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Chapter Twenty-Three

Blue

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Setting the coffeecup down on the table, my mother took the seat across me and looked out the window. “Want to talk about it?”

Shaking my head, I gripped the cup and held it to my lips. “Not really.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, it'll all be fine. Things happen for a reason, right? That's what dad always said. The whole fate thing has to play a part in this.”

“Says, that's what Dad always says.” Sipping her drink, she kept her gaze out the window. “Why don't you go talk to him? This is what he lives for, to guide people.”

“Dad doesn't need to hear about this, it'll only stress him out.” Sliding my thumb back and forth across the mug, I smiled with one corner of my mouth. “You know how he feels about—” Catching myself, I made sure to not say his name. “Bliss's father.”

“Well, this isyourfather, so let him be your father.”

Thinning my lips, I looked at my mother. It was strange, because it felt like it was the first moment I really saw how time had swept in and aged her. Before right then she always looked the same to me, she looked like my mom, but I could see the weight of all the years on her face now.

The sun was shining through the window, making her hair bright sliver. The light pink lipstick she had on highlighted the dry cracks in her lips. Her layer of foundation was barely floating over the deep ridges and wrinkles in her skin.

I hadn't taken the time to ever really see her for the woman she had become. Time had slowly crept in, skipping me ahead, while I lingered in the past, wishing for the boy I loved to come back for me.

He never did.

He's here now.

“Go talk to him, I think it might brighten his day. I'll watch Bliss, go on.”

“I thought he was sleeping?”

“So? He needs to see you, you know he's not doing well.”

“I know, it's just, doesn't he need his rest? I really don't want to make him upset, it'll just make him feel worse.”