it. She was sick of wallowing, but she didn't know how to stop it. Kenna had spent too much time wallowing over guys in her post-adolescent life for her to be okay with continuing to do it now.

She was intent on taking a nap after work on Monday of the second week in a row having not spent a single day with Aaron and his children. As she drove home, she counted down the minutes until she was in her bed. She had absolutely nothing due at work or anything else to do today. She considered, very briefly, finding something productive to do, but reconsidered when the image of her warm, cozy bed had flashed through her mind again.

Walking into her room, Kenna shucked her shoes, socks, jacket, and pants, and was about to belly flop onto her bed when she heard her phone vibrating. With a groan, she leaned down and grabbed her phone from her jacket. She was going to have to put it on silent if she wanted to get any sleep. One of her group chats was going nonstop today. Kenna looked at the screen and considered ignoring the call since it was an unknown number, but it was also a local number, and it could've been anyone. Last time she'd gotten a local unknown call, it had been Aaron. Damnit.

"Hello?"

"Miss Mackenzie?" A little voice said from the other line. Fiona.

"Hey, honey. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah!" She nearly shouted. She sounded excited, so at least there was no emergency. "My mom bought me a phone! And my dad gave me your phone number so I could call you."

"Oh," Kenna laughed. A twelve-year-old with a smartphone. She shouldn't have been surprised. She actually was more surprised they'd lasted this long without getting her one. She knew five-year-olds with phones these days. "That's awesome. What kind of phone did you get?"

"It's an IPhone X. Do you want to come over and see it?"

"Oh, it's a school night, kid. No can do," Kenna told her.

"We won't stay up late. And we did our homework already. Pleeeease come over, Miss Mackenzie. Pleeease," Fiona begged.

"Fiona, I can't just come over without your dad knowing I'm coming. I'll talk to your dad and we'll get together another day, maybe Friday before you leave for your mom's."

"Daddy knows! I asked him if I could invite you over and he said yes!"

Kenna sighed. Fiona wasn't one to lie, so Aaron probably did know. Of course he would say yes. And of course she wanted to say yes, too. She missed him. Of course she wanted to see him, but that was exactly why she couldn't.

"Daddy," Fiona called, and Kenna heard as she ran from one room to another. "Tell Miss Mackenzie to come over."

Kenna seriously considered hanging up the phone. She listened, instead, as Fiona's phone changed hands and Aaron's voice came through.

"Kenna?"

"Uh... yeah," she answered reluctantly.

"Sorry. Fiona asked if she could invite you over. I told her you'd probably say no, but she insisted."

"It's okay. I - maybe I shouldn't."

"We'd love to have you over," Aaron supplied.

Had he not heard her? She said she shouldn't. Which was code for "make an excuse to Fiona for why I can't come". God, was he clueless or what?

"I guess I could. Maybe just for a little while," Kenna said, still unsure. Did he really want her there? Or was he saying it for Fiona's benefit, so he wouldn't be the bad guy? This was probably a horrible idea all around, but her desire to see him was going to win out. She was a glutton for punishment.